In the past I would verify a story that sounded "too bad to be true" with the local press. But over the last decade or longer local news has decreased. Even where a newspaper still exists, it is a slimmer one with less stories and little detail on those it does run.
So what has replaced local news? Social media? Nothing? Or faux local news? Or a mix?
From the article I link below is a description of the faux media news industry, "Local journalists with a sense of responsibility to journalistic ethics, their personal reputation, and the community they live in have been replaced by anonymous for-hire freelancers paid crumbs to feed the motivated reasoning beast."
This article focuses on conservative versions, but I've read similar accounts of progressive faux news accounts. And even real local sources can be deceived when they are operating on a shoe-string budget by press releases and planted local stories.
The article does give us the person on the street insight into how to avoid being tricked that is different from most articles on fact checking. "Thus, individuals who report hating their political opponents are the most likely to share political fake news and selectively share content that is useful for derogating these opponents. Overall, our findings show that fake news sharing is fueled by the same psychological motivations that drive other forms of partisan behavior, including sharing partisan news from traditional and credible news sources." Don't hate your opponents.
Here's the story: https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-fake?s=r
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