Melissa Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication at Merrimack College in Massachusetts has put together a list cataloging false, misleading, clickbait-y and satirical 'news' sources. She has divided them into four categories. Category one and two should be avoided by anyone who wants to cleanse their newsfeeds of misinformation. This, of course, excludes Todd, Schwantz, Chumlee, Sparky and Carl.
CATEGORY 1: Below is a list of fake, false, or regularly misleading websites that are shared on Facebook and social media. Some of these websites may rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits. These websites are categorized with the number 1 next to them.
CATEGORY 2: Some websites on this list may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information, and they are marked with a 2.
CATEGORY 3: Other websites on this list sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions, and they are marked with a 3.
CATEGORY 4: Other sources on this list are purposefully fake with the intent of satire/comedy, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news. I’m including them here, for now, because 1.) they have the potential to perpetuate misinformation based on different audience (mis)interpretations and 2.) to make sure anyone who reads a story by The Onion, for example, understands its purpose.
100PercentFedUp.com (2,3) EnduringVision.com (1) PakAlertPress.com 21stCenturyWire.com (2, 3) FPRNradio.com PoliticalBlindSpot.com 70news.wordpress.com (1) The Free Thought Project (3) PoliticalEars.com Abcnews.com.co (1) GeoEngineeringWatch.org Politicalo (1) ActivistPost.com (2, 3) PoliticusUSA Addicting Info (3) GovtSlaves.info PrisonPlanet.com AmericanNews.com (1) GulagBound.com PrisonPlanet.tv AnonNews.co (3) HangTheBankers.com Private-eye.co.uk (4) Associated Media Coverage HumansAreFree.com ProjectVeritas BeforeItsNews.com Huzlers (4) Being Liberal IfYouOnlyNews React 365 BigAmericanNews.com Indecision Forever (1) RealFarmacy.com BigPZone.com IJR (Independent Journal Review) RealNewsRightNow.com (1, 4) Bipartisan Report InfoWars (1, 2) RedFlagNews.com BizPac Review Infowars.com Red State (3) Blue Nation Review (2,3) IntelliHub.com Reductress (4) Breitbart (3) Inquisitor.com RileNews.com (1, 4) Cap News (4) JonesReport.com Satira Tribune ChristWire.org (4) LewRockwell.com Sprotspickle.com (4) Chronicle.su Liberal America The Blaze CivicTribune.com (1) LibertyTalk.fm The Free Thought Project (3) ClickHole.com (4) LibertyUnyielding Borowitz Report (4) CoastToCoastAM.com (2) LibertyVideos.org The Onion (4) CollectiveEvolution (3) LMR/LibertyMovementRadio.com The Other 98% (3) ConsciousLifeNews.com (2) MediaMass.net (1) The Reporterz ConservativeOutfitters.com (2) MegynKelly.us (1) The Stately Harold ConspiracyWire (WideAwakeAmerica.com) (2) MSNBC.com.co (1) TheDailySheeple.com CountdownToZeroTime.com (2) MSNBC.website (1) TheNewsNerd.com CounterPsyOps.com Naha Daily (4) TheRunDownLive.com National Report TheUsPatriot.com CreamBMP.com (1) NationalReport.net (1) TruthFrequencyRadio.com DailyBuzzLive.com NaturalNews.com Twitchy.com (3) DailyCurrant.com NC Scooper UnconfirmedSources.com NCT (New Century Times) Daily Wire News Examiner USA Supreme DCClothesLine.com News-Hound.com (1) US.Blasting.News Catsailor.com (1) DCGazette.com (1) NewsBiscuit.com (1) US Uncut (3) DerfMagazine.com Newslo (1, 4) VeteransToday.com Disclose.tv NewsMutiny.com (1, 4) DrudgeReport.com.co (1) Newswatch 28 WakingUpWisconsin.com DuffleBlog.com (4) Newswatch 33 Winning Democrats DuhProgressive.com NewsWire-24.com WitScience.org Embols.com NoDisInfo.com World Net Daily Empire Herald Now8News World News Daily Report (4) Empire News (1) NowTheEndBegins.com WorldTruth.tv EmpireNews.com Occupy Democrats (3) ZeroHedge Endingthefed.com
Tips for analyzing news sources:
Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo (above). These sites take pieces of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts” (sometimes for the purposes of satire or comedy).
Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources.
Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.
Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.
Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.
Some news organizations are also letting bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however, many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs, Forbes blogs).
Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.
Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources.
If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY (Todd??) it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.
It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Some sources not yet included in this list (although their practices at times may qualify them for addition), such as The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, and Fox News, vacillate between providing important, legitimate, problematic, and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with other sources.
