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Activism

To understand what activism is, and what we know about what works.

Some Definitions

Fake News: news that is intentionally incorrect, published either for a political purpose or to make money through ad revenue. Disinformation.

Propaganda: systematic fake news from a  source with political goals.   

Satire:  purposely absurd "news" to entertain while making a point.  

Clickbait:  web site content created in order to draw clicks, which monetize for the producer via ad revenue.  "You won't believe what happens at 2:43 in this video!"   

Native Advertising:  ads promoting or selling something, but made to look like a news story.   

Content Farm: Website that packages a lot of (openly available) info into something pretty, driving traffic for the ad revenue.  

Fact-checkers

Some organizations have made a career out of checking the facts and publishing the results.  Here are a few of the most-respected ones.  

  • These differ from "reliable news sources" in that their purpose is to track and challenge what other people publish, not find or report news.  
  • This short list is fact-checkers deemed non-partisan.  
  • These organizations are employing "The Elements of Thought" and "Universal Intellectual Standards" such as these described by Richard Paul.