14 Fake News Signals around Articles

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Here are some tips for determining if a story is likely reliable. An organization does not need to tick off all these qualifiers in order to be considered authentic and accurate, but the more you see red flags pop up, the more a healthy skepticism is in order.

24. OUTRAGE HEADLINES. Fake news outlets have found stories that make the reader angry can generate more shares. The use of ALL CAPS or numerous exclamation points is a red flag. If the headline is compelling, then read the entire story, not just the headline. Does the story deliver what the headline promises?

25. HYPERBOLIC HEADLINES. Hyperbolic headlines claiming you’ll “never believe” the article’s epic content suggest you shouldn’t click. If the headline promises to tell you something the "media doesn't want you to know," as if you are being given secrets to an inside story, be skeptical. 

26. AUTHOR ATTRIBUTION. Lack of author attribution can mean the news story is suspect. Some respected sites, such as The Economist, don’t typically identify their  writers, but that’s an exception to the rule. Nearly all quality news outlets will identify the writer(s) of each article. 

27. AUTHOR CREDENTIALS. Look for other articles by the same author by Googling the person’s name. Have they produced legitimate writing for legitimate news outlets? Their credentials and backgrounds are a guide to the quality of work they are likely to produce as well as the quality of the news outlet you are considering. Suppose the story is about a specialized area, such as health or science. In that case, it’s a bonus if the author regularly writes about the subject because the person is also likely to possess basic knowledge of that particular area. 

28. SUPPORTING PHOTOS. Do accompanying photos visually back up the story’s claims? Do the images even relate to the headline and content? If a site uses lots of stock photos rather than original images related to the story, that’s a red flag—perhaps that the reporters are not professional, but it could indicate more serious problems.  

29. ODD PHOTOS. Are photos cropped oddly or taken from some strange angle? Does it appear the photographer was deliberately trying to avoid showing something in the shot? Legit news organizations avoid picking unflattering photos that might bias the reader unless that’s part of the story. This goes for distorted images as well, taken very close to a subject to emphasize someone’s age or physical characteristics. When a site shows a politician or celebrity’s face contorted or just plain goofy in a photo, it’s a subtle attempt to affirm your negative impression of that person and cue you that the article will fit your bias.   

30. MANIPULATED IMAGES. Sometime real images are cropped to give viewers a misleading impression. One way to check a photo is to use Google Reverse Image Search. Paste in the image link or upload the photo. This should give you information on where else the image has been posted so you can compare for manipulation. This will also show if there is mislabeling, and the photo has been repurposed from another event or time. Other free reverse image search engines include TinEye and RevEye. Another way to check graphics is to match the image against Google Street View or satellite imagery of the location. Consider details like vehicles and weather for consistency.

31. MISLEADING GRAPHS. Look closely at any charts related to an article. Using plot points that misinterpret data can skew the results displayed in the image. The axis should always have labels and the value should start at zero. A pie chart should not add up to more than 100%. Trends over significant spans of time are more meaningful than isolated events.

32. GRAPH INFORMATION. Legitimate news sites will include the source of information from which infographics are built. A graphic that does not include a data source is a major red flag; the information is either false or the organization fails to maintain ethical and professional practices. The source of the data can be checked for more information on the topic. There better be a good reason to see a three-dimensional chart. They are seldom needed.   

33. BAIT & SWITCH. Does the headline match the article? Many compelling headlines don't. Reliable websites respect readers by avoiding discrepancies between the headline and the story. Teases designed to trick readers into clicking are a sure sign of a disreputable organization. Reputable sites deliver on the headline’s promise and do not frustrate readers by holding back information in the headline.

34. MEDICAL STUDIES. If the article is based on a new study, the “gold standard” are double-blind peer-reviewed studies. Double-blind studies mean that neither the researchers nor the subjects know who is getting the real medicine or a placebo. If the study is a preprint, it has not been peer-reviewed. If the study was conducted on animals, it does not necessarily mean the findings will apply to humans. Beware of studies from so-called “predatory journals.” These publications do not peer-review manuscripts they publish, and they charge authors a fee to publish.  

