Fake News: Separating Truth from Fiction

by Michael Miller

Overview

While popularized by President Donald Trump, the term "fake news" actually originated toward the end of the 19th century, in an era of rampant yellow journalism. Since then, it has come to encompass a broad universe of news stories and marketing strategies ranging from outright lies, propaganda, and conspiracy theories to hoaxes, opinion pieces, and satire—all facilitated and manipulated by social media platforms. This title explores journalistic and fact-checking standards, Constitutional protections, and real-world case studies, helping readers identify the mechanics, perpetrators, motives, and psychology of fake news. A final chapter explores methods for assessing and avoiding the spread of fake news.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541528147
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2019
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 14 Years

About the Author

Michael Miller is a prolific and best-selling writer. He has written more than 200 books over the past three decades on a variety of nonfiction topics. He graduated from Indiana University and worked in the publishing business. He lives in Minnesota with his wife Sherry.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Fake News: It's Real and It Matters 4

Chapter 2 How Real News Works 17

Chapter 3 The Many Faces of Fake News 28

Chapter 4 Real Fakes 39

Chapter 5 Who Believes Fake News, and Why? 49

Chapter 6 How Harmful Is Fake News? 62

Chapter 7 Fake News and Free Speech 72

Chapter 8 How to Tell Fake News from Real News 82

Chapter 9 You Can Help Fight Fake News 94

Source Notes 100

Glossary 104

Selected Bibliography 106

Further Information 108

Index 110

Editorial Reviews

"[D]efines fake news, describes its insidious power, and provides relevant and accessible examples."—Booklist

From the Publisher

12/01/2018
Gr 8 Up—A much-needed book for today's youth. Miller educates readers about two types of fake news—and how to tell the difference between them and how to take action against them. Fake news is defined by Miller as the abundance of websites and other media containing partially and completely fictitious stories often shared through social media, and also as the trend of powerful people labeling stories that cast them in a negative light as "fake news" despite its veracity. While the text of this title is written with young people in mind, the large blocks of text, sporadic use of photos, and the social media examples showcased (Facebook and Twitter, rather than, say, Instagram), resemble a textbook more than a title that teens might read for personal fulfillment. Still, there aren't many contemporary books for this age group on this important subject. VERDICT A useful addition to classroom and large public libraries.—Ariel Birdoff, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

2018-10-15

What is fake news and how can we recognize it?

In a well-timed survey for teen readers, Miller (My iPad for Seniors, 2017, etc.) sets his introduction firmly in the present, opening with an example of President Donald Trump's quoting of a false National Enquirer story. The author describes how legitimate news is collected and disseminated. He discusses the history of the fake news phenomenon and explains the importance of a free press. He explains bias in news sources and defines what various political labels mean in terms of ideology. Citing authoritative sources, he states that fake news is more often believed and spread by people who are politically conservative. His examples of fake or biased reports include conspiracy theories and controversies about former President Barack Obama's birthplace, vaccinations, the 9/11 attack, the Kennedy assassination, airplane contrails, Russian interference in the 2016 election, and climate change, among others. He concludes with advice for identifying bias in news sources and offers two short lists of sources indicating the nature of their political bias and their degree of authority. He gives suggestions for combating fake news, including how best to persuade others. Informative chapter titles and subheadings make the organization clear, and excellent backmatter will encourage further exploration. Readers may find the exposition dry, but the paragraphs are broken up with color photographs and text boxes, and this subject is timely and important.

A must-have for libraries serving teens. (source notes, glossary, bibliography, further information, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews