Think You Can Spot Fake News? This Scientifically Verified Quiz Will Tell You

[Ms. Toad]

18. 18/20

Missed one real headline and one fake one.

I missed the confidence on NGO (it is correct that 1/3 worldwide lack confidence). I would have guessed that in the US, but I thought there was more confidence worldwide to counterbalance it.

I think I also missed "The Government Is Manipulating the Public's Perception of Genetic Engineering in Order to Make People More Accepting of Such Techniques." I think that's a fake headline - I debated it a long time, because of it's confirmation bias. On the other hand, I take a broad view on what constitutes government manipulation (I would include things like permitting farmers/supply chains to avoid labeling things as genetically engineered - not technically directly manipulating the public perception, but it does minimize concerns about genetic engineering by making it impossible for the public to avoid genetically engineered products). All of the others I marked real I have confirmed.

In my defense - part of the reason I catch a fair amount of fake news on DU is because my inclination is to check outlandish headlines, and I did not check any of the headlines when taking the test. So, to some extent, it is more a test of how well you follow the day's news than it is a test of your ability to spot fake news.