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When an advertisement looks like an article

When an online advertisement uses the same font, layout, and headline style as the news stories around it, readers may be halfway through the page before realizing they are reading a sales pitch. Consumer regulators examine this 'native advertising' not just for whether its product claims are accurate, but for whether its disguise misleads readers about who is speaking.

3–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • What does a sponsorship disclosure need to make clear?
  • How might placement and wording affect whether a reader notices it?

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Media and information

What makes a historical source primary?

A diary and a history book stand in different relationships to the past, but neither is automatically beyond question. What counts as a primary source also depends on what you are trying to find out.

3–5 min

What makes a historical source primary?

Media and information3–5 minA diary and a history book stand in different relationships to the past, but neither is automatically beyond question. What counts as a primary source also depends on what you are trying to find out.

Media and information

Following a web claim back to its source

Five webpages repeating the same claim may lead back to one original report. Lateral reading looks beyond an unfamiliar page to investigate its publisher; following links upstream helps reveal where the evidence began.

8–10 min

Following a web claim back to its source

Media and information8–10 minFive webpages repeating the same claim may lead back to one original report. Lateral reading looks beyond an unfamiliar page to investigate its publisher; following links upstream helps reveal where the evidence began.

Media and information

What can a photo’s metadata actually prove?

An image file may carry a date, camera information, or a caption alongside its pixels. Those details can be useful clues, but some can be changed or removed as a file is edited and shared.

4–5 min

What can a photo’s metadata actually prove?

Media and information4–5 minAn image file may carry a date, camera information, or a caption alongside its pixels. Those details can be useful clues, but some can be changed or removed as a file is edited and shared.

When an advertisement looks like an article | Speech Topic | speaking.app