Evaluating News Sources

Learn how to identify misleading news sources, and develop critical evaluation skills.

Introduction

Misleading news and information can be difficult to spot.

Take the Should you share it? quiz to check your ability to detect news that shouldn't be trusted or shared.
Misinformation, Disinformation and Bias has more information on misinformation in all forms.

Fact check: Investigate the Source

How to quickly check the reliability of a news site or organization.

How to Evaluate News Sources

How to Spot Fake News below, from IFLA, has tips for evaluating news. Also see PDF version.

Media Bias

Media Bias / Fact Check
Over 900+ media sources organized in different bias classes
All Sides Media Bias Ratings
Ratings of the bias of online media outlets, based on multi-partisan, scientific analysis.
How to Spot 16 Types of Media Bias
An online guide (also available as a PDF) on the 16 types of media bias, created by AllSides, a multipartisan group that rates the bias of online media sources.
Interactive Media Bias Chart
This interactive chart allows you to look at media sources mapped across two dimensions--reliability and bias.

Books

The misinformation age: How false beliefs spread

Lie Machines How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives

American Journalism and Fake News: Examining the Facts

Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World

Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

Fake news nation: The long history of lies and misinterpretations in America

Web of Deceit: Misinformation and manipulation in the age of social media

The War on Science: Who's waging it, why it's dangerous, and what we can do about it

Bullspotting: Finding facts in the age of misinformation

Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical wisdom

Unpacking Fake News: An educator's guide to navigating the media with students

Nonsense on Stilts: How to tell science from bunk

Truth or Truthiness: Distinguishing fact from fiction by learning to think like a data scientist

The Trouble with reality: A rumination on moral panic in our time

Skewed: A critical thinker's guide to media bias

How to Be Critically Open-Minded: a Psychological and Historical Analysis

Virtual Unreality: just because the Internet told you, how do you know it's true?

Post-truth: How bullshit conquered the word

Bunk: The rise of hoaxes, humbug, plagiarists, phonies, post-facts, and fake news

Knowledge Resistance: How we avoid insight from others

Developing Digital Detectives

Teaching Critical Reading and Writing in the Era of Fake News

Democracy and fake news: information manipulation and post-truth politics

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Last Updated: Apr 24, 2025 2:56 PM
URL: https://guides.emich.edu/newseval
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Subjects: Faculty Interest, Library How-to Guides, News