In many cases, it is very difficult to identify real news from fake news. To do this, readers must have solid knowledge about the news item being discussed, the context, and the chronology of events surrounding the news item.
If these do not exist, then readers should consider several other parameters that verify the news. Among the simplest ways is to identify the website that published the news.
Regular media readers are usually familiar with serious, traditional media outlets for which they have already built up credibility. In every democratic country, there are media outlets that have already established themselves as reliable news producers.
However, with the development of technology and social media, the chances of readers falling prey to fake news have increased. As a result of this advancement of the digital space, many websites that call themselves media deliberately spread fake news – hoaxes, propaganda and misinformation that pretend to be real news – often using social media to drive traffic to the Internet and amplify their effect. Unlike news with satirical content, fake news websites deliberately seek to be perceived as legitimate and are aimed at financial gain or the dissemination of a political agenda.
To distinguish these sites from real media, a critical review is needed to see if they are actually media if they have an address, imprint, and contact information.
A large portion of these websites that call themselves media, in order to appear as serious media, have names similar to real media, which confuses readers.
So, in order to identify whether a medium is real or fake, one must look closely at its name and domain.
A similar phenomenon occurs with websites that distribute fake news in Albanian, but also in English, aiming to reach a global audience. However, most of them manage to remove them after being reported on social media.
Hibrid.info brought us some examples of these media:
(hybrid.info)