Web Media Literacy

NOTE: This primary draws deeply on media literacy expert Mike Caulfield's eBook, Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers (2017). It also draws on developer Bram Moreinis' own understanding as a web developer, educational technologist, and secondary school teacher. The two sources are not teased apart. Mike should be given credit for the elements that have not become outdated since 2017, and Bram should be blamed for whatever does not make sense anymore.

Before you get into reading, there are many markers (clues) about the trustworthiness of a page. These include the URL (which tells you where you are), the look of the page (fake and questionable news sites often have screens cluttered with image ads) and the writing style (formal, grammatical text that had an editor's eye, or ALL CAPS exclamations (WOW!) and sloppy grammar. 

One can very quickly answer these questions:

1. Is this the domain name you expected?
2. Is the page full of ads, or is the ad / content ratio reasonable?
3. What key claim does the headline and lead paragraph make?
4. Does title seem to match content, or is it obvious "click-bait"?
5. Is the writing formal and grammatical, as if it were reviewed by editors who care about standards? 
6. Is this content identified as branded or advertising content?
7. Is there a byline, or is there "no accountable author"?
8. Is there a dateline to indicate whether this is current, given topic of article?