Train Your Brain to SIFT
CAN YOU TRUST IT?
Story 1: Pharmacist Destroys Vaccines
This post claims a pharmacist was arrested after destroying more than 500 vaccine doses. Using language like “unbelievable” is a clue that the person posting this article is trying to trigger an emotional response. Stop and take a moment to verify the story by fact-checking it.
Investigate the Source
Do you know NPR? If not, do a quick search on Wikipedia.
Copy https://www.npr.org and Wikipedia into your search bar, and see what comes up. If a forward slash appears at the end of the URL—as in https://www.npr.org/— you may have to delete it for the search to work properly.
You can also go directly to Wikipedia and type in the name of the source—but make sure to look carefully at the site’s URL first. Sometimes a site will use a URL that is similar to a trusted source in order to appear more credible than it really is. For example, cnn-trending.com or CBSnews.com.co. Shifty, right? This is called website spoofing.
No need to read the whole Wikipedia entry on NPR. By skimming the introduction, you’ll see that NPR (National Public Radio) was established over 50 years ago by the United States Congress, and that its radio programs reach millions of listeners. These are strong indications that NPR is trustworthy.
Another fact-checking strategy? A news search, which will show you whether or not the story is being covered by more than one trusted source.
Find Trusted Coverage
See if other reputable outlets are reporting the same story by doing a news search. Type or copy and paste the headline into the news tab of a search engine like Google. What comes up?
Do you recognize the news sources that come up in your search? If not, you might need to investigate more. Once you verify a source and confirm a story like this one is true, you can choose whether or not to share it.