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Misinformation and disinformation

Learn how to identify and avoid sharing misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

Can I trust the news?

A lot of folks do not. A report from the News Literacy Project (2025) reveals that no, the majority of Gen Z and Gen Alpha young people generally do not trust the news media or journalism. 

Who can I trust?

Standards-based newsrooms. Credible news sources follow a common set of established journalistic standards that include rules, procedures, and ethics. Linked below is a fun quiz that teaches you about these standards.

Quiz recap: Standards-based newsrooms hold themselves accountable to high ethical standards that address bias, conflict of interest, accuracy, corrections, and sources. Unfortunately, there are news media organizations and content creators out there who do not follow or understand these journalistic standards.

Vet your news sources before you trust them.

Check your preferred news sources. Do they follow professional standards? Are they transparent about their standards, how they correct errors, or who funds them? If not, think twice before trusting their reporting. Identify standards-based news sources to add to your rotation of information sources.

The Media Bias Chart

Thumbnail image for Vanessa Otero's Interactive Media Bias Chart.

The Interactive Media Bias Chart was first created by patent attorney Vanessa Otero in 2016 as a way to talk to her friends about "where news outlets they read fit along a spectrum of credibility, ideology, quality, and more".  This chart includes websites, news outlets, and podcasts.

To help you understand your media bias, fill out the blank Media Bias Chart with your choice news sources, then compare your perceptions to the transparently-created and frequently-updated Interactive Media Bias Chart. Both are linked below.

Additional media bias charts

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