Connors Media Guide
Developed by Lawrence M. Eppard (Shippensburg University), Michael Anthony Deas (Northwestern University/fmr. Chicago Tribune), and Alison Dagnes (Shippensburg University/fmr. CSPAN)
BUILDING a HEALTHY MEDIA DIET
It is very important to maintain a healthy media diet that offers an accurate account of the news of the day with limited bias (click here and here and here to learn more about information literacy).
So how do we go about building a healthy media diet?
Consider choosing 3 or 4 of the outlets on the “trustworthy sources” list in our media report card and sticking to those sources of information each week. This would allow you to be a well-informed citizen who is getting a balanced view of the stories of the day.
The CONNORS LIST of TRUSTWORTHY SOURCES
Explore our most recent media report card from January 2024:
The information published by the outlets labeled as “trustworthy” in our report card has been recently scrutinized by independent analysts using rigorous, objective, and rule-based methodologies. These analyses determined the content to contain limited bias and to score highly on measures of quality and reliability.
Here is our rubric for designating media outlets as trustworthy. We disqualify an outlet from receiving our trustworthy designation if it fails in any of the following four areas:
All outlets must receive a passing grade from NewsGuard on all five of their credibility measures:
Not publishing false content
Demonstrating responsible news gathering/presentation
Making corrections/clarifications
Demonstrating responsible news/opinion differentiation
Avoiding deceptive headlines
Outlets cannot fall below a “32.0” on Ad Fontes Media’s vertical reliability axis.
Outlets cannot be rated as hyperpartisan by either Ad Fontes Media or AllSides.
Outlets must not be deemed by Connors Institute researchers to have committed serious missteps in the areas of accuracy and/or bias in the last 12 months.
We consider using all four of these quality guardrails in conjunction to be akin to a “Swiss cheese defense.” While it is possible that one of these organizations could make a mistake in their analysis of a particular media outlet, it is highly unlikely that all four would give an unreliable outlet high marks.
Take a look below at how some of these organizations evaluate the trustworthiness of Reuters, a highly-reliable news source.
Outlets like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and Newsmax, among many others, fall short in our rubric because they are disqualified by at least one of these four organizations.
Fox News, for instance, fails in all 4 rubric areas:
Disqualified by NewsGuard for both (1) not gathering and presenting information responsibly and (2) not handling the difference between news and opinion responsibly.
Disqualified by Ad Fontes Media for falling outside of its most reliable zone.
Disqualified by AllSides due to hyperpartisanship.
Disqualified by Connors Institute researchers for multiple problems related to accuracy and bias.
CNN misses the mark as well:
Disqualified by NewsGuard for not handling the difference between news and opinion responsibly.
Disqualified by Connors Institute researchers for multiple problems related to accuracy and bias.
Avoid sources which do not score well on reliability and bias.
Avoid cable news, partisan websites, and personality-driven shows (whether on television, radio, or online).
Be wary of news that comes via social media unless you click on the story and it brings you to a credible news outlet.
Even media sources that score moderately well on measures of bias and reliability should be avoided if they have a record of misinformation/disinformation and/or fabrication.
We should note that while we do not include in our analysis many sites which focus strictly on commentary, there are a number of high-quality commentary sites on the internet. This news guide is focused mostly on sites whose main focus is news.
Click here to explore the dangers that misinformation and disinformation pose to democracy.
"The commercial success of both Fox News and MSNBC is a source of nonpartisan sadness for me. While I can appreciate the financial logic of drowning television viewers in a flood of opinions designed to confirm their own biases, the trend is not good for the republic. . . Beginning, perhaps, from the reasonable perspective that absolute objectivity is unattainable, Fox News and MSNBC no longer even attempt it. They show us the world not as it is, but as partisans (and loyal viewers) at either end of the political spectrum would like it to be. This is to journalism what Bernie Madoff was to investment: He told his customers what they wanted to hear, and by the time they learned the truth, their money was gone."
Watch the Connors Institute’s original documentary below, The Poisoning of the American Mind, about misinformation and disinformation in America.
Additional insightful videos and podcasts about information literacy:
skip to section 1, section 2, section 3, section 4, or section 5
This guide to evaluating news media and developing a healthy news diet was developed by Lawrence M. Eppard (Shippensburg University), Michael Anthony Deas (Northwestern University/fmr. Chicago Tribune), and Alison Dagnes (Shippensburg University/fmr. CSPAN)
Eppard teaches at Shippensburg University and writes a lot about the problems of post-truth in America. Deas spent a number of years as an editor at the Chicago Tribune and has served as a fellow at the Poynter and Maynard institutes. Today, he teaches in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Dagnes previously worked at CSPAN and currently teaches at Shippensburg University. Her work focuses on the problems with partisan media in America.