Belief
Refers to the conviction and acceptance that something is true and real, without the necessary existence of proof.
Bias
- Broadly, the conscious or unconscious interpretation or representation of a phenomenon in a way that (typically recurrently) favours (or is perceived as favouring) one particular point of view rather than another.
- A conscious or unconscious attitude towards an individual or group that can be interpreted as a (positive or negative) prejudice and that may be manifested in behaviour as discrimination; or in representation, the evaluative loading of description or depiction so that connotative meanings become definitive characteristics: for example, in stereotyping.
Confirmation Bias
A tendency to seek and attend to information that confirms the individual’s beliefs or expectations and to discount that which does not: a bias which reinforces stereotyping.
Conspiracy theory
The attempt to simply explain complex realities as a response to fear or uncertainty. It is not falsifiable, and evidence that refutes the conspiracy is regarded as further proof of the conspiracy. Rejects experts opinions and authority.
Disinformation
A form of propaganda involving the dissemination of false information with the deliberate intent to deceive or mislead.
Fake news
- Any manipulative account of a supposedly newsworthy event or state of affairs which purports to be factually accurate but which is deceptive, misleading, fraudulent, demonstrably false, and/or unverifiable—especially sensational accounts in social media that are designed to ‘go viral’. In a so-called post-truth world, such stories may sometimes have greater appeal for some people than the serious news coverage in the traditional mainstream media. However, those who share it are a small minority, and people who find it entertaining do not necessarily believe it, especially if they regularly access more reliable sources of news. Democracy depends on a well-informed, and a critical response to fake news involves fact checking. In the new media ecology associated with networked communication, disparaging alternative sources of information as ‘fake news’ serves the interests of the mainstream media in advocating legislation to control social media.
- In the discourse of the far right, a dismissive label for any information not in accord with one’s own perspective, especially that which is seen as stemming from journalistic bias in news reports in the ‘liberal media’. In this context, the phrase ‘alternative facts’ was used in 2017 by a senior US presidential aide to justify a claim that Donald Trump had attracted the ‘largest crowd in Inauguration history’, despite photographic evidence indicating otherwise. Chuck Todd, an NBC News journalist, responded: ‘Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods’.
- Spoof news items devised for satirical or comedic purposes (as in The Onion website).
Fact checking
The systematic identification of factual inaccuracies in fake news stories, as in the websites Snopes and PolitiFact.
Hoaxes
The running of an item in good faith that turns out to have been invented by a source, whether to make money, in the hope of influencing public opinion, or merely for the amusement of the hoaxer and his/her friends.
Misinformation
The dissemination of false information, either knowing it to be false (see disinformation), or unknowingly.
Misleading
To give the wrong idea and lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit.
Peer review
A procedure where scholarly work is evaluated by experts of the same discipline against a set of criteria to ensure that it meets the standards necessary for publication. Peer review is widely accepted as the best method for research validation and ensuring quality publications.
The peer-review process may be open, where both author and reviewer are known to each other, or it may be a blind process where the reviewer or the author is anonymized or both author name and reviewer name are hidden.
Spoof
An item that looks and/or sounds like a genuine piece of journalism but which is a parody produced as a form of satirical journalism or to entertain the audience.
Sources:
A Dictionary of Journalism. Oxford University Press
A Dictionary of Media and Communication. Oxford University Press
