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Be skeptical of strange domain names, and watch out for additional text after the “.com.” For instance, you might come across the domain name “NBC.com.co,” which is not the same as “NBC.com.” Additionally, news that published on blog sites (with domains ending in wordpress.com, blogspot.com, or similar phrases) many not be reliable. Consider, as another general guideline, that sites run on obvious blogging platforms (like 70news.wordpress.com) are generally less reliable as news sources. If you are looking at a news outlet that aggregates news from a variety of sources, it is important to try to find the location where an article was first posted. Follow links in the article that lead back to the reporting source, and evaluate that source. Read other pieces by them to see if they have a particular slant or bias, and make sure this wasn’t a satirical piece reposted by mistake.  For instance, The Onion is a site that posts nothing but satirical news stories. Other satire sites include the Daily Currant, the News Nerd, and Empire Sports News. Most legitimate news sites will have a straightforward section that describes what they do. If the language in the “About” section comes off as extreme or melodramatic, this may not be a trustworthy  source.  For example, the website Politifact calls itself "PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics."  Politifact explains how it sources its news and how it obtains funding. This is straightforward, transparent, and neutral. Claims that a site is the only source for accurate information should be viewed with extreme skepticism.  For instance, the fake-news website Disclose.tv describes itself as sharing "contents and topics ignored, denied, censored, suppressed, marginalized, or inadequately covered by the mainstream media, governmental institutions, and other information gatekeepers." The website Newslo states, "Newslo is the first hybrid News/Satire platform on the web. Readers come to us for a unique brand of entertainment." This site claims to deliberately mix satire with real news, but the result is a confusing manipulation of information. If there are elements of the article that seem far-fetched, pull out key sentences or ideas and plug them into Google, or another search engine. If the phrase is true and newsworthy, it should be reported by other sources.  For instance, if you see a headline claiming that there was a secret meeting of world leaders in Portugal last week, plug the names of major political figures into a search engine and find more stories before jumping to any conclusions. With a little research, you might find that the Portuguese president was actually visiting Japan, the President of the United States was meeting with the governor of California, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was speaking in front of Parliament. Sometimes an incorrect fact can be misreported multiple times. Look for several reputable sources in order to determine that a particular fact is true. Sometimes an old story makes the rounds as if it’s new information. This lack of context can skew the perception of the story. Always read the original posting date of a particular article. Check the dates for statistics and other data, as well. Check to see if the images in the article match up with the article’s details. For instance, make sure the photos were taken at night if the article’s incident happened at night time. You may even want to perform a reverse image search in order to find the source of an image, or see if the same image appears in other contexts. Numerous websites, such as Snopes, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.org, are dedicated to trying to fact checking news articles. Search for a topic or article through a fact checking site to see if it can be trusted. Whenever you read a news story, think about who might benefit from such info. Consider the bias of the reporting source, and off-set this by checking multiple sources, especially well-known ones at opposite ends of the spectrum (such as CNN and Fox) to gain a more balanced view of a story.  For instance the headline, "DemocRATS NOT Attending The Speech Of The Year" is obviously biased and rather inflammatory.  Another example of a biased and over-the-top headline is "Sarah Palin Calls To Boycott Mall Of America Because ‘Santa Was Always White In The Bible.’"
Beware of odd or unfamiliar URLs. Find the original article. Read the “About Us” section of a website. Plug key phrases from the story into search engines. Check the date of the story. Look carefully at images. Use online fact checking services. Consider the political slant of a story.