Confronting Fake News This is the poster that I presented at the Texas Library Association Conference in April 2018. I have also included the accompanying handout.

1. CONFRONTING FAKE NEWS
Pamela Pfeiffer, Public Services Librarian, Tarrant County College/South Campus, Fort Worth, TX 76132
pamela.pfeiffer@tccd.edu
INTRODUCTION
This poster includes descriptions of on-campus
presentations about fake news to various audiences. The
poster highlights what I learned over time, including what
information is especially important to emphasize to
students (and faculty) and what to spend less time on (or
just drop). I also present results of a news survey of
students.
PRESENTATIONS
WORKS CITED
Acosta, Elisa. "Keepin It Real: Tips and Strategies for Evaluating Fake News." CORA (Community of Online
Research Assignments), 2017. https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/keepin-it-real-tips-and-strategies-
evaluating-fake-news.
Lynch, Michael Patrick. “How To See Past Your Own Perspective and Find Truth.” TED, April 2017.
https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_patrick_lynch_how_to_see_past_your_own_perspective_and_find_truth
“Media Bias Ratings.” AllSides, AllSides.com, 2018, www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-
ratings?field_news_source_type_tid=All&field_news_bias_nid=1&title=.
Wineburg, Sam and McGrew, Sarah and Breakstone, Joel and Ortega, Teresa. “Evaluating Information: The
Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.” Stanford Digital Repository, 2016.
http://purl.stanford.edu/fv751yt5934
Zimdars, Melissa. “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical “News” Sources.” 2016.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10eA5-mCZLSS4MQY5QGb5ewC3VAL6pLkT53V_81ZyitM/preview
MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION
DELETED
• Some content specific to the 2016 election (Keep up-to-date!)
• Some content borrowed from other librarians (Find your own style.)
RESULTS OF ENGLISH COMP 1 STUDENT
SURVEY
CONCLUSIONS
• Keep up-to-date with the newest fake news examples
• Balance presenting with audience participation
• Figure out your own style
• Be able to alter content for different settings and
audiences.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
4
8
8
11
21
23
0 5 10 15 20 25
NPR
RUSSIA TODAY
INFOWARS
BUZZFEED
REUTERS
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
NEW SCIENTIST
DAILY WIRE
MSNBC
NBC NEWS
NONE
BBC
UNIVISION
YAHOO
WASHINGTON POST
ABC
FOX NEWS
GAMING/ENTERTAINMENT
CNN
FRIEND, RELATIVE, OR INDETERMINATE
LOCAL TV & NEWSPAPERS
Where do you get your news?
• 2.94 = Average rating of news sources (from
Allsides.com), where 1=Left, 2=Left Leaning
3=Center, 4=Right Leaning, and 5=Right
• On a scale where 1=Strongly Disagree and
5=Strongly Agree,
• Fake News is a problem in the U.S. today = 4.05
• Fake News played an important role in the 2016
presidential election = 3.92
• (Post test forthcoming)
LESS IMPORTANT/DEPENDS ON AUDIENCE
March 30, 2017 Critical
Thinking Conference, Tarrant
County College/South Campus
Approximately 100 students (2
sessions)
Emphasis on students. This first
presentation borrowed a lot of
content from Project CORA.
October 11, 2017 Fake News
Symposium, TCC/South
Campus (sponsored by the
Behavioral & Social Sci Div and
the Library)
Approximately 150 students
and faculty
Emphasis on students. The
presentation was more my own
design. This also included a TED
talk and short discussion.
January 8, 2018 First Week
Back Faculty Conference,
Tarrant County College/South
Campus
Approximately 25 faculty and
staff
Emphasis on faculty thinking
about fake news as both a
critical thinking and an
information literacy issue.
Content tweaked.
January 24-25, 2018 English
Composition 1 class, Tarrant
County College/South Campus
Approximately 40 students (2
sessions)
Emphasis on students. This
included a lot of the same
content plus general
library/information literacy
information.
Established in 1965, Tarrant County College comprises five campuses in Fort Worth, TX.
The college grants Associate degrees and certificates and includes dual-credit and early
college high schools. The total student enrollment in 2016-17 was 98,799.