FAKES IDENTIFICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF SHAPING A CRITICAL THINKING OF FUTURE EDUCATORS

Abstract

Today medias have substantial influence on development of young personality. All without an exception mass media, and especially on-line-space, offering the recipients unbelievable amount of information content, come forward as effective factors of formation of one’s own opinion, development of conception of collective activity, strategy of public policy on local and global scales. Therefore, formation of critical immunity for teachers and students is a necessity. In the context of modern mass-informative manipulations fake news – untruthful reports which are purposefully widespread for the sake of misleading an audience – had become very popular. The aim of this publication is to pay attention to problem of fake reports in mediaspace, to define the criteria of fake news authentication, the most obvious threats of distribution of untruthful news and ways of counteraction of misinformation for the sake of formation of critical immunity of future teachers in the conditions of global information conflicts. The authors of the article considered the concept of fake news, outlined the reasons of active fake news pandemic, paid attention to cases of purposeful distribution of untruthful media reports for the sake of misleading an audience. The complexity of authentication of fake information, that is distributed through traditional mass-media and internet-medias, especially social networks has been marked. There have been presented different fake news classification approaches according to methods of transmission, forms, maintenance, markers. Importance of awareness of audience has been highlighted along with the possibilities of verification of the perceived and intended for distribution information, as well as usage of the results of activity of faktchecking projects. The characteristic markers of purposeful untruthful information messages have been defined: shocking character of news, powerful emotionality of report; absence of reference to the source; erroneous argumentation; manipulative title; versions or theory of conspiracy; fully invented news or absolute fake news. The examples of fake information and possibilities of its recognition have been proved. The authors state the most obvious threats of distribution of unverified news, role of teachers in the process of formation of the critical thinking for the bread-winners of education as effective weapon of fight against manipulations, the necessity of medialiteracy, conscious consumption and distribution of information for all participants of educational environment in the context of new calls of contemporaneity, that is predefined by establishment and development of informative society.