Media Literacy Hub

What is Clickbait? Content designed to attract clicks using sensationalized or misleading headlines. The goal is ad revenue, not information.

Warning Signs: ALL CAPS, "You won't believe...", vague pronouns, excessive punctuation!!!

Protection: Read beyond headlines, check if content delivers on promises, verify with credible sources.

Understanding Bias: When news systematically favors certain viewpoints while downplaying others through story selection, framing, and word choice.

Types of Bias: Political bias, corporate bias, sensationalism bias, confirmation bias.

Strategy: Read same story from multiple sources, distinguish news from opinion, pay attention to what's NOT said.

Facts: Statements that can be proven true or false through evidence. They exist independently of beliefs.

Opinions: Judgments, beliefs, or viewpoints that cannot be definitively proven. They reflect preferences or interpretations.

Key Question: "Could this be verified with evidence?" If yes, it's a fact. If not, it's opinion.

High Credibility: Named authors with expertise, citations to sources, transparent funding, established reputation, corrections policy.

Low Credibility: Anonymous authors, no sources cited, hidden ownership, track record of false claims, never admits errors.

Verify: Check "About Us" page, look up author credentials, search fact-checking sites, cross-reference multiple sources.

Misinformation: False information shared without malicious intent. Someone genuinely believes it's true.

Disinformation: Deliberately created and spread to deceive, manipulate, or cause harm for political, financial, or ideological gain.

Before Sharing: Verify with credible sources, check dates, look for corroboration, be skeptical of emotional content.

What Are Deepfakes? Synthetic media created using AI to replace/manipulate someone's likeness, voice, or actions in video, audio, or images.

Detection Signs: Unnatural blinking, mismatched lighting, blurring around edges, poor audio sync, unusual skin texture.

Stay Safe: Be skeptical of shocking videos, check credible news sources, use reverse image search, look for official verification.

Common Fallacies: Ad Hominem (attacking person not argument), Strawman (misrepresenting position), False Dilemma (only 2 options), Slippery Slope (extreme consequences).

Why It Matters: Fallacies appear valid but contain fundamental flaws that make conclusions unreliable.

Evaluate: Identify the claim and evidence, check if evidence supports conclusion, look for emotional manipulation.

How Numbers Mislead: Cherry-picking data, misleading graphs, percentages without absolute numbers, comparing incomparable things, correlation as causation.

Example: "Crime increased 50%!" sounds dramatic until you learn it went from 2 to 3 incidents in a small town.

Ask: Sample size? Margin of error? Who funded research? Absolute numbers behind percentages? Fair comparison?