As trained info professional, this is basic knowledge in our Info literacy campaign. Complication arises when our political leaning (whether pro or anti) colored our better judgment and instead we are unwitting agent of disinformation for sharing info from unverified sources. Interesting times indeed for info professionals.
Click HERE to read the full article from Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.
As per the article, a websites could be unreliable based on the following criteria:
No Identification. The “About Us,” “Contact Us” page of websites contains information about the site’s editorial team and staff, its address, telephone number, email address, its history, and other important information. A news website should be accountable for what is posted on its page, and it starts with identifying the people behind it, as well as how they can be contacted so they can be asked to explain errors posted in their sites, among others.
News created from aggregated content that has not been verified. Content aggregators and curators scour the net for interesting content and share it with the Internet and social media community. Websites which aggregate and curate content nowadays do not only share content; they also create their own reports from other news sources. Most curators do not verify information prior to quoting a news article, hence the possibility that they’re spreading falsehood. Another practice is to pull out a factual report from mainstream news sources and to “spin it”—giving it an entirely new meaning.
Article submission news sites. Article submission news websites aggregate content from people. Anyone is welcome to send articles, videos or photos to be posted on the website regardless of its being biased, and whether it’s a public relations piece or downright propaganda.
News trending sites. Generally, these sites get their content from viral and trending posts in the internet.
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