So you found a new medical site — that’s great! But . . . should you follow their medical advice? Answer these three questions before you do:
I must confess: I have a soft spot for jefferly.com. Expect funny observations about life, reposts of funny webcomics, and commentaries on U.S. political goings-on. We mark this one “Bias” because, well . . . he has one. So expect a fair bit of color.
24NewsFlash probably just gave up: abysmal Facebook engagements, no post or new article since August 2016, site traffic down. Our researching their site has probably been the highest traffic they've had in awhile. Anti-Hillary ClickBait at its most boring.
While the New Yorker is, of course, real news, the URL that came our way was for the Borowitz Report. From Andy Borowitz’s Wiki page: In 2001, he founded The Borowitz Report, a site that posts one 250-word news satire every weekday. Borowitz also hosts The Moth, which is a most excellent storytelling show on public radio.
From their About page: Empire News is a satirical and entertainment website. We only use invented names in all our stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental. All contributors are responsible for the content of their own material in respect to (but not limited to) copyright, libel…
The article sent to us for Hang the Bankers was this one: “US launches cyber attack on Russia’s power grid, telco networks and Kremlin command systems.” In the article, they claim that Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: “If no official reaction from the American administration follows, it would mean state cyberterrorism exists in the US. If the threats…
God Hates Goths would be another example of Poe’s Law, which we have covered before, were it not for their disclaimer page — DISCLAIMER : The Godhatesgoths website, Parents Against Goth Movement and Gods Hammer Baptist Church are complete works of fiction. It is a satire/parody. — which shows up first when you search Google for “God Hates Goths.” Whether…
Thought Catalog is a site for op-ed pieces. They also tend to repost — and resell — Reddit posts. From their About page: The more worldviews and rhetorical styles on the site, the better. We want to tell all sides of the story. Whether or not they are vigorous with fact-checking is another — and likely, moot — question; the…
The article submitted for WorldTruth.tv was a rehash on an old viral scare from a couple years back about the pacific ocean “dying.” Our issue with this story is that, with the exception of 1 link about Chernobyl, all of the source links point to fear-mongering www.enenews.com, a site that focus solely on questionable conclusions from questionable science. Most of…
“If wishes were fishes, we’d all cast nets.” That Frank Hubert Dune quote immediately sprung to mind when we saw this article from www.toeindia.in. Toeindia.in stands for “Times of Everything,” whatever that means. And the fine folks at LGBTQ Nation already discussed the hoax nature on this story, as well as two other ridiculous Toeindia.in stories. [Editor’s Note: We’ll revisit…
Above Average is develops and produces original, laugh-out-loud comedy programming. Above Average is a digital-first company with a 40-year television and film legacy.
The Øxymoron is published by students of Oxford University. Its satirical reach rarely extends beyond Oxford University and its surrounding areas, save when they doll out grievances against their arch-nemeses at Cambridge (because that’s totally a thing). From their About page: The Oxymoron is satirical student magazine, described by its founder as “better than all publications and most charities”.
WHAM is an ABC local affiliate in Rochester, NY. As real news sources have fallen for fake news before, you should always look for a second (and sometimes third) source for the article.
Per their Facebook page: "The Red Rock Tribune is a conservative news and opinion website."
Fake. Fake. Fake. (And we really cannot stress this enough.) In the immortal words of Public Enemy: Can’t Truss It! Articles on The National Report tend to be a tad more . . . subtle. This ‘gentle’ form of satire parodies real news in a way that seems almost designed with the specific goal of tricking its readers. More to…
Imagine The Colbert Report television show, without the laughing audience, the obvious wink-wink of the host, and the over-the-top comedic stylings of Comedy Central writers, and you have Christwire. Christwire highlights the excesses of American Christian conservatives through its satire. Ironically — or expectably, depending on your point of view — Christian Conservatives tend to mistake Christwire articles as true…
breakingnews247.net is another in a long list of prank sites (aka Lazy ClickBait). The site is upfront about what it is ("Prank your friends now!") but if you're not paying attention, you could get caught-out!
One of the ways to check if a news source is legit is to simply look at the site itself. At first glance, Empire Herald seems fairly legit — the site looks polished and well formatted. But the site’s footer is ripe with broken/non-existent links, particularly the contact us and advertise links, both of which point to a # relative…
The Epoch Times is both real and really interesting to read. Originally, it was directed towards Chinese readers living abroad, countering through its own reporting and opinion pieces what it considers to be CCP propaganda. There is some concern that their primarily negative stance towards the CCP colors their work too much, but considering the closed nature of China’s microcosm,…
