Types of
Misleading and Fake News
Jim Luke has recommended "Taxonomy of News Methodologies as Regards to Factuality" which provides a more nuanced list.
Fake News
Fake news is knowingly made up by the authors who knows the "news" they are posting is not true. Theresa McCoy in her "For the ‘New Yellow Journalists,’ Opportunity Comes in Clicks and Bucks" profiles two individuals who write this type of news.
Misleading News
Misleading news generally has some basis of fact, but the factual information is taken out of context.
Highly Partisan News
Partisan news supports a particular political agenda. Partisan news can be benign to a serious manipulation of facts. Examples of how two highly partisan websites reported on a story about fake news can be found in the "Research How a Story is Reported."
Clickbait
Sensational headlines are a main feature of Clickbait. The headlines are designed to get the reader to click on the link. The story may or may not live up to the promise of the headline.
Satire
Satire does not present to be real news. However, sometimes people do not recognize the satire and share these stories as real news. The Onion, which describes itself as "American's Finest News Source," is one of the most famous of these sites.
Hybrid Websites
Sometimes, a legitimate new source will also publish satire on its website. Andy Borowitz' satirical articles can be read as legitimate news because they are published by The New Yorker. The quality and legitimacy of websites such as The Huffington Post can vary widely in terms of credibility.
Old Articles Presented as Contemporary News
It is important to check the dates on which a news item was originally reported. For example, Bill Palmer's New Poll Says Paul Ryan is Losing in His Reelection Bid in Wisconsin was published by the Daily News Bin on 9 July 2016. However, it continued to be shared on social media after Ryan won his primary in ways that Ryan was having a difficult time in the general election.
The article was so widely shared that the editors of the Daily News Bin added the following to the top of the article "Editor’s note: this article was from the primary season and does not apply to the current general election race. Please don’t share it on social media as if it were a new article. Thank you..."
