News (Media)
Is that actually news? How to identify good and trustworthy news sources
People have always had strong feelings about media and news; that's nothing new! From the earliest days of this country, the power of a free press was considered so essential that it was written into the very first amendment of our founding documents.
We live in an era of information overload, where headlines compete for our attention and outrage travels faster than facts. It's easy to feel overwhelmed, cynical, or just plain exhausted. But we can not ever lose sight of the idea that a world without free and wide-ranging access to information would be far worse than the messy one we navigate now.
That's exactly why sharpening our critical thinking skills matters more than ever. Being a smart news consumer isn't about distrust — it's about discernment. It means asking better questions, seeking out context, and understanding not just what we're reading, but why it was written and who it was written for.
In Flourish, we face the truth — about our country, our systems, our policies, and yes, our media. Each year, we sharpen our skills as critical consumers of news.
Here are the 2026 Flourish News & Media Pro-Tips:
💸 Pay for the News: "If you're not paying for it, you are the product." Whether you go old school with print or subscribe to digital outlets, support a free press with your dollars. Journalism costs money to produce and quality journalism costs more.
📍 Go Local: Subscribe to your local newspaper. Watch your local news. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans find local TV, radio, and newspapers more trustworthy than national news (and much more trustworthy than social media). Local reporters cover the school board, the water supply, the zoning decisions that actually affect your daily life.
🔍 Seek Out Your News — Don't Let It Find You: Don't be a passive news consumer. Most mobile news feeds are assembled by algorithms based on your browsing and purchase history. Know how your news is curated. Apple News, for example, uses human editors with a journalism background to curate the newsfeed. (Want to know more? Computer scientist and professor Jack Brandy breaks down the key differences in stories selected by algorithms vs. human editors.)
🚫 Anecdotal Stories ≠ News: One person's experience is a feature article – not news. News coverage is primarily about the verifiable facts of an event. Personal stories can be compelling and meaningful, but they don't necessarily reflect the broader picture.
🚫 Editorial Content ≠ News: Opinion is everywhere, and it's often dressed up to look like reporting. A journalist's core job is answering the six essential questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? If a piece skips straight to conclusions without those foundations, you're reading commentary and not news.
✅ Signs You're Reading Legitimate News:
Iron Core Reporting: Prioritize first-hand, eyewitness accounts and original investigative journalism. If a story says "according to" another outlet, stop and go directly to the original source. This Princeton piece by investigative reporter and professor Joe Stephens is a great primer.
Named Sources: Are real people quoted, with relevant credentials? Anonymous sources have their place, but they should be the exception and not the rule.
Corrections: Does the outlet publish corrections? Every newsroom makes mistakes. How they handle errors tells you everything about their integrity.
🌐 Diversify Your News Diet: The same story can look completely different depending on who's reporting it, who it's written for, and where in the world it's being read. Make a habit of reading across racial, socioeconomic, and international lines — not to find "balance," but to get closer to the full picture.
📊 Know Your Source's Bias: Every news source has a bias — including your favorites. Ad Fontes Media is a nonpartisan nonprofit whose interactive Media Bias Chart lets you look up any outlet and see exactly where it lands. Worth a look. You might be surprised.
Some News Sources We Recommend:
Wire Services: Associated Press (AP) · Reuters
Public Broadcasting: NPR · PBS NewsHour
International Coverage of U.S. News: BBC · The Financial Times · The Economist · The Guardian
Newspapers: The New York Times · The Los Angeles Times · The Wall Street Journal
Investigative Reporting: ProPublica · The Dispatch
Across the Political Spectrum: AllSides · Ground News
Broadcast News: NBC · ABC · CBS Evening News · C-SPAN
For Californians: CalMatters — a nonpartisan, nonprofit news digest covering California policy and politics.
