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Research Guides

Eastern Washington University Libraries

Misinformation and Disinformation: Fact Checking

Learn to fact check and identify fake news.

Evaluating Videos

Video evaluation, like other formats you use for your research and research papers, involves determining the credibility; one of the first set of questions to ask are 1) who is responsible for the content you are viewing; 2) by what means did you locate the video; and 3) why was it created/published.  On this page is a condensed set of guidelines covered more fully in the videos listed on this guide.  

Let's look at some guidelines for evaluating videos:

Internet-based Video

  • You need to determine who is responsible (who wrote, directed, produced the video).
  • You need to evaluate the video content.  Use the Hover Skills mentioned on the first page to hover over a link to see more profile information (do it every single time for every source)  and check the video links provided on the first page Fact Checking within this guide. For example, you are looking at a video on YouTube that claims to be educational. How do you know if it is educational?  You will want to find out the content creator's background to determine his/her/their qualifications and what perspective may be portrayed.
  • You will also need to use other reputable sources to verify statistics or factual information to determine the credibility.

Documentaries

  • Who created the content and in what context and for what purpose.  It is critical that you analyze the purpose of video content to determine intent and merit.  For example, you are watching a documentary on public television, like PBS.  Is the aim of the documentary to educate or influence a particular perspective on a topic?  Does it provide high-quality, verifiable information, or forms of propaganda?  What sources of funding were utilized for the documentary (example: paid advertising; public funding). 

Deepfakes and Social Media Videos

  • Deepfakes use specific forms of synthetic media, manipulating an image or video using another person's likeness. Some tips are to focus on the face, audio, and lighting.
    • Face — Look at facial features carefully.  Is the hair in right position? Does the skin look overly wrinkled or airbrushed?  Are the position of the eyebrows or lips right?  is there a lot of eye movement or too little eye movement?
    • Audio — Listen to the voice.  Does the voice match with key physical features or does something seem really off?
    • Lighting — Are the physics of light representative?  Example: person is wearing glasses, so does the reflection look right for the lighting? Test your observation skills by taking a test created by MIT's Media Lab: https://detectfakes.media.mit.edu
  • Videos in Social Media Feeds
    • Use the tools for evaluating videos and use even greater scrutiny to learn why content is being pushed to you. Many organizations or groups use personal data to target you or pay for their content to show up in feeds.  

If you want to explore more sources, here are the links again, with additional ones to develop your critical thinking skillset.