Research Guides: Fake News &amp; Critical Thinking: Finding Real News

How to Choose Your News - TED Talk by Damon Brown

If the information you're finding doesn't seems suspicious or biased, use the sites below to fact-check or find alternative news sources.

FactCheck.org
a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.
PolitiFact
funded by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, the site uses the Truth-O-Meter to gauge the veracity of claims
Open Secrets
A watchdog group founded by the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in Politics
Media Bias / Fact Check
Search the names or URL of a new source to read an assessment of how biased it is.
Fair.org
A national media watch group, offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship.

Ground.news
Offers tools that assist in the evaluation of 50,000+ news sources in terms of their perceived political bias, factuality, and ownership. Ground also identifies "blindspot" stories receiving one-sided coverage.

Use the website to follow the latest news, or sign up for more features and to use the iOS or Android app.

New York Times Digital Edition This link opens in a new window Create an account for full-text access to the digital version of the New York Times, 1851 to the present, on any device
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Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window Full-text news from national & international newspapers, plus television & radio news transcripts
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Newswires This link opens in a new window Up-to-date news from top worldwide news services such as Associated Press and United Press International
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Regional Business News This link opens in a new window Full-text business news from rural and metropolitan sources across United States
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Web News This link opens in a new window Full-text up-to-date content from top news feeds worldwide
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Factiva This link opens in a new window Business news and publications including corporate and industry reports
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False & Misleading News Sources
Professor Melissa Zimdars of Merrimack College has complied a list of unreliable news sites. It's huge; keep scrolling. Although Prof. Zimdars is no longer updating the 2016 list, it remains a valuable resource.

In May 2017, Facebook began directing users from its News Feed to a list of tips like these for spotting fake news.