35. CONTENT TAGS. Some social media platforms are trying to counter misinformation by adding tags to content that has been identified as misleading. 

36. EDITED VIDEO. If video accompanies an article, look for multiple edits and odd cuts. Amateurs with basic software can easily create cheap fakes by making edits that slow down video, speed it up, cut it into snippets, insert or remove details, or present it in a false context. 

37. FAKE VIDEO. The development of “deep fakes”—videos created using artificial intelligence is making it more difficult to identify manipulated images. Technology can swap faces, clone voices and synchronize lips to a different audio track than the original. A screenshot from a questionable video placed in Google Reverse Image Search might show if there history of manipulation for the image and thus the video as well. Look for visual cues that suggest the video is manipulated, such as distortions, odd movements, and syncing issues between the voice and the facial movements.

More on spotting fake news

Becoming better persons

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We cannot sharply separate the process by which we come to have true beliefs from the process by which we try to become better persons. If we demand intellectual certainty about our beliefs before we begin to live out those beliefs, we will not make much progress on the intellectual questions themselves... progress in answering our intellectual questions goes hand in hand with progress in becoming better people. Our beliefs matter... but we cannot hope to settle questions of belief in a way that is prior to and independent of our struggle to become selves of a certain sort.

C Stephen Evans, Kierkegaard: An Introduction

23 Fake News Signals from the Writing

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Here are some tips for determining if a story is likely reliable. An organization does not need to tick off all these qualifiers in order to be considered authentic and accurate, but the more you see red flags pop up, the more a healthy skepticism is in order.

You’ll notice these are “tips” and not a checklist. Checklists can oversimply the nuances of discernment into black-and-white boxes.

1. ORIGINAL REPORTING. Does this article cite sources likely to know this information? Does the news organization have reporters attending news conferences in person, working in cities where the news is happening, and talking to key sources directly? Or does the organization have to rely on second-hand information from other sites?

2. LONE-WOLF REPORTING. Compare the information with other sites you trust. Are these sites reporting the same information? The site might have a scoop, but a lack of multiple independent accounts means it is more likely that the story is false. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result from writer and producer bias within a company or the result of the particular focus of the outlet (which may include not offending certain sponsors or other companies owned by the same parent company). Typically, you should expect more than one source reporting on an important topic or event. Plus, it’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get various viewpoints and media frames.

3. AP STYLE. Most legitimate news organizations will use the AP Stylebook as a writing guide (no Oxford comma, full name on the first reference and only last name thereafter, etc.). Some organizations have developed their own style guides (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.). Most news organizations use an in-house style guide (to deal with writing issues unique to the publication’s area of reporting).   

4. POOR GRAMMAR. When a writer makes obvious grammatical mistakes, they also may not have taken the time to ensure the article’s facts are accurate. 

5. ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS. Objective journalism avoids adjectives and adverbs. The more of them used in an article, the more you should question whether the writer’s goal is to inform you or to convince you of something.

6. BALANCE. Did the writer engage with anyone who disagreed with the gist of the article? Quality news organizations are looking for both sides—and sometimes, there are more sides than that. 

7. EXPERTS. Does the article quote not only more than one side in a dispute but experts as well? A he-said-she-said story without experts’ opinions in the field is weak reporting. When there’s only a single source for a news article, be hesitant to accept the information without further corroboration.

8. OBJECTIVE. Like the scientist aiming to discover the truth, having some bias does not mean a journalist cannot arrive at the truth through a tested and effective approach (as does the scientific method, despite the researcher’s bias). The complaint that “no one can really be objective” misses the point that it’s not the journalists themselves but the articles that need to be neutral. While bias websites can still post real news, carefully look at the specific evidence, they offer and see if reporting from other legit sites backs it up.

