Source Credibility Online

Anyone can publish= great opportunity but responsibility for journalists. Must be actively verifying always.

Think About:

1. What evidence is there for authority?

Is there a name or info on author or verification of authority on subject? Look for qualifications, work experience, professional aspects, credentials, connections, past, contact info. Is it their own bio or a name search?

2. Any clues of Bias?

Bias is not always bad, just need to know. What company do they work for/ represent? Did they get the product for free and write about it?

3. Look at date piece is published.

Date shows relativity.

4. Works Cited

May be list of references at the end, hyperlinks throughout, blog roll-does the piece lead to other sources like external links?

5. What other sources are found offline?

More credible if it exists outside of and before internet.

6. Site Credibility

Consider before sharing articles from non-bias sites in order to be better perceived by audience. To see more about a website, find the creator or the “about us”

Types of websites:

1. Personal Homepage- any individual can have a website, can be professional or informal
2. Special Interest Website- non-profit or an activist group, have a purpose and reason behind everything on their website
3. Professional Sites- maintained by institutions and organizations, will find a lot of research, facts sheet, resources
4. News and Journalistic Sites- anyone can publish or make it look any way, what do you know about person or company?
5. Commercial Sites- advertisement about own company, look for awards not self-proclaimed claim, look for reputation of company

“Like any other source, the authority of the author helps determine the value of the information.”