Media Literacy: Resources for Evaluating News Sources

An independent and nonpartisan fact-checker on Canadian federal politics. It is a registered non-profit with a mandate to educate and engage Canadians in critical thinking and evidence-based political decision-making, to hold politicians accountable for their words, and to encourage honesty in political debate. The team does this through fact-checking claims made by federal politicians and other public figures. Fact checks separate the facts from spin, distortion, omission, error, and lies

Snopes' fact checking and original, investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis. They document their sources so readers are empowered to do independent research and make up their own minds.

FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major American political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

PolitiFact focuses on looking at specific statements made by American politicians and rating them for accuracy. PolitiFact is owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies. PolitiFact had been owned by the Tampa Bay Times, but in 2018 direct ownership of PolitiFact was transferred from the Times to Poynter, which is the newspaper’s parent company. The move allowed PolitiFact to function fully as not-for-profit national news organization.

When searching for information online, it's important to evaluate the material you find. The Learning Portal has tips on how to evaluate your sources.

Poynter: "The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter was launched in 2015 to bring together the growing community of fact-checkers around the world and advocates of factual information in the global fight against misinformation."

"FactCheck.org’s SciCheck feature focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy. It was launched in January 2015 with a grant from the Stanton Foundation. The foundation was founded by the late Frank Stanton, president of CBS for 25 years, from 1946 to 1971."