9. OPINION. Is the article part of an opinion section? Does the video feature a commentator? Commentary has a long history of having a part inside the pages of newspapers, but many readers confuse an editorial article with news reporting. The same can happen online or on TV news. There’s no need for an opinion piece to be neutral in its presentation. Just don’t confuse it with an unbiased news piece.           

10. GENERIC ENEMIES. Does the article focus on vague foes who are never specified? “The media,” “supporters of (insert name of politician),” “The right,” “The left,” “Washington,” etc. Good reporting doesn't make these kinds of generalizations.

11. DOXING. Doxing is making private information public in order to hurt a person or organization. If the writer suggests anything like doxing, run the other way.

12. EMBEDDED LINKS. Quality journalism values clarity over style. Links in the article to original source material show a commitment to transparency and allow readers to make up their own minds about its use. Sometimes bogus stories will cite official or official-sounding sources and even link back to them that do not back up the claims in the article. An article without links or quotes from identified sources should be suspect.

13. SPONSORED CONTENT. Some legit news organizations publish articles similar to what they usually publish as real news—only, in this case, an advertiser actually sponsors the material. The intention could be to provide legitimate information about a subject while at the same time promoting the advertiser's product. Sometimes referred to as native advertising, reputable publishers will identify the article as “sponsored content” or “paid partner content” in a prominent location. A precursor to sponsored content was advertorials—a combination of advertising and editorial opinion. These placements were ads disguised as editorial content. 

14. LOCAL REPORTING. If the story involved a particular locale, was local expertise included? Was the reporting conducted on the scene?

15. YOUR REACTION. Be sensitive to occasions when you become angry as you read an article. If you are outraged after reading something, the story may be written to manipulate your emotions. The more shocking and outrageous, the more work is necessary to confirm the information before passing it along.

16. PARTISAN APPEAL. If a story sounds big but appears only on hyperpartisan sites and seems designed for outrage, it could have significant flaws that stopped legitimate news outlets from covering it.

17. FIRSTHAND SOURCES. Use an article’s information to work back to original sources to verify what’s in the article. If the report references a lawsuit, it can often be found online through a Google search or third party like Scribd, CourtListener, or DocumentCloud. Or, if the article references something a company is doing, check that company’s website (or a government agency) to see if there is a news release about that topic or an announcement on a site like PR Newswire.    

18. MULTIPLE SOURCES. Use keywords from the article (unique terms such as someone’s name) that are likely to bring up the same topic from another source using Google News search. The information from each story can be compared. It is unusual for a single outlet to have exclusive information, especially after several days have passed since the article was posted. To avoid generic, unhelpful search results, use unique keywords in your search—like the name of an unfamous person who’s quoted in the story. 

19. TANTALIZING QUOTES. Search for a questionable quote by pasting the text (in quotation marks) into a search engine. If the exact phrasing doesn’t come up or if only a few small outlets have printed the outrageous quote (perhaps from a famous person or politician), then be skeptical about its authenticity. Look for the sentences before and after the quote that makes your blood boil. If the article fails to give them, that could be a warning sign. If the quote is taken out of context, the site (or writer) belongs on your naughty list.

20. SOCIAL MOVEMENTS. A social movement or political uproar can be manufactured artificially. Look for evidence that the people behind a petition or boycott are real people and the effort is organic. Social media posts shouldn’t come from obscure users or bots. There’s a difference between a few snarky tweets and an actual public outcry.

21. THE WRITERS CREDENTIALS. Does the writer possess specialized knowledge in an area, either advanced education or experience covering a particular beat? This is especially important for opinion pieces. A list of qualifications in a writer’s bio should inform the audience as to their expertise. If they are not knowledgeable about the topic, they rely on other sources. An article without quotes or information from experts raises red flags, especially if creators present themselves as experts when they’re actually enthusiasts. 

