False Context
Real media is attached to the wrong time, place, person, or event. Trace its earliest appearance.
1
Use the SIFT process
Four moves for deciding where your attention belongs.
S
Stop
Pause. Do you know the source? Notice whether the claim is pushing you toward an immediate emotional reaction.
I
Investigate the source
Search the creator or organization. Look for reputation, expertise, ownership, funding, and previous work.
F
Find better coverage
Look for credible, independent reporting or research that addresses the same claim with stronger context.
T
Trace to the original
Follow quotations, statistics, images, videos, and citations back to their earliest reliable source.
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Check yourself, too.
You are more vulnerable to weak information when it confirms what you already believe. Slow down most when a claim makes you feel immediately vindicated, angry, frightened, or excited.
2
Read laterally
Open new tabs instead of staying inside an unfamiliar source.
Vertical reading
Staying on the page
- Reading its About page
- Judging its design and domain
- Accepting its description of itself
→
Lateral reading
Investigating elsewhere
- Searching the source’s name
- Checking independent descriptions
- Comparing credible coverage
Useful searches: “organization name” + funding • “author name” + credentials • exact quotation in quotation marks • claim keywords + fact check
3
Trace the evidence
Do not stop when a source includes a link or citation.
“ ”
Quotation
Search a distinctive phrase in quotation marks. Find the complete statement and check whether the surrounding context changes its meaning.
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Statistic
Locate the original report or dataset. Confirm the date, population, definitions, sample, and comparison being used.
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Image or video
Use reverse-image search, locate earlier appearances, identify the creator, and confirm the time, place, and event.
↗
Research claim
Open the cited study. Check that it exists, says what the source claims, and actually studied a comparable situation.