Reliable Sources
- AllSidesShows how news stories are reported from different political perspectives
- Associated PressAmerican nonprofit international news-gathering agency
- BBC NewsThe world's largest broadcast news organization
- New York Times This link opens in a new windowAccess to NYTimes.com, including breaking news, multimedia, international content, reviews, blogs, apps, and more.
To activate a renewable one-year pass, see these instructions.
- NPR (National Public Radio)A nonprofit membership media organization that syndicates to a network of 900 public radio stations in the U.S.
- ProPublicaAn independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest
- ReutersUK-based nonprofit international news agency
- Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowAn online version of the Wall Street Journal
Note: First time users will need to create a personal account using these instructions.
- The Washington PostA daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., with a particular emphasis on national politics
What Do We Trust Most?
(Image concept derived from Stony Brook University and the Center for News Literacy's Fall 2016 Coursepack)
Tips and Tricks
- Want to be a better online sleuth? Learn to read webpages like a fact-checker.Researchers at Stanford University found fact checkers to have the best skills for evaluating information online, even in comparison to those with PhDs. Learn how you can adopt good fact checking habits. Article from 2017
- Evaluating News Sites: Credible or Clickbait?A 30-minute learning activity from Candice Benjes-Small, Head of Information Literacy and Outreach at Radford University, November 2016
- Fact-check Yourself Before You Fact-wreck YourselfA guide written by one of the fact-checkers for NPR's "This American Life," April 2017
- A Finder's Guide to FactsNPR, December 2016
- "On The Media" PodcastAn award-winning weekly public radio show produced by WNYC analyzing the media's impact on our perception of current events
- Skills and Strategies - Fake News vs. Real NewsTools and activities from the New York Times' Learning Network, October 2015
- This Is How You Can Stop Fake News From Spreading on FacebookQuick step-by-step guide from Buzzfeed, November 2016
- Tips for Analyzing News SourcesGoogle Doc compiled by Melissa Zimdars, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media at Merrimack College, November 2016
4 Perspectives
Used in SMAD 150: Mediated Communication - Issues and Skills
- Communication Technologies: Being media literate means understanding how new media change (and are changed by) the cultures that adopt them.
- The Economics of Mediated Communication: Being media literate involves knowing how ownership and profit influence who gets to say (and sell) what to whom.
- The Functions of Media in Everyday Life: Being media literate entails becoming aware of how you use media & their contents to satisfy your personal & social needs.
- The Meaning of Messages in the Media: Being media literate means questioning how others select & shape the “stories” that validate (or negate) your life.
6 Frames of Information Literacy
From ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education - see full text of the Framework here.
- Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
- Information Creation as a Process
- Information Has Value
- Research as Inquiry
- Scholarship as Conversation
- Searching as Strategic Exploration