22. ODD WORDING. AI-created text lacks the ability to write in a way that sounds natural—for now. When word choices or sentence structures are odd, it could be the product of a computer. The same is true with repeatedly using the same words and phrases or writing that lacks emotion. These are signs of machine-generated text.

OpenAI’s GPT-2 Detector is a tool that help to identify whether text is likely AI generated. While AI writing tools are not useful for reliable scientific texts without strong human intervention, it is likely predatory journals will exploit the quick production of scientific articles to generate low-quality content.

23. IMPROBABLE PRECISION. It’s a red flag when someone claims, "I drove from Chicago to Miami in 1.5847 hours." That kind of precision is unlikely.

More about spotting fake news

30 AI & Data Science Articles form July

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Using data from high-resolution satellite images. USC researchers say have developed an AI model that they say accurately predicts where a wildfire will go next

A Look Under the Hood of Scopus AI: Elsevier’s search tool for scholarly testing

Bayesian Thinking in Modern Data Science

When AI makes a fatal mistake, who’s to blame? Air Force Secretary weighs morality and reality

An AutoML Framework Designed to Synthesize End-to-End Multimodal Machine Learning ML Pipelines Efficiently 

Tracking AI-Related Activities in the Private Sector 

A collection of tutorials focused on visualizing data

Could TTT models replace transformers to become the next frontier in generative AI? 

US spy satellite agency rethinks its relationship with Space Force

AI definitions: Algorithms

Direct, specific instructions for computers created by a human through coding that tells the computer how to perform a task. This set of rules has a finite number of steps that instruct the computer how to perform a task. More specifically, it is code that follows the algorithmic logic of “if”, “then”, and “else.”   

Do LLMs need a strong model of the world to get past its limitations? This author argues that isn’t the issue.

How to assess a general-purpose AI model’s reliability before it’s deployed

Big Data Analytics in 2025: Top Trends to Watc

A Look at the technology & hardware that make spy satellites work 

The US military will award a $3 billion contract for AI-driven geospatial intelligence this fall

“For every ML model that you consider deploying, make sure that your data scientists provide you with a full view of its potential business value”

Tools every data scientist should know: A practical guide

AI Definitions — Agents

Unlike AI prompts requiring user conversations, AI agents work in the background. Users provide a goal (from researching competitors to buying a car) and the agent acts independently, generating task list and starting to work. The industry is working toward a goal of agents operating independently. More AI definitions here:  

“Trump’s allies are drafting a sweeping AI executive order that would launch a series of “Manhattan Projects” to develop military technology

AI model harnesses physics to autocorrect remote sensing data

10 GitHub Repositories to Master Data Science 

A Graph Reinforcement Learning-Based Handover Strategy for Low Earth Orbit Satellites under Power Grid Scenarios

AI definition: Digital Twin

This means replicating the physical in a virtual environment. The twin might be a copy of us or the objects around us, such as a video avatar of a person or a statistical model of a complex phenomenon...  

15 Graphs That Explain the State of AI in 2024

“What do we need from a probabilistic programming language to support Bayesian workflow?”

Certifications that can boost your data science career in 2024

The case for decentralized data scientists 

AI Definitions: Retrieval augmented generation (RAG)

This coding technique instructs the bot to cross-check its answer with what is published elsewhere, essentially helping the AI to self-fact-check. RAG lets companies “ground” AI models in their own data, ensuring that results come from documents within the company.    

Satellite Images Show Expansion of Suspected Chinese Spy Bases in Cuba

Artificial intelligence can speed-sort satellite photos

Helping nonexperts build advanced generative AI models

Why AI systems like ChatGPT are so good at some tasks and so bad at others

Researchers say they have created a machine learning algorithm that processes satellite data to more accurately & efficiently predict space weather conditions caused by solar activity

The capacity to be an “I”

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Differentiation means the capacity of a family member to define his or her own life's goals and values apart from surrounding togetherness pressures, to say “I” when others are demanding “you” and “we.” It includes the capacity to maintain a (relatively) nonanxious presence in the midst of anxious systems, to take maximum responsibility for one's own destiny and emotional being. It can be measured somewhat by the breath of one's repertoire of responses when confronted with crisis. The concept should not be confused with autonomy or narcissism, however. Differentiation means the capacity to be an “I” while remaining connected.

