Beyond The Headlines – The Online News Verification Game

Instructions to use the game in a classroom setting –

• put students into groups of 3 or 4 people

• distribute copies of the pdf to students with examples of news and information content of varying veracity (some examples and resources are below).

• students then analyse their content according to each of the 20 points and 1 bonus question using online search tools to investigate

• when they have finished ask each group to present their content and their findings in front of the class and write their final score on the board

• compare the lowest and highest scores the groups received and discuss how everyone came to their own conclusions about their content

[Click here for a downloadable pdf copy of the game]

EXTRA: The Beyond the Headlines game can be used in unison with our Beyond Fake News infographic and the 5 Media Concepts and Questions. Students can use all three tools to write a report about the content they are given or have chosen themselves.

Examples of content:

• EU vs Disinfo. You can find lots of European-related examples of mis- and dis-information here which has been debunked.

• Blocks of Anti-Trump Protest Buses Caught On Tape

• Donald Trump Says The Earth Is Flat – Fake CNN site

• The Earth is Flat But they Can’t Handle the Truth – Huffington Post (Satire)

• Melissa Zimdar’s Fake News List – Wikipedia

• Can You Spot the Fake News Stories? – BBC Quiz

• Snopes Fake News Archives

• Fake News Has Terrifying Power Over the Real World – Vice