The are a few things you can ask when evaluating a news site:
- Is there obvious bias?
- Headlines are meant to grab your attention, but are all of the headlines designed to evoke an emotional response?
- Is the news site meant to be satire?
- Is there a concern for fake news, pseudoscience, or conspiracy theories?
Sometimes it can be hard to determine from the site itself if you should trust the news outlet or not. A few things to try:
- Do a Google search for the news site name - what comes up when you do this? What happens if you do a Google search for the news site name and words like "bias" or "fake"?
- Try looking up the news site on various media bias checkers such as:
- Media bias / fact check: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com (warning: has ads in free version)
- Media bias ratings: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-ratings
- The media bias chart: https://www.adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/#IMBC (the free version is limited)
Want to do a further dive into how to evaluate news sources? Take a look at this guide on fake news and evaluating news information.