Edwin Friedman, Generation to Generation

What Fake News is NOT

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Some people will mislabel rumors, hoaxes, and real news stories they don’t like as “fake news.” Another area of confusion is stories that result from mistaken or bad journalism.  

Sometimes well-respected news organizations get it wrong: sources can lie, documents can be faked, and reporters can mishear quotes. Sometimes new information changes the basic understanding of what is known publicly. You wouldn’t call this fake news since the motivation for posting the original (but mistaken) information wasn’t to deceive. What can make the situation worse: is the financial pressure of shifting away from legacy media (like newspapers) into the digital world, leaving the news industry scrambling to figure out how to support quality journalism financially. 

Between the pressure to meet social media engagement quotas and competition with other publications, writers often don’t get the necessary time to craft thoughtful and nuanced stories—or possess the power to reject an assignment over concerns about amplification.

Inaccurate details, such as reporting that four people are dead in a plane crash instead of six, can result from an honest mistake. The wrong number might have been heard or written down.

During breaking news, information will quickly shift as bits trickle into news organizations. It takes time to get a clear overall picture of what’s happening. Sometimes law enforcement officials or public relations professionals get the story wrong and send inaccurate information. At those times, news organizations are simply repeating mistakes. This is most likely to happen when only one source of information available whenever a story breaks.

Legitimate news sources will report the truth—as best they know it at the time. But as new information comes in, the story can shift. Just like with scientific research, this meandering pathway is just part of the process of getting to the truth.

It’s worth noting that the approach of legacy news organizations (The Washington Post, CNN) differs from new media outlets (BuzzFeed News, Politico). Traditional outlets aim at objectivity or neutral-voice reporting, where the focus is on being balanced, keeping the journalist’s opinions out of reports. More recently launched news sites are likely to focus on immediacy and transparency over neutrality and update readers whenever more information is known. Each approach presents different weaknesses for reporters to overcome. Of course, commentators may reference news information but are not acting as neutral reporters. Opinion pieces are often confused with basic news reporting. Pay attention whether you are reading a news report, an editorial, a guest blogger, a review, a disguised ad, or a comment.

The bottom line: be skeptical and bring a critical mind with you to everything you read. Keep in mind that “fake news” can be about something else besides the truth. As University of Southern California media scholar Mike Ananny has said, it is often “a struggle between [how] different people envision what kind of world that they want.”

Here are some tips for determining if a story is likely reliable. An organization does not need to tick off all these qualifiers in order to be considered authentic and accurate, but the more you see red flags pop up, the more a healthy skepticism is in order.

You’ll notice these are “tips” and not a checklist. Checklists can oversimply the nuances of discernment into black-and-white boxes.

More about spotting fake news

Four Kinds of News Sites

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1-Quality news brands (like the BBC and The Washington Post) have earned their reputations over time as consistently reliable news sources (not perfect, but more trustworthy). Savvy readers don’t expect as much from 2-inconsistent outlets that sometimes show bias but are not “fake” (Huffington Post, Fox News). In these cases, some information may be misleading by the way an issue is framed. Then there are 3-satirical news sites (The Onion, Clickhole, and The Babylon Bee). The articles and videos are intentionally fake but intended to be funny or make a point. They aren’t designed to fool anyone. 4-Fake news sites deliberately fabricate stories. (RT News, The Globe) Packaged as legitimate journalism, these articles may mix some truth with outright lies to deceive readers or gain clicks. Fact-checkers distinguish between misinformation, where the sharer may not realize the information is fraudulent, and disinformation, where the creator/sharer knows the information is false. In each case, the motivation of the sharer can be different.

