Nowadays public are constantly surrounded by
information, and it is not always easy to know which sources to trust. Public
are being able to evaluate the credibility of information in an important skill
used in school, work and our daily life (Sbenjamin, 2012). Public are looking
for answers and guides on everything through internet when doing their
research. It is because everything is easy to found using an internet today.
However, this abundance of information does not show that it is the credible
sources.
Because of the lack of credibility of the
information, it is important that all sources be checked thoroughly before they
are used or read in a story. This rule applies to both offline and online
sources and should not be changed based merely on the format and medium used
for the story (Susannah, 2011).
There are three main parts to verify a credible
source which are content, context and code. Content that includes how realistic the story sounds, as well
as how up to date the information is (Anon 2011). For example, the online
rumors, such as online rumors can be viral such as the earlier rumor on
Rowan Atkinson and Jackie Chan’s death went global without confirmation to its
source (Anon 2011). Online
news that is shared will not go through formal confirmation or filtered leading
to untrustworthy news circulating the web. Therefore people share unconfirmed
rumors or news on social media sites like they are in the newsroom or our daily
conversation of exchanging thoughts in words.
Context is the
information was used and how well you know and trust the source. For example, try to speak to the
person such as phone
to their office or employer and confirm whether they do indeed have the account
in question. For websites the checks are broadly similar. On Google, use the
advanced search facility to look for other pages
that link to the one that are checking. These might include
other website that has rumbled the hoax before bragging about it (Anon 2011).
Coding is using
checks such as domain extensions (.edu and .gov) as well as website age and
registration information using databases such as the whois search. Official government, education sites and
well known real world companies might be have the credibility of source. When
using others article or source, a good suggestion is verifying the source
through at least three authority sites that refer to the source in question.
References
Anon (2011). Jackie Chan death hoax hits Twitter.
GMA News. Retrieved from 25 July 2012, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/216469/scitech/jackie-chan-death-hoax-hits-twitter
Anon(2011). Jackie Chan Death Hoax Sweeps Social Medial.
The Inquisitr. Retrieved from 25 July 2012, http://www.inquisitr.com/135052/jackie-chan-dead-august-2011/
Gardner, T (2012). RIP Mr Bean: False rumour of
actor Rowan Atkinson’s death trends worldwide on Twitter. Mail Online.
Retrieved from 25 July 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106780/Rowan-Atkinson-death-hoax-trends-worldwide-Twitter-RIP-Mr-Bean.html
Anon (2011). Content, context and code: verifying
information online. Online Journalism Blog. Retrieved from 21 August 2012, http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2011/01/26/verifying-information-online-content-context-code/
Sbenjamin (2012).
How to Evaluate the Credibility of a Source. Mediawiki. Retrieved from
21 August 2012, http://www.wikihow.com/Evaluate-the-Credibility-of-a-Source
Susannah (2011). What constitutes a credible source.
Journalismmedia.com. Retrieved from 21 August 2012, http://journalismmedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-constitutes-credible-source.html
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