Fake news headlines are going viral. What to know
UC journalism professor tells CBS News that education in media literacy could be the answer
CBS News turned to a University of Cincinnati journalism professor to explain why so much online content is fabricated for the express purpose of deceiving people.
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Jeffrey Blevins told CBS News that fake headlines are being shared by influencers and politicians who either don't check the veracity of the content or simply don't care if it's bogus.
CBS News identified fake headlines purporting to be from outlets including the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN and local news sites. The headlines referenced the 2024 campaign, aid for Ukraine, the 2024 Paris Olympics and other subjects.
Elon Musk, owner of the site X formerly known as Twitter, posted a fake news headline claiming to be from the Daily Telegraph promoting a conspiracy theory that England was building a detention camp for rioters on the Falkland Islands. Musk eventually deleted the inflammatory post but not before it was viewed by more than 1.7 million people, CBS News said.
“The real problem is when elected officials, politicians, celebrities, influencers start reposting this stuff,” Blevins told CBS News. “That gives it real credibility, and quite frankly, they should know better. I think many of them do, they just don't care.”
Blevins said the remedy is media literacy starting in gradeschool to help consumers identify propaganda and unfounded conspiracy theories so they can recognize when they are being manipulated by social media.
“When you go online, there's just this firehose of information out there,” Blevins said. “I think we need real serious media literacy education that starts a lot sooner, that starts in K-12.”
Blevins is the co-author of the 2024 book “Social Media and Digital Politics: Networked Reason in an Age of Digital Emotion.”
Blevins told CBS News there are relatively easy ways for social media users to tell the provenance and veracity of news headlines:
- See if the suspicious headline shared on social media appears on the news outlet's website.
- Be wary of language used to inflame emotions or stir outrage.
- Check to see if the news was reported by other credible outlets.
Featured image at top: UC journalism Professor Jeffrey Blevins says media literacy could help inoculate social media users against conspiracy theories and propaganda. Photo/iStockPhoto
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Jeffrey Blevins teaches in the Department of Journalism and the School of Public and International Affairs. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Related Stories
UC public relations course reaches vulnerable community
December 19, 2025
Rather than having students find opportunities for real world applications of their degrees beyond class, why not bring it to them in the classroom? The public relations campaigns class, offered through the communications department in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, gives students a taste of experience in the field.
A partnership to end pancreatic cancer
December 19, 2025
Since 2010, BSI Engineering has raised more than $1.2 million for pancreatic cancer research at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center in honor of a friend and inspiration to BSI’s founders, Bryan Speicher.
Bazinga! UC physicist cracks ‘Big Bang Theory’ problem
December 19, 2025
A physicist at the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues figured out something two of America’s most famous fictional physicists couldn’t: theoretically how to produce subatomic particles called axions in fusion reactors.