How can you spot deceptive news if you don't know what REAL news looks like?
One way to become a smarter consumer of news is to understand how news is supposed to be reported, fact-checked, edited, published, updated, and corrected when necessary.
Journalism, like other professions, has ethical rules and standards of practice. Good journalists and news outlets hold themselves to these standards, and the public can hold them accountable, too.
If you're not sure about a news story you've seen online, on TV, or in a print source, ask yourself: Does this story meet standards of real journalism?
This infographic summarizes the Seven Standards of Quality Journalism.
You can quickly evaluate any news story by checking to see if meets these standards.
The Society of Professional Journalists has created a Code of Ethics for journalism. The core principles are:
On their website, the SPJ defines each principle and lists exactly what journalists should do to follow them. Each of these guidelines also has a link to further resources providing more detail and support for each journalistic practice.