How to identify fake news and propaganda avoid becoming their victim?

I believe that the first step is to start questioning the so-called official news and to make some analysis based on the veracity of the previous shared news by the same media agency. In the European Union, we are encouraged to get our information from the official sources, which are mostly considered to be the mainstream media. But can these news channels still be trusted?

Well, no. Since the politics got into the news at such a level where politicians or even ex-government members are supporting the concept called war propaganda and they actually advocate for it, they cannot expect that the people will still trust them. When the same politician or journalist is approaching the same subject in different ways, based on the international context or on some foreign pressure, the mentioned person cannot expect to be trusted again.

The people must be encouraged to check the information that they are reading from more sources and, most important, to always wonder what is the other side saying about a certain subject. In the EU, we are encouraged (and even constrained I can say, given the fact that many Russian channels have been banned) to only look for the European official version of the events, instead of trying to understand Russia’s point of view also.

In Romania, only a simple question like “but why would Russia do this, what is the point?” can automatically classify you as pro-Russian. This is the effect of the three years of a continue propaganda.

That’s why, the first step in order to understand that an information is fake is to think what can the reason behind the mass-media wanting me to know this be? Thinking about the political context at the moment and even having some knowledge about the EU’s new narrative about Russia can give serious hints in order to find the correct answer to this question. After finding out why did they want you to have this information, other connections should be made, for example – trying to remember the last news about this subject, the context they were spread in and the impact they had in the society at the moment they were published. If the new information is radically different than the last one you heard about this subject, it may be fake or misleading.

It’s important to always approach the news with caution, especially when it comes to the ones spread by the mainstream media, as most of the times, such channels are just trying to spread the political propaganda among the population.

In Romania, some of the people eventually started to understand the intentions behind all the news regarding the so-called pro-Russian propagandists at the time of the elections. Some of them understood that without the aggressive propaganda, the Constitutional Court and the politicians would have not been able to cancel the elections without getting a massive backlash from the population.

In a time when the journalists started to act like common government-paid agents, the fact-checking became more needed than ever. The official mass-media is now more questionable than ever and reaching the correct information is becoming more difficult day by day.

_{The material reflects the author’s personal position, which may not coincide with the opinion of the editorial board.}