What is Trustworthy Online?

Today, It seems we have built a distrust in the media. The rise of the fake news narrative, started the downward slope of readers willingness to turn on the morning news.

This distrust has spirled into a world wide reader/viewer hiatus from reading or watching the news. Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t read the news you’re uninformed, but if you do you are misinforemd.” He died in 1910, so the fake news era, truly isn’t a trend, but a problem

This article received backlash from Liberty University, for spreading misinformation on how the school was handling COVID. Thus, spiraling into lawsuit between Liberty University, and NYT. However, this article from the same source is truthful.

We must ask ourselves, as the reader and the writer, what do we trust? When checking articles keep a few things in mind.

Look for established institutions. Be more open to articles from well known sites, versus from a random site that looks like someone typed random words on a keyboard, as in, “wjp.com”.

Once feeling comfortable with the name and familiarity of a source, establish expertise. Is this source well-known for the particular topic you are researching/writing about? Such reputable sources may include, but not be limited to, government agencies, non profits and universities.

Check for the date on a specific article. News is constantly changing. If you were writing an article on the current state of covid, you may not want to use an article from March.

To meet the criteria of the assignments word count, I will limit myself to one more point; check for Bias. When writing a non-partisan piece, be wary of using a site that claims a bias.

Nothing will cause a reader to distrust you faster, than if you were to write a piece with the headline, “Trump Is A Liar”, and your only evidence is from something published by the Young Turks. Or, if you were to write a piece called, “Trump Is The Greatest President Ever”, siting Turning Point USA as your evidence.

You want to be a trust worthy witer. Deliver the truth, and you will be.