St. Cloud Library Trying to Fight ‘Fake News’ With New Display

ST. CLOUD -- The St. Cloud Public Library is trying to fight the growing trend of fake news with a new display, which aims to teach the community on how to spot it.

With fake news often going viral and getting thousands of shares and tens of thousands of clicks, it's more important than ever to make sure the stories you're looking at online are from reliable sources.

The display on the second level of the library is the brainchild of librarian Bev Moore-Dunn. Her partner on the project, Librarian Kelly Groth says the easiest way to spot fake news is how "out there" the story looks.

"If it seems outrageous. If you look at it and go 'wow, I didn't know that', you need to back up, check your emotions and say alright, what's the source here?"

Groth adds, a helpful tip to spot fake news is the websites that peddle it, don't cite their sources.

"So they're not going to cite their sources in the story, and that's one of the first things you have to look for, where are they getting their information."

The display features several big fake news stories, like a trailer being carried 130 miles by a tornado that left the family inside unharmed, and the false claim that Hershey's decided to discontinue their extremely popular Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

The display will be up through the end of January, available to see any day the library is open.