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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchCheck both the outlet and the specific claim before you trust or share a political story. Look beyond the outlet’s own website, inspect the evidence it provides, compare genuinely independent reporting, trace important claims to their original context, and see how the outlet handles corrections. No political label, reputation, or checklist score can establish whether an individual claim is true.
Start with the claim, not the headline
Pause before sharing. Identify the specific factual claim that matters, then separate it from the article’s interpretation, prediction, or opinion. A report can contain well-supported facts alongside an argument that remains debatable. Assess the evidence for the claim you want to rely on rather than treating the whole article as one indivisible verdict.
Reliability is also subject-specific: an outlet may be useful on one topic and less dependable on another. Judge the particular story as well as the outlet’s broader practices.
Investigate the outlet and author outside their own site
Search for the outlet and the author independently. This practice, often called lateral reading, means leaving the page you are evaluating to learn what other sources say about it. The UK House of Commons Library describes this approach in its guide to evaluating sources.
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Look for independent information about:
- Ownership and funding: Who owns or supports the outlet, and could those interests matter to coverage?
- Aims and incentives: Is the outlet reporting news, advocating a position, attracting subscriptions, or pursuing another purpose?
- Relevant experience: Does the author have knowledge or reporting experience relevant to this subject?
- Track record: Do independent accounts describe a pattern of careful reporting, significant errors, or undisclosed conflicts?
An About page can help, but it is the outlet describing itself. Seek outside information before treating those descriptions as established facts. The House of Commons Library notes that examining aims and funding can help identify potential conflicts or biases; the News Literacy Project likewise recommends checking transparency about ownership, funding, and reporting practices.
Inspect how the story supports its claims
Look at the reporting itself, not just the outlet’s reputation. A useful story makes it possible to see where its claims come from and what the evidence can—and cannot—show. Check whether it:
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- Names an author and distinguishes reporting from commentary or opinion.
- Links to documents, data, recordings, or other primary evidence where relevant.
- Explains how information was obtained or analyzed.
- Provides dates and enough context to interpret quotations, statistics, and events.
- Clearly attributes claims to sources instead of presenting unsupported assertions as settled fact.
Transparency does not guarantee accuracy, but it gives readers something concrete to evaluate. The House of Commons Library’s source-evaluation guidance and the News Literacy Project’s five steps for vetting a news source both emphasize examining transparency and evidence.
Compare genuinely independent coverage
Search for the same claim in other outlets. Ask whether the reporting offers separate confirmation or merely repeats the same original article, press release, anonymous source, or social post. Several stories built on one common source are not several independent confirmations.
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →When outlets with separate reporting and evidence reach compatible conclusions, confidence may increase. Differences can also be useful: they may reveal disputed facts, gaps in the evidence, or distinct interpretations. The SIFT guidance from Michigan State University includes investigating a claim and finding better coverage as part of evaluating online information.
Trace consequential claims to their original context
For claims that could affect your decisions, follow the trail back as far as practical. SIFT’s fourth move is to trace claims, quotations, and media to their original context. The Michigan State University SIFT resource describes this approach.
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- Quotation: Find the full speech, interview, transcript, or recording. Check whether the excerpt preserves what was said before and after it.
- Statistic: Locate the original dataset, report, or public record. Check the date, definitions, population, and context before accepting how a number is described.
- Image or video: Look for its earliest available publication and check whether it has been edited, recaptioned, or presented as a different event.
- Document or official action: Read the underlying document or record when available, rather than relying only on someone else’s summary.
A primary source can establish what a document says or what appears in a recording; it may not, by itself, establish the broader interpretation attached to it.
Check how the outlet handles errors
Look for a correction or clarification policy, then see whether substantial errors are corrected visibly and promptly. A correction record can tell you something about accountability and how the outlet responds when reporting is wrong. It is one piece of evidence, not a guarantee that every story is accurate or that every error will be caught. The House of Commons Library discusses corrections and accountability in its source-evaluation briefing.
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Compare two sources using the same tests
Apply the same questions to both outlets and to the specific stories you are comparing. One outlet’s reputation should not earn it a pass that you would deny another.
| What to compare | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Subject relevance and expertise | Does the author or outlet have relevant knowledge and reporting experience for this subject? |
| Primary evidence | Does the story cite or link to the underlying documents, data, or recordings? |
| Transparency | Can you establish authorship, ownership, funding, aims, and reporting methods? |
| News versus opinion | Is factual reporting clearly distinguished from analysis and advocacy? |
| Independent corroboration | Do other reports confirm the claim through separate reporting, or repeat one common source? |
| Corrections and accountability | Does the outlet explain how it corrects substantial errors, and are corrections visible? |
These comparison dimensions draw on guidance from the House of Commons Library, the News Literacy Project, and the SIFT resource. A source rating can be a reason to investigate further, but it does not replace this claim-level check.
Reach a calibrated judgment
Political perspective and factual accuracy are related considerations, but they are not the same test. Emotional language or an outlet’s reputation may be relevant context; neither substitutes for examining the evidence behind a particular report. PolitiFact describes its own fact-checking approach in its Truth-O-Meter methodology, published in 2018; that organization-specific account should not be treated as proof that every fact-checker follows the same process.
After checking, be precise about what you can say: which part is supported, what remains uncertain, and what additional evidence could change your view. If you cannot trace a consequential claim or find independent confirmation, hold off on sharing it as established fact.
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