Finding Credible News

A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, this nonpartisan, nonprofit organization aims to educate the voter by monitoring the accuracy of statements made by major political figures.

The Washington Post's Fact Checker works to "truth squad" weighty political statements that resonate on many levels, whether local, national and international. The site and an associated newspaper column is researched by veteran, award-winning journalist Glenn Kessler.

PolitiFact works to determine whether claims by political figures and pundits are accurate. The organization is staffed by journalists and editors of the PolitiFact team. PolitiFact is owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

The venerable fact-checking site that has been chasing urban legends and online stories since 1995, Snopes uses a team of researchers to get to the bottom of internet claims. Occasionally accused of partisanship, Factcheck.org found these claims to be unfounded.

A student-edited wiki, associated with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ American Democracy Project, encourages its student members to debunk suspect information circulating on the internet.

Factcheck.org is partnering with Facebook to provide users with the tools to flag suspect stories in their news streams.

Look critically at the information and apply these standards.
● Independent sources are preferable to self-interested sources.
● Multiple sources are preferable to a report based on a single source.
● Sources who Verify or provide verifiable information are preferable to those who merely assert.
● Authoritative and/or Informed sources are preferable to sources who are uninformed or lack authoritative background.
● Named sources are better than anonymous ones.

Eight simple steps, courtesy of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), to determine whether a source is providing accurate information.

The director and the managing editor of FactCheck.org share insights on determining the credibility of a news sources. For example, check the author, check the date and read beyond the headline for starters.

Tips on narrowing your search in Google, as well as setting preferences and creating alerts in Google Scholar. Courtesy of the University of South Carolina University Libraries.

Search savvy tips and tracks for advanced Google searching, from Berkeley Library.

31 tips for advanced searching on Google.