News & Current Events: Evaluating News Sources

1. Consider the Source. Click away from the story to investigate the site, its mission, and its contact info.
2. Read Beyond. Headlines can be outrageous in an effort to get clicks. What’s the whole story?
3. Check the Author. Do a quick search on the author. Are they credible? Are they real?
4. Supporting Sources? Click on those links. Determine if the info given actually supports the story.
5. Check the Date. Reposting old news stories doesn’t mean they’re relevant to current events.
6. Is it a Joke? If it is too outlandish, it might be satire. Research the site and author to be sure.
7. Check Your Biases. Consider if your own beliefs could affect your judgment.
8. Ask the Experts. Ask a librarian or consult a fact-checking website.

1. Consider the title and website domain. A website address that includes "wordpress" or "blogger" is a personal blog, not a news source. A website that uses an unusual domain such as ".com.co" might be a fake version of a legitimate news source. Each country has its own top-level domain (for example: .us for the United States and .ca for Canada). You can look up legitimate domains on World Standards.
    
2. About Us. Read the About Us section of the website. Do a web search for the author to find out their background, credentials, and any fact-checking that has disproved their reporting in the past. A lack of an About Us or an author is a sign the news source may not be reliable.
    
3. Check the References. If a news story mentions a study, report, or other news source, search for the source. If these references are hyperlinked, follow the links and read those stories. Check that any quotes have also been reported in another news source too.
    
4. Writing Style. Consider how the source presents itself. Does it look professional and follow a writing style guide? Use of all caps and highly emotional words might mean the source is trying to create an emotional response in the reader rather than report the news.
    
5. Website Design. Reliable news sources have professional, easy to use websites for reading news. If a website is cluttered, badly designed, or not coded to web standards, it might not be a reliable source of news.
    
6. Clickbait. Headlines that are sensational or outrageous might mean the source is more interested in getting clicks and shares than in reporting news.

Adapted from the work 'False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical “News” Sources' by Melissa Zimdars under a Creative Commons license.