WRIT 015 (Day): Writing & Culture Seminar

There are four broad categories of fake news, according to media professor Melissa Zimdars of Merrimack College.

Category 1: Fake, false, regularly misleading sites which rely on outrage using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits.

Category 2: Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information.

Category 3: Websites that sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions.

Category 4: Purposefully fake satire/comedy sites that can offer critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news.

Fake News: Sources that entirely fabricate information, disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports.

Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information to comment on current events.

Extreme Bias: Sources that come from a particular point of view and may rely on propaganda, decontextualized information, and opinions distorted as facts.

Clickbait: Sources that provide generally credible content, but use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images.

Filter Bubble: The restriction of what an individual sees based on the search algorithm interpretation of factors such as geographic location, demographic factors, and previous clicks.

Echo Chamber: A situation in which information, ideas, or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition. Official sources often go unquestioned and different or competing views are censored, disallowed, or  underrepresented.

Confirmation Bias: The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.