Truth in the Media
Is it just me, or do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of news being disseminated and the number of sources it comes from? Today, the number of news reporting organizations and agencies is staggering. As of 2020, Trust Worthy Media listed “more than 300 independent, community-based, member- and audience-supported, nonprofit, or not-for-profit, cooperative, and social justice-oriented news publications, primarily based in the United States and Canada.”
“The first obligation of journalism is to the truth.” American Press Association
The Reuters Institute published the report, Overview and Key Findings of the 2025 Digital News Report, 17 June 2025. The majority of those surveyed said they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online. This concern was highest with respondents from Africa and the United States.
Is it any wonder that today’s news consumption is extremely varied depending on which sources you access? According to a 2024 News Platform Fact Sheet from the Pew Research Center:
A little more than half of the respondents sometimes get their news from social media
27% sometimes get news from podcasts
A majority (63%) get news from television, at least sometimes. Only about a third of respondents often get their news from television.
A small minority prefer print to access the news.
As I remember it, when I first started paying attention to the news in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were a limited number of places to get the latest information. There were three television stations and one radio station that reported the local and national news. The news was aired one to two hours a day, not the twenty-four hours of today. My city also had two newspapers reporting national and local news. These six outlets were independently owned.
We believed the news was accurately reported and, as a double check, were convinced when three or more of the news agencies agreed on the details of a news story. This may have been a bit naïve, but it seemed to work, and most people gave the impression that they shared the same understanding of the news coverage. Local newspapers were delivered in the morning, and the day’s news was televised in the early evening.
Today’s news landscape is quite different, hard to navigate, and hard to feel confident in its accuracy. Let’s explore ways to validate a news source…
The new term for the large media organizations or conglomerates is corporate media. It is important to understand who owns these different media outlets and to ferret out any biases and conflicts of interest the owners may have. Some resources for this
US Media Index of seventeen major US daily news sources on May 11, 2021. The primary purpose of this index was to provide transparency and list the publishers of these news sources.
WebFX posts on its website the six media companies that own almost all media (news stations, newspapers, publishing houses, Internet utilities, and even video game developers) and lists the individual media sources owned by each of the six companies. The total value of these companies is $430 billion. They are listed below, starting with the company with the highest amount of media assets, to the least:
1. National Amusements
2. Disney
3. Time-Warner
4. Comcast
5. News Corp
6. Sony
It is up to us, as consumers of the news, to determine which outlet is providing the most truthful and factual information. A difficult and time-consuming task. Once I determined some sources that provide the most reliable and truthful information, I found it helpful to select a limited number of sources (3-5) to follow and feel confident that I am getting mostly accurate information.
After looking at many Internet sites, including those of colleges and universities, I found the following topics to be most relevant in determining my use of media…
1. Source and/or the Author
A date is provided – usually, the more current the information is, the more relevant it is.
Name of the media outlet and author of the post, video, or article.
2. Author’s Credentials
Their affiliation (e.g., business, institution, organization), education, and years of experience in the related field
Publications – books, journals, magazines, and newspapers published by well-known and respected publishers
Bias – on their website, publisher, or media company
Contact information available
3. Source’s Purpose
Intended audience
To teach, inform, persuade, and/or to entertain
Conflict of interest with the story and the author
4. Scope
Relevant details
Provides background information
Enough details and information to make a judgment
5. Accuracy and Objectivity (e.g., social media post, website, podcast)
Corroborated by another reliable source (web and non-web)
Official approval of a respected business, institution, or organization
Language is free of bias and emotional rhetoric
Check for deception or extremism when the source advocates for a particular cause
6. Well-designed and Professional Looking Website
Spelling and grammatical errors on the site can be red flags
Date of site’s last update
Links are provided to explore the site’s information from other sources
Continuing my research on how to find truthful and reliable information on the Internet, I found the organizations offering related tips recommended using sites published by governments (.gov), educational institutions (.edu), and reputable non-profit organizations (.org). These sources are often considered more trustworthy due to their established reputations, rigorous research processes, and commitment to accuracy.
Sites with user-generated content (e.g., Wikipedia, Quora, Reddit) should be used cautiously, and it is best to confirm the information with another reliable source.
I hope I have given you a good start for looking more objectively at the media we use. Even when accessing the news on what I have found to be reliable sources, I regularly fact-check stories of importance. I am listing several fact-checking resources that are easy to use and are considered reliable.
And my favorite, “When in doubt, ask a librarian!”
Let’s become better consumers of today’s news sources. Truth is essential for us to have meaningful dialogue and to work together to find solutions to our concerns.
In the comments, please share any resources you have found beneficial to check out the media you use.
Bit by bit, that’s all she wrote…