The Fake News Phenomenon - NPR article on Stanford research results

In this piece, NPR covers the findings of researchers at Stanford University where they 'evaluated students' ability to assess information sources and described the results as "dismaying," "bleak" and "[a] threat to democracy."' 

 Students apparently showed '"stunning and dismaying consistency" in their responses, the researchers wrote, getting duped again and again.'

 Some of the findings included in the study claim that:

  • Most middle school students can't tell native ads from articles.
  • Most high school students accept photographs as presented, without verifying them.
  • Many high school students couldn't tell a real and fake news source apart on Facebook.
  • Most college students didn't suspect potential bias in a tweet from an activist group.
An interesting and slightly disturbing look at something that many adults simply take for granted - that those growing up in the digital age are media literate.


Students Have 'Dismaying' Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds

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