Google searches for “Fake News” since 2014

The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics encourages journalists to “seek truth and report” and “be accountable and transparent” while doing it. Looking for these qualities is an effective way to separate the fake and the real.

Letting go of the old life

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Change can happen at any time, but transition comes along when one chapter of your life is over and another is waiting in the wings to make its entrance. Transition does not require that you reject or deny the importance of your old life, just that you let go of it. Far from rejecting it, you are likely to do better with the ending if you honor the old life for all that it did for you. It brought you everything you have. But it is time for you to let it go of it. It's time to let it go.

William Bridges, The Way of Transition

7 Webinars This Week about AI, Journalism, & More

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Mon, July 29 - Implementing AI in Your Classroom or Student Newsroom

What: Do you want to implement AI tools into your existing classes but don’t know how? Does your syllabus or student newsroom have an AI policy? Or do you want to create your own standalone AI journalism course?  Our experts will walk you through ways to do just that, as well as provide examples and materials you can build into your classes or newsrooms right now.

Who: Mike Reilley Senior Lecturer, University of Illinois-Chicago; Matt Waite Professor of Practice, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free for members, $25 for nonmembers

Sponsor: Online News Association

More Info

 

Tue, July 30 - Protecting mental health in the face of online and offline attacks  

What: How trauma affects journalists and available resources including A Mental Health Guide for Journalists Facing Online Violence released in 2022. This resource was created with the needs of journalists in mind by mental health professionals specialized in working in trauma and the media.

Who: IWMF Next Generation Safety Trainer Rosem Morton is a documentary photographer, registered nurse, and safety consultant based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a National Geographic Explorer whose work focuses on daily life amidst gender, health, and racial adversity.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Pen America, International Women's Media Foundation, Committee to Protect Journalists

More Info

 

Wed, July 31 - Research Update: AI’s Impact on Newsrooms, with researcher Felix Simon

What: A discussion of AI’s impact on the news, building on Simon’s 2024 research paper Artificial Intelligence in the News: How AI Retools, Rationalizes, and Reshapes Journalism and the Public Arena. We’ll get into what’s changed since that report and discuss recent research about how audiences are thinking about AI. We’ll also talk about the ways AI is changing the way technology interacts with the public sphere more broadly, including media, government and civil society.

Who: Felix M. Simon, Research Fellow in AI and Digital News, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free for members, $25 for nonmembers

Sponsor: Online News Association

More Info

 

Wed, July 31 - What You Need to Know About Artificial Intelligence

Who: Chiraag Bains, senior fellow at Democracy Fund and nonresident senior fellow with Brookings Metro; Miranda Bogen, Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s AI Governance Lab; David Brody, Managing Attorney of the Digital Justice Initiative at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Spencer Overton, the Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University; Jon Greenbaum, Founder of Justice Legal Strategies.

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Center for Democracy & Technology

More Info

 

Wed, July 31 - Covering AI in your Community

What: You’ll learn: How AP is handling its coverage of AI. What went into the new chapter on AI in the AP Stylebook. How to approach stories that involve AI as a reporter and an editor.

Who: Pia Sarkar, deputy business editor; Garance Burke, global investigative reporter; Sally Ho, investigative reporter; Shawn Chen, global technology news editor

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Associated Press

More Info

 

Wed, July 31 - Harness the Power of Generative AI for Good

What: This session will delve into practical use cases of generative AI that demonstrate how nonprofits can leverage these tools to more effectively achieve impact, enhance their operations, and drive engagement. In addition, you'll receive an overview of key generative AI technologies that have emerged, including agents, retrieval-augmented generation, and fine tuning. You'll learn the types of problems each of these technologies allows you to solve and when to consider using them in your own practice.

