LibGuides: News Sources: Evaluating News Stories


Library Research Guides

Evaluating news stories

Bias

All news sources have political leanings, left (more liberal), right (more conservative), and centrist. Determining the partisan bias of a news source isn't an exact science, but here are a couple of sources that may help:

Political Polarization and Media Habits
PEW Research Center study on the political and government information seeking habits of liberals and conservatives. Among other things, helpful for figuring out if the news source you're consulting is liberal or conservative leaning.
SPJ Code of Ethics
The Society of Professional Journalists' statement of principles for the ethical practice of journalism. Does the news story you're reading, viewing, or listening to follow these guidelines?

Fake news

Is the news report you're reading or watching outright false or not and how can you tell? Note: this is not the same thing as political bias. A story might have a political leaning or position with which you disagree, but that doesn't make it fake. Some tools to help you determine the veracity of the news:

Fact checking sites

FactCheck.org
A project of the The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. " Their primary focus is "on presidential candidates in presidential election years, and on the top Senate races in midterm elections. In off-election years, our primary focus is on the action in Congress."
PolitiFact
Fact-checking site owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies. In brief, they check statements made by politicians in "transcripts, speeches, news stories, press releases, and campaign brochures" as well as on "TV and social media." See About section for more information about their process, staffing, and funding.
Global Fact-checking Sites
A database of global fact-checking sites maintained by the Duke University Reporters’ Lab. You can use the map to explore sites around the world or browse sites in list form.

Tips for recognizing fake news

Fake news. It's complicated.
Article explaining the current information ecosystem and breaking down the difference between dis and mis-information. By Claire Wardle of First Draft, a project of the Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
A Field Guide to “Fake News” and Other Information Disorders
"Explores the use of digital methods to study false viral news, political memes, trolling practices and their social life online." A project of the Public Data Lab with support from First Draft at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
How to Spot Fake News
Tips from factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Also available as a video and an infographic.
How to Spot Fake News, the video
Video version of factcheck.org's tips for spotting fake news.
How to Spot Fake News, the infographic
Adapted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) from factcheck.org's article of the same title.

Verification Handbook Developed by the European Journalism Centre. Best practices advice for journalists and aid responders on how to verify and use user-generated content (images, videos, social media posts) during an emergency. You can also download the PDF, ePub, or Kindle versions for free.

News industry (and partners) efforts to build trust and transparency

Credibility Coalition
Self described as "an interdisciplinary community committed to improving our information ecosystems and media literacy through transparent and collaborative exploration." Among other ideas, they're investigating web annotation standards that would help indicate the credibility of news stories and elevate more credible stories in search engine results. See their About page for more information about who's involved.
Trusting News
A project "helping journalists earn news consumers’ trust" by investigating how people decide what news is trustworthy and what practical steps journalists can take to gain users' trust. See their About pages to find out more about the project's newsroom partners and team of researchers.