Spotting Bogus News Stories

While trolling through Slate.com the other day, I found this interesting article by David Weigel: Five Ways to Spot a Bogus Story. This is his list ...

The headline contains the word "gaffe."

The headline ends in a question mark.

The headline contains the word "blasts" (or lashes, etc, and etc).

The Headline Is About a "Lawmaker" Saying Something Stupid (Corollary: If a politician is famous, his name appears in the headline, whereas an obscure politician is simply referred to as "a lawmaker.")

The headline contains the phrase "blow to."

I think that's a pretty good list, although I would have added a few ...

The article is based on comments from a source who refused to be identified because:

a. He/she was not authorized to discuss the subject ... but went right ahead and did so; or, 

b. He/she was not authorized to reveal classified information ... but did anyhow.

The source of the article is a think tank or PAC/SuperPAC with a meaningless name that obfuscates its political agenda (such as American Crossroads, Priorities USA Action, or Restore America's Voice PAC).

The story is a major lead on Fox News.

You may also want to refer to Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit*, always useful for evaluating arguments and separating the honest wheat from the quasi-intellectual chaff, or to valuable fact-checking sources like FactCheck.org**.

Heaven knows there's a lot of chaff out there, especially this election year. So remember Bilbo's First Law: Never let anyone else do your thinking for you.

Because they'll do it if you let them.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* See the full discussion in Chapter 12 of his book, The Demon-Haunted World.

** Not particularly useful for those whose "facts" are based on preconceived political or social ideas.