Who: Ryan Harrington, Tech Impact Director of Strategy and Operations

When: 10 am

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: TechSoup

More Info

 

Wed, July 31 - Navigating AI Ethics

What: This presentation for academic librarians and instructors on the critical importance of ethics in the development and deployment of AI systems. We will discuss the fundamental principles of AI ethics, including transparency, fairness, and non-maleficence, and examine real-world ethical issues such as privacy concerns, surveillance, and the tension between AI decision-making and human autonomy.

Who: David Hatami has developed expertise in the emerging field of AI Ethics & AI Policy frameworks for Higher Education. David provides effective and innovative solutions for online learning and education management in the 21st Century.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Niche Academy

More Info

The Power of Touch

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A study of NBA players found the best teams touch each other a lot, while the losing teams seldom touch each other.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley looked at what happened between teammates during the 2009 season and found the most touch-prone were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, two of the league’s top teams at the time. The mediocre Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats were at the bottom of the touch list. The same held true for individual players. The study took into account the possibility of teams high-fiving just because they were winning and adjusted accordingly. Even when the high expectations surrounding the more talented teams were taken into account, the correlation persisted.

A warm touch reduces stress by releasing hormones that promote a sensation of trust. This can free up the part of the brain that regulates emotion so it can engage in problem-solving.

The investigators also tested couples, finding with more touching came greater satisfaction in the relationship. Previous research has suggested students receiving a teacher's supportive touch on the arm or back or arm were much more likely to volunteer in class, and a sympathetic touch from a doctor gives patients the feeling that a visit lasted twice as long as it actually did.

Stephen Goforth

The best moments of our lives

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The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his won record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage. For each person, there are thousands of opportunities, challenges to expend ourselves.

Such experiences are not necessarily pleasant at the time they occur. The swimmers muscles might have ached during his most memorable race, his lungs might have felt like exploding, and he might have been dizzy with fatigue – yet these could have the best moments of his life. Getting control of life is never easy, and sometimes it can be definitely painful. But in the long run optimal experiences add up to a sense of mastery – or perhaps better, a sense of participation in determining the content of life –that comes as close to what is usually meant by happiness as anything else we can conceivably imagine.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

9 Weaknesses We All Have

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These biases are broad tendencies rather than fixed traits or universal behavioral laws. Everyone does not uniformly share them. Plus, multiple influences result in a given behavior.

1. FALSE MEMORIES. Studies have shown we are susceptible to false memories. We selectively remember our own experiences, much less historical and cultural events. Planting fake memories has become easier these days with AI-enhanced photo and video forgeries on the internet.  

2. CONFIRMATION BIAS. We tend to seek information that confirms what we already believe to be true. Ask yourself: Do I want to believe this report, not because it is well-sourced and reported, but because it fits with what I already believe? One study found about one in ten US adults are willing to accept anything that sounds plausible and fits their preconceptions about the heroes and villains in politics.

3. CORRELATION VS CAUSATION. Just because events or statistics have a connection doesn’t mean you can assume one causes the other.

4. WE OVERVALUE NARRATIVE. Adding a story to a fact increases the likelihood that people will believe it—even when the story narrows the likelihood of it being true. We like tidy stories, not ambiguity.

5. FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS. Humans tend to read meaning into the unexpected and the improbable, even where there is none.    

6. OVERSIMPLIFICATION. To avoid conflict and uncomfortable thinking, we oversimplify to reduce tension. Soon, one side looks good, and the other is dismissed as evil.

7. SUNK COST FALLACY. We hang on to a course of action or idea when we have invested in it, even when circumstances and reasoning show we should abandon it.

8. GOOGLE SEARCH RELIANCE. Google is not neutral. When you Google something, the algorithm isn’t weighing facts but other factors, such as your search history. Google tailors your results to what you want—or what the search engine “thinks” you want. Because of this personalization, you are probably getting different results than the person sitting next to you. Be critical of search engines as you are critical of the media. Don’t assume the first link or the first page that comes up when you Google something is the best answer to your question.

9. AVAILABILITY BIAS. This shortcut for making quick decisions gives your memories and experiences more credence than they deserve, making it hard to accept new ideas and theories.    

