Investigate!
Tips for Analyzing News Sources
- Avoid websites that end in “lo” (e.g., Newslo). These sites take pieces of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts” (sometimes for the purposes of satire or comedy).
- Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources.
- Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.
- Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.
- Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.
- Watch out for blog posting in news organization websites. Some news organizations are also letting bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however, many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs, Forbes blogs).
- Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.
- Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources.
- Look for Peer-Reviewed Sources when attempting to verify information, the peer review process isn't perfect but it represents a best-faith effort by Academic Institutions to ensure accuracy and quality, so for research of the kind where it might be available (things scholars might study) it's extremely valuable.
- Double-Check Citations to make sure they say what the author claims they say, some publications and individuals will intentionally or unintentionally misrepresent a given piece of research, often because they didn't understand it or to make it seem more interesting or important, especially in popular writing about scientific research, or to support a certain political conclusion.
- Check Methodology, sometimes research isn't always conducted as well as we would wish and it might be clear a source is untrustworthy from the procedure it followed-- it might sample a non-representative portion of the public and extrapolated the findings to the general public.
- Do not be swayed by emotions. If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.
- It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames.
- False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical "News" Sources by Melissa ZimdarsLink to original document.
"Tips for Analyzing News" adapted from "False, Misleading, Clickbait-y and/or Satirical "News" Sources, by Melissa Zimdars. CC BY 4.0 /modified from original, bullets concerning peer review and research validity added.Fact-Checking Sites
- PolitifactA Pulitizer Prize winning fact checking organization dedicated to fact-checking political claims. Each claim contains a rating, an explanation of how that rating was assigned, and a list of sources consulted.
- Politifact Fake News SectionFact-checks from Politifact specifically about fake news.
- Washington Post's Fact CheckerThe Washington Post's Fact-Checking blog, run by journalist Glenn Kessler.
- SnopesOne of the oldest fact-checking sites around, dedicated to checking out Internet rumors. Each claim contains a rating, an explanation of how that rating was assigned, and the sources consulted.
- FactCheckRun by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. A good source for science fact-checking as well as news.
