Research Guides

News and Newspaper Content at the UM Libraries


Live Web Editions
Local Newspapers - Online
National Newspapers - Online
News and Newspaper Databases
Historical Newspapers - Online
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Identifying Media Bias Resources
Center for News Literacy
News Literacy is a curriculum developed at Stony Brook University in New York over the past decade. It is designed to help students develop critical thinking skills in order to judge the reliability and credibility of information, whether it comes via print, television or the Internet.
 
The Learning Network via NYT
The Learning Network publishes about 1,000 teaching resources each school year, all based on using Times content — articles, essays, images, videos, graphics and podcasts — as teaching tools across subject areas.
 
The Last Archive
In The Last Archive, acclaimed historian Jill Lepore traces the history of evidence, proof, and knowledge, in troubled epistemological times. From archives and libraries to interrogation rooms and evidence vaults, Lepore takes listeners around the country--and across the passage of time--in search of an answer to the question: Who killed truth?

The Media Manipulation Casebook
The Media Manipulation Casebook is a research platform that advances knowledge of misinformation and disinformation and their threats to democracy, public health, and security. The Casebook is a new resource for building the field of Critical Internet Studies by equipping researchers with case studies, theory, methods, and frameworks to analyze the interplay of media ecosystems, technology, politics, and society.
 
First Draft
First Draft’s mission is to protect communities from harmful misinformation. We work to empower society with the knowledge, understanding