What internet sources do you trust?

[Her]

When trying to find reliable info about a current piece of news or something to that effect, what sites do you rely on most/think others should use? What kind of bias do they have, if you can identify it? I think it's a good idea to share what places we use to help draw our conclusions and maybe see if we can come to a consensus about what sites are most trusted by this forum.

 

[Nah]

I could start us off with some of the easy ones. For more scientific threads or threads where some arguments can be backed up with research, the major organizations for the various branches of science are all good. Stuff like NOAA, NASA, the USGS, APA, etc.

We could even expand this topic to include sources that we think aren't good and should be avoided. For example: Fox News, random Youtubers who don't link to or otherwise mention credible sources, or any website whose mere name tells you right then and there it's biased (like if you were having a discussion about homosexuality and you link to a site called "www.godhatesgays.com", that'd be something to automatically dismiss).

 

[Dusty]

I think that when it comes to news, you are never going to get a completely unbiased opinion. Some networks wear their biases on their sleeve, others maybe not so much. For example, a lot of people like to hate on Fox News, but if you understand their bias and agenda, you can still get some benefit out of reading it (although still better to look elsewhere).

Personally, the only news website I use a lot is a website called RealClear News. They have various websites for different topics, like realclearpolitics.com, realclearscience.com, etc. They are not a reporting website themselves, but often find the best articles on a certain topic and give links to them, usually using the most unbiased and informative sources on the internet. Still not always perfect, but better than most, and its a good way to find out what's going on in the world.

 

[Thepokefansophia]

Honestly I just use the BBC and other British news websites such as ITV News. Most of the time I use the BBC as it is quick and easy to find the information.
Now I know there has been criticism over the BBC in the past for being biased politically as I hear some people comment on the BBC news articles saying things like " The BBC are Biased to * insert political leader/party* ".

But according to research by Ofcom 62% rated it highly for being accurate and reliable.

In my opinion which is similar StarDust is that each source of News networks are going to be biased towards something and for example two countries could both have a different version and views of a particular event that could of happened.
Some news sites can be really good at hiding it and some can be noticeable like Fox News which most people know about.

 

[Esper]

I don't really trust any news sources beyond their ability to report on major events happening and even then it's only for confirmation that something did in fact happen. But it really depends on the type of news. I will look at BBC, Huffington Post, NYT, Al Jazeera, and others to get a sense of what's happening in the world, (like looking up something in Wikipedia first) but when I want to know about a specific event I'll try to look for more primary sources or barring that local news sources. I'll also look at things like twitter to see if there seems to be anything being left out or to see if there's any counter narrative, but I don't treat that as a source, just as something to remind me to be critical of what I read.

 

[De La Luz]

Before Jon Stewart retired, I would watch Daily Show. Lot of valuable insight. [I like Noah, but he's more comedic than informative]. Also Wall Street Journal, BBC, and Google News. Sometimes I'll go on Fox, CNN or NBC to see what the vague idea of current big issues are, then look for better articles in random places to find more accurate views and vantage points on them.

 

[Her]

totally forgot to reply to my own thread

I'll use Huffington Post if I want to find something supporting my thoughts, given that it is famed for being left leaning and while I wish I could pretend it was less biased, it is handy for finding detailed articles similar to my train of thought.

Some of the apps I have on my phone are BBC News, CNN, Guardian, NYTimes, Al Jazeera, Salon and Newshub (new shub honestly) NZ. I don't necessarily trust them but I'll go to them for quick info before going on my own search and trying to corroborate info over various sites. I even have Fox News on my phone, lol. Obviously I trust it less than I'd trust my dog to not eat my food the second I leave the room, but I like comparing the reporting of Fox News to the other apps I use. Just for shits and giggles, I guess.

Naturally I'll look to more individual sources not based on promoting 'news' if I want to do proper research.

 

[Keiran]

I usually only watch/read Russia Today and Al Jazeera. I not only find most other news sources to be biased but they're typically full of things I don't actually find newsworthy. RT and AJ are not only unlike that, but they are also very detailed and informative - without injecting the reporters opinions everywhere, which I find to be a defining trait for being unbiased.

 

[Kanzler]

I try to read everything I can. You can't trust any source to be objective these days. I used to think the New York Times was the gold standard, but I've lost faith in them as well.