What’s happening to real news?

Fortunately, fake news is only a small part of the information most people consume. But real news – where journalists are paid to produce original reporting about their communities – is disappearing due to a combination of declining revenue and industry consolidation. Most people have no idea this is happening. Hundreds of communities have lost all local news; and both print and digital outlets face layoffs and cuts.

Most people say they get news from social media, even though they don't really trust it, while sites like Facebook and Google soak up the majority of digital ad revenue without producing any original content. It's important to avoid fake news, but it's even more important to seek out and engage with real news. That means cutting out social media middlemen and sticking with established brands that do their own reporting, hold themselves accountable for errors and minimize conflicts of interest.

When you have fact-checked articles for a while, you will find out which sources to trust and which to avoid, since the latter may be politically biased, corrupt or have a different agenda for producing/publishing fake/fabricated news and posting/repeating conspiracy theories disguised as the real thing.

www.marketwatch.com/ has issued this chart to help us navigate through this difficult landscape.