Evaluating Media Sources

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Bill Kerney

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Published on May 9, 2022 9:30:38 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvKIYn_GwPM

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One of the most important critical thinking skills is how to look at story online or in print and determine how likely it is to be true.

Some questions to ask:
1) Is this coming from a biased source? (Remember, bias doesn't mean that they're lying, exactly, but it does mean they will usually cherrypick facts to match their narrative.)
2) Is the headline clickbait?
3) Is it marked as news or opinion?
4) Is it from a reputable news site or from a tabloid or from some anonymous web site?
5) Does it have a reputable source, or is it the classic Washington Post source of "someone familiar with X's thinking"? Or is it unsourced entirely?
6) If a source is a research paper, what does the research paper actually say?
7) Do they present different points of view or have only one point of view?
8) Do they present specifics or just vague generalities?

When sources conflict, you need to see what they agree on, as that's probably true, and see what they disagree on and really dig into that yourself using primary sources as much as possible.

I used this today, but I don't agree with it entirely -
https://libguides.pvcc.edu/evaluatinganewsstory