MISINFORMATION
Trustworthy news sites battle against harmful fakes
There are a number of ways to spot a fake news site, writes Yvonne Fontyn
Media companies have a responsibility to their audiences to ensure they access the correct social media and online information, says William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa. "The media need to up their game to educate their audiences on what the issues are," he says. In the production of misinformation and propaganda – dubbed "fake news" in a dumbed-down and more literal era – many operators who emulate credible media use tactics similar to the online banking scams, says Bird. Customers were led to a banking website that looked very much like the real one. Banks moved to differentiate their sites and media should do the same: "It’s about making sure people know what is a legitimate and trustworthy site." Consumers, bombarded with nonsense posing very competently as real news, are learning how to spot a fake. "The devil is in the detail. A fake Radio 702 account, for example, [might have] an extra zero in it," Bird says. Another way to assess whether a site is real is to lo...
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