References
"Definition of Bias in US English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, OxfordUP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/bias. Accessed 13 May 2019.
"Definition of Agenda in English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford UP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/agenda. Accessed 13 May 2019.
"Definition of Hyperbole in English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford UP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/hyperbole. Accessed 13 May 2019.
"Definition of Objective in English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford UP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/objective. Accessed 13 May 2019.
"Definition of Parody in English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford UP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/parody. Accessed 13 May 2019.
"Definition of Satire in English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford UP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/satire. Accessed 13 May 2019.
"Definition of Subjective in English." English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford UP, 2019, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/subjective. Accessed 13 May 2019.
Evaluating News Sources
ASK QUESTIONS
Currency.Relevance.Authority.Accuracy.Purpose
Currency: Is this a recent article? Does the date affect the content or context? Some articles shared on social media can be older articles that may relate to current events, but not have current or accurate information. If the article is not recent, the claims may no longer be relevant or have been proven wrong.
Relevance: Is the article relevant? It is useful? Does it fill your information need? While some articles may appear to be addressing a current topic, you must read past the headline and determine the relevancy of the content for your purposes. Be aware of click bait.
Authority: Who is the author? Has the author written other articles on the same or similar topic? Have they demonstrated expertise and experience? What is the source? Does it have an agenda or bias? Well known does not always mean authoritative and decisions and understanding of authority can itself be biased and leave out important voices, so you need to do the research.
Accuracy: Can the content be verified by multiple sources? Is it factual? Are you aware of and do you understand the sources biases? Be skeptical of articles only appearing in one place that you are unable to confirm. What is the original source of the story? This is particularly important with images that are shared widely across social media.
Purpose: Does this article provoke an emotional response? The intent of a valid news sources is to inform. While an emotional response to specific information is to be expected, inaccurate news articles are often written for the sole purpose of provoking anger, outrage, fear, happiness, excitement or confirmation of ones' own beliefs.
Adapted from : Meriam Library, California State University //library.csuchico.edu/sites/default/files/craap-test.pdf
Before using popular news sources, make sure that your assignment does not restrict you to scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
Although journalists might be considered experts in their field, there are two main factors why popular news sources are not considered scholarly.
First, almost all news sources have a political agenda. This is because they are owned by private individuals with their own beliefs who generally surround themselves with like-minded people. Therefore, when researching a topic, you need to determine whether a news source is biased in its reporting and in what way. A biased news source is likely to avoid ideas opposing its beliefs.
Secondly, the urgency to publish an article on a current event may cause the publisher to print an article before it has been completely fact-checked. Therefore, you need to evaluate your article for accuracy by checking it against other sources. You may save some time by determining whether a news source has a reputation for lack of accuracy in its reporting.
Thankfully, there are many resources that have done this work for you. The following websites evaluate the bias and accuracy of popular news sources. Of course, you should also check them against each other to get the biggest picture.