Media and information education: 5 News Sites That Hunt Fake News

Last updated on 26 March 2023

We know the importance that media and information literacy has assumed in our digital society where traditional media suffer loss of credibility and competition from social networks. EMI, media and information literacy, has become more important than ever in the face of the proliferation of fake news.

How can we develop a critical mind to discern facts from fiction? Some media offer remarkable sites and resources.

In this article, I propose to discover 5 of them. Five news sites that chase fake news and help you work on media and information literacy with your students.

1 – AFP Current

AFP Current is the fact-checking service of Agence France-Presse, which remains, despite a loss of influence, one of the largest international news agencies.

AFP Factual is dedicated to combating disinformation by checking statements, images and videos shared on social networks. The site of fact-checking carried out by AFP regularly publishes articles in French, English, Spanish and Arabic to reach an international audience. AFP Factual also works in partnership with other media outlets and organisations to fight fake news around the world.

In particular, AFP offers a range of Twitter accounts that do factchecking in Spanish, English, Arabic, etc.

2 – The decoders of the world

As the press is not immune to hoaxes and fake news, the major newsrooms have set up specialised fact-checking units. This is the case of the newspaper Le Monde, which was one of the first editors to launch the movement in the press.

The decoders have become a reference. A deserved success. The site offers regular monitoring of the information that is buzzing in France and abroad. A must-have for news rumors. Decoders analyze articles, images and videos circulating on the web to determine their veracity and provide clear and precise explanations. The site also offers educational tools to help readers develop their media and information literacy skills.

3 - Fake Off of 20 minutes

Fake Off is the fact-checking service offered by the free 20 Minutes newspaper. The Fake Off team focuses on analysing and deconstructing fake news by providing clear, detailed explanations based on reliable sources. In addition to presenting the facts, Fake Off is committed to promoting media and information literacy by offering tips and tricks to help readers spot and thwart the pitfalls of fake news.

4 – CheckNews by Liberation

CheckNews is another historical actor in fact-checking in the press. The site has often been used as a support for interventions and courses on media and information literacy.

The site that succeeded Libé's disintox service, proposes an original approach. This is a kind of ‘on-demand journalism’. It is the readers who ask questions, via a dedicated platform, itch to verify any information or rumor. The Checknews team is committed to responding. Several thousand questions were thus dealt with. An approach that reminded me of Eurekoi the question-and-answer service set up by more than 500 librarians in France and Belgium.

5 – Le Vrai du Faux by France Info

Continuous public information radio offers a daily appointment devoted to Fake news in which she dissects one piece of information per day. The show sheds light on the shadowy areas and unravels the truth from the false in the news, and in particular often the powerful statements of women and men politicians. The daily pace of the programme has the advantage of keeping a close eye on current events.

Bonus- Articles about The Conversation's Fake News

I make a small place in this selection under the heading Fake News from the excellent website The Conversation. The collaborative platform of researchers and academics disseminates in-depth articles on fake news. More than 150 articles are available on the site This raises the profile of this issue of fake new, which is so important in media and information literacy.

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This is how, with the resources of the five press sites mentioned above, media and information literacy can be approached through the lens of fake news. Also take a look at this older article that proposed:other resources on Fake news. Tools to learn to discern facts from fiction. These sites offer detailed analyses, teaching tools and clear explanations to help you as teachers and help your students navigate the complex world of information.