12 Fact-Checking Sites

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Most fact-checking sites give out-sized space to political issues. This misses a deal of quality journalism published in other areas (health, environment, religion, etc.). Also, a complaint leveled at fact-checkers is that they will sometimes fall into “selection bias”—the tendency to pick apart stories promoting views with which they disagree.  

Fact-Checker                     News Literacy Project

FactCheck.org                    Politifact

Hoaxy                             Snopes        

Irumor Mill                      SourceWatch                   

Media Bias Fact Check        Truth or Fiction

MetaBunk Washington Post Fact Checker

More about fake news

Language that Ignites

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Language that speaks of hopes, dreams, and affirmations (“You are the best!”), this kind of language--let’s call it high motivation--has its role. High motivation is not the kind of language that ignites people. What works is.. speaking to the ground-level effort, affirming the struggle. Phrases like, “Wow, you really tried hard,” or “Good job, dude,” motivate far better than empty praise.

Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code

AI Definitions: Algorithms

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*Algorithms - Direct, specific instructions for computers created by a human through coding that tells the computer how to perform a task. This set of rules has a finite number of steps that instruct the computer how to perform a task. More specifically, it is code that follows the algorithmic logic of “if”, “then”, and “else.”  

The code follows the algorithmic logic of “if”, “then”, and “else.”  An example of an algorithm would be:        

IF the customer orders size 13 shoes, THEN display the message ‘Sold out, Sasquatch!’;  ELSE ask for a color preference.     

The two approaches by algorithms:

1. Rule-based algorithms – direct, specific instructions are created by a human

2. Machine-learning algorithms – under the larger umbrella of AI, the data and goal is given to the algorithm, which works out for itself how to reach the goal.. There is a popular perception that algorithms provide a more objective, more complete view of reality, but they often will simply reinforce existing inequities, reflecting the bias of creators and the materials used to train them.

More AI definitions here.

22 Tools for Spotting Fake News

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Ad Fontes Media - Producer of The Media Bias Chart® which rates media sources in terms of political bias and reliability. 

Bellingcat - Investigative search network for citizen journalists using open-source information such as videos, maps and pictures. 

Botcheck - Suggests whether an X/Twitter account is likely to be a bot.

Botometer - Checks the activity of an X/Twitter account and gives it a score based on how likely the account is to be a bot.  

ChatGPT Detector - Developed by the ChatGPT team to determine the likelihood that text was produced using GPT technology.

Database Search Engine - Domain, name and keyword searches across more than 1300 databases (subscription required).

Deepfake-o-Meter - Check images, video and audio to see if they are fake. Free but requires signup.

FactCheck Explorer - Filter and analyze date from the Google Fact Check Explorer.

Facterbot - This Facebook Messenger chatbot aimed at delivering fact checks.

Google Reverse Image Search - Check the history of a photo: When it was first used and where.

Hoaxy - Visualizes the spread of articles across social media.

InVID Verification Plugin

Islegitsite - Check if a website is legit or a scam.

MapChecking – A tool that makes crowd size estimates (protests, rallies). This video explains how it works.  

NewsBot - This Facebook Messenger app identifies the political leaning of an article.

NewsGuard - Steven Brill’s site that uses trained journalists to rate news items and information sites. Produces an email newsletter that tracks misinformation.

Phone Validator - Use this database to detect robo-call and spam numbers.  

RevEye -  A Chrome reverse image search engine add-on. 

Sensity - This tool is designed to spot fake human faces in pictures and videos. Engineers say they trained detectors using 100s of thousands of deepfake videos and GAN-generated images. Free.

TinEye - A reverse image search engine to help determine when an image first appeared on the internet. A free extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Trust Project - A Microsoft project providing indicators of reliable, ethical journalism. 

WatchFramebyFrame - Fact-check videos by looking frame by frame for out of place shadows and such.

More about fake news