The shortage of nursing staff in Germany is currently a problem.
In order to combat this, people over the age of 70 should in future voluntarily end their lives in return for compensation to their heirs.
Berliner Express website would have us believe. Since retraining refugees alone is not enough and rocket scientists are not very motivated, they decided to take this radical step. The program, which was decided by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, is intended to save up to 300,000 nursing staff and 20 billion euros per year.
That can not be true!
The nursing shortage is indeed true and a real problem. Everything else in that article, however, is the product of the article author's sarcastic imagination. The “Berliner Express” is, as you probably already guessed, a satirical site .
Just take a closer look
Before you get upset about articles like this, you should take a closer look. We have often reported on articles from the “Berliner Express”, for example about the forced sterilization of right-wing extremists , the ban on the sale of alcohol in Ramadan , a first strike against Russia and the Pope's capitulation to Islam.
Fact check for unknown content
What you should always do with unknown content or websites: Look at who writes there, why the content is there and why it was written there the way it was written. In the case of the “Berliner Express” this is quite simple. The most important thing is that you even come up with the idea of carrying out a fact check.
The exaggerated presentation of content without further explanations should be the first alarm signal. A lot of opinion, little content, a barely reliable source if there is one at all, as well as very shortened presentations that are almost compressed to headlines should mean that you at least take a look at what a text is all about.
Satire is the program here!
Look at the imprint of a website or blog. Are you dealing with transparent and reputable information or are you dealing with random and untraceable address information for a post office box in Central America? Or maybe there is no imprint at all? Non-existent contact persons are to be classified more critically. Is there an “About me / About us” section? This information is often very helpful. And that is the case with the offer on the “Berliner-Express” website; there is a part that describes it itself.
Here you can find out that the website is a satirical offering, which, according to the company, wants to establish itself alongside the Postillon and the daily press. Furthermore, similar to the abbreviations of press agencies such as (dpa), the operators have created their own abbreviations with which the articles are introduced. In this case it is the abbreviation (fna), which stands for “Fake News Agency”.
Only the imprint of the website is a little non-transparent; a little improvement may be necessary here, because the portals with which the comparison is made (i.e. Postillon and Daily Press) have a consistently transparent imprint.
Satire problem at Mimikama
In principle, Mimikama does not use satire to point out satire. By the way, satire is not a form of fake news, but rather satire is satire and should be consumed as such. We usually deal with satire sites when the source is not clearly recognizable as satire, it is a pseudo-satire or, as here, it is a young and barely known website.
[vc_message message_box_color=“green” icon_fontawesome=“fa fa-check“] NOTE: Berliner Express = Satire[/mk_info]
It often happens that readers only get stuck on the so-called “teaser” (Facebook preview) and often don’t even check the content for its character.
It can be very easy not to fall for satire.
What questions should you ask yourself as a reader?
- Who writes? (Imprint)
- What is the character of the website?
- What genre does this text belong to? (is there a corresponding note above the content or below the content?)
Based on this, the classic test points then follow (if they are still necessary at all):
- Content cross-check –> use search engines
- Image check –> reverse search
Even if it takes a little more work than just reading a headline, it's worth it in the end! Simply because you can protect your nerves, which can cause outrage to boil. Stay calm in an emergency! If you look behind the scenes, you'll discover that you often don't need to get too invested in something.
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )