Do you recognise fake news?

From ABC's Fact Check and RMIT

There is a lot of Fake News in the world these days. Facebook would definitely take first place in this race closely followed by Twitter and I suspect this problem is mirrored in all social media platforms. I have also noticed more text messages and emails containing dubious facts in the last couple of weeks.

One only has to glance way across the Pacific and see that there are some world leaders who frankly should be living in Disneyland.

From Washington, D.C.

“I know South Korea better than anybody,” US President Donald Trump declared during a recent coronavirus briefing.

“You know how many people are in Seoul? You know how big the city of Seoul is?” the President asked, before answering his own question. “Thirty-eight million people. That’s bigger than anything we have; 38 million people all tightly wound together.”

Seoul has a population of 9.8 million people or 25 million people if you’re including the greater metropolitan area. It’s unclear where President Trump got the figure of 38 million from, but it does closely match the population of the greater Tokyo area.

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Readers who have been keeping up to date with CoronaCheck will have noticed there is a lot of misinformation and fake news circulating about coronavirus. The following from the RMIT ABC Fact checking team: RMIT ABC Fact Check will continue to bring you as much factual information as possible, but it’s also important that you stay vigilant to stop fake news spreading in the first place. As part of the ABC Education program, Fact Check has previously produced a series of interactive lessons to help you spot, verify and debunk information. While originally designed for use in high schools, the series is perfect for anyone looking to improve their fact-checking skills. Helpfully, some of our International Fact Check Network friends have also put together guides to help spot misinformation online:

• How you can fact check claims about the new coronavirus (from the UK's Full Fact)

• Guide: How to vet information during a pandemic (Africa Check)

• 7 ways to avoid misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic (Poynter)

How to spot coronavirus fake news – an expert guide (The Conversation)

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Things that don’t cure and/or prevent coronavirus

#7: Alkaline food “Coronavirus has nothing to do with the stomach, so how do these ‘alkaline foods’, like lemon, lime, avocado and garlic, beat the virus? This claim should be ignored.”

- Professor Oyewale Tomori, quoted by Africa Check

#8: Inhaling steam “In general, people may find that inhaling steam during any sort of respiratory illness helps with their symptoms, such as cough, nasal congestion and chest congestion. However, this is only symptomatic relief and it is not a treatment for any viral infection.”

- Dr Jason McKnight, quoted by AFP Fact Check

So remember take every article you read (including this one) with a grain of salt.

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