Your Vote Counts: A Guide to Researching Election Details

According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, misinformation is:

"False or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive."

Types of Misinformation and Disinformation

• Fabricated content: completely false content;
• Manipulated content: distortion of genuine information or imagery, for example a headline that is made more sensationalist, often popularised by ‘clickbait’;
• Imposter content: impersonation of genuine sources, for example by using the branding of an established news agency;
• Misleading content: misleading use of information, for example by presenting comment as fact;
• False context of connection: factually accurate content that is shared with false contextual information, for example when a headline of an article does not reflect the content;
• Satire and parody: presenting humorous but false stores as if they are true. Although not usually categorised as fake news, this may unintentionally fool readers.

House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media, and Sport. (2018, July 29). Disinformation and 'fake news': Interim Report. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/363/36304.htm#_idTextAnchor002

According to Oxford Language, bias is:

"Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair."

While bias and fake news or misinformation are often associated with each other, it is important to note that there are some key differences. Fake news and misinformation are typically based out of claims with no basis or facts. Biased sources will present the facts, but might do so in a selective way to help sway opinions and decisions.

Types of Biases:

• Conscious Bias/Explicit Bias: Beliefs about the world that we are consciously aware of and that inform our perspectives on a variety of issues.
• Unconscious Bias/Implicit Bias: Describes the unconscious prejudices that influence our perceptions of people and ideas. 
• Confirmation Bias: Likelihood to favor information that aligns with our existing beliefs or attitudes.
• Sampling Bias: This occurs when a sample does not accurately represent the characteristics of the population that it was drawn from.
• Selection Bias: This occurs when the researcher decides who is going to be studied. It is usually associated with research where the selection of participants is deliberate. 
• Publication Bias The failure to publish the results of a study on the basis of the direction or strength of the study findings.

Not all sources can be trusted to deliver information without bias.

In news, media (podcasts, blogs, news shows on TV or streaming, articles, etc) is most often biased in a particular political direction. This means that the information can be worded to create a desired response from the audience, key contextual information can be left out of coverage, content may be presented by hosts showing intense emotion or with evocative visuals/audio, or resource creators may present their opinions or the opinions of political candidates as facts.

How can you tell if you can trust a news source? You can follow the five steps for vetting news sources from the News Literacy Project:

1. Do a quick search: Conducting a simple search for information about a news source is a key first step in evaluating its credibility.
2. Look for standards: Reputable news organizations aspire to ethical guidelines and standards, including fairness, accuracy and independence.
3. Check for transparency: Quality news sources should be transparent, not only about their reporting practices (see above), but also about their ownership and funding.
4. Examine how errors are handled: Credible news sources are accountable for mistakes and correct them. Do you see evidence that this source corrects or clarifies errors?
5. Assess news coverage: An important step in vetting sources is taking time to read and assess several news articles.

Ad Fontes Interactive Media Bias Chart: https://adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/