The Sift: Student reporters covering protests
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Teach news literacy this week
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No, Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium menu isn’t ‘completely vegan’
NO: U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota Vikings football team plays, is not getting rid of meat and dairy products at concession stands and going totally vegan next season. YES: This rumor originated with a social media account known for publishing satirical, exaggerated and outright false content about the National Football League. YES: A spokesperson for the Vikings said that there was “no validity to the claim.” YES: The stadium offers vegan options at two concession locations alongside other menu items. NewsLit takeaway: A simple but effective practice to root out online falsehoods is examining the source of a claim. Satirists, trolls and purveyors of disinformation frequently disguise falsehoods by making them appear as if they originated with a credible source. A closer look often reveals misspellings — note that the X handle in this example from the @NFCNorthNewss social media account contains an extra “s” at the end of “news.” The account also has a history of similarly sensational and false claims and openly acknowledges it publishes content for satirical or entertainment purposes. This rumor plays into a conspiratorial trope that people are being forced to stop eating meat to help combat climate change. Satirical social media posts about dietary recommendations and guidelines regularly appear and spread out of context, exploiting concerns about government overreach and infringement on personal food choices.
Social media posts falsely claim Trump skipped his kids’ graduations
NO: Former President Donald Trump did not miss high school and college graduation ceremonies for his other children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany. YES: Fact-checkers at Snopes confirmed that Trump attended all high school and college graduation ceremonies for his four other children. YES: Trump falsely stated after the first day of his trial that New York Judge Juan M. Merchan was prohibiting him from attending his son Barron’s graduation. NO: Merchan had not issued any ruling on a request from Trump’s lawyer that court be adjourned for the graduation as of April 26 and said his decision would depend on how the trial progresses. NewsLit takeaway: Confirmation bias — or the tendency to uncritically accept claims that affirm our existing ideas and beliefs — can lead people to accept unverified claims over fact-based reporting from credible sources. A recent rumor about former President Donald Trump’s attendance record at his children’s high school and college graduation ceremonies, for example, may have felt true to his most ardent critics, causing it to spread without evidence. But an extensive search by the fact-checking website Snopes cited numerous news articles, photographs, personal recollections and family memoirs to document that Trump attended high school and college graduation ceremonies for his four eldest children. When encountering a sensational claim online, it’s important to take note of the source. Who is sharing the information and where are they getting their information from? In this case, the rumor was widely spread via social media posts from partisan sources that did not include any links or other attributions to where this claim originated. This lack of evidence is always a good reason to be skeptical of a claim, especially one that involves a derogatory attack about a political candidate.
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