This is an Instagram post that showed up in my feed. Full disclosure: I’m a huge fan of Chicago, I kind of like J.B. Pritzker, and I definitely don’t think Trump should be deploying the National Guard to cities. So on its surface, this post looks like good news to me. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t verify this claim. Many people have a blind spot for misinformation that aligns with their existing political beliefs. This is called confirmation bias, and we are all susceptible. I could easily scroll past this post, take the psychological “win” (the little dopamine rush of hearing good news) and move on with my life, but if it’s not true I’d be essentially giving myself false hope. So I’m going to demonstrate how I verify this claim using the SIFT method.
SIFT
S: Stop
I: Investigate the Source
F: Find better coverage
T: Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context
Red Flags? Step 1: Stop
This post caught my attention for a few reasons:
The first thing that caught my eye about this post was the red box that says “BREAKING.” I can’t put my finger exactly on why this caught my attention, but it does seem like an easy design trick to grab attention since it’s style that AP and other news outlets use uses on their posts.
The wording in this headline sounds suspiciously favorable to Pritzker. A more facts-based headline would maybe say, “Trump Withdraws National Guard….” Subtle word choices can make a big difference, so watch out for headlines that make you feel something. The image also contrasts a picture of Trump looking sort of defeated and a picture of Pritzker looking victorious.
This post showed up in my feed as a suggestion and is posted together with two accounts. One is called Democratic Wins Media and the other Really American Media. Both of those are accounts I’ve never heard of and sound like they have a political leaning or agenda.
Step 2: Investigate
Next I’m going to investigate the sources of this post. The first account Democratic Wins Media is an explicitly partisan account. They don’t have a website listed, just a Substack and social media accounts. The other account, Really American Media, is much less explicit in their name and biography/description but in terms of their posts, they are clearly left-aligned. Neither account has much credibility so I’m going to move on to the next step.
F: Find Better Coverage
I noticed that this post was made one day ago, so I’m going to see what the major news outlets had to say about this story on Instagram. It can be tricky to identify particular stories on Instagram profiles so I am going off Instagram.
I searched Google for “did Trump give up on Chicago national guard deployment.” I searched using the words from the Instagram post, but it is important to think about what words you are using to search since they can impact the results. For example, consider the search phrase “why is kale a superfood?” vs “health data on kale.” The former implies something, while the latter is neutral.
Since this is an ongoing national story there is plenty of coverage:
Based on these headlines from reputable sources, it seems like there is some merit to the claim posted, but I will dig a little further, so that I can understand the context.
Step 4: Trace Claims
The caption states, “BREAKING: JB Pritzker officially has beaten back Donald Trump from sending the military to Illinois. This is huge.”
I clicked on a local to Chicago news channel because oftentimes the local news outlets closest to the situation have better information.
A local CBS channel confirms the claim that Trump is not sending the National Guard to Chicago.
This claim appears to be mostly true. However, it’s important to be able to recognize highly partisan accounts that might be subtly altering the story. For example, in this post the headline implies that Trump was somehow intimated by Pritzker and that was his primary reason for not sending in the National Guard. However, from the other articles I read, he is simply choosing to focus on Memphis instead. He could be intimidated by Pritzker, but that would be speculation, and that shouldn’t be in a breaking news headline.
We need to recognize how sophisticated misinformation can be. A post like this could subtly discourage resistance by implying an early victory has already been achieved. It’s also important to be skeptical of information that already aligns with your beliefs. To learn more about the SIFT method check out this video from the ASU News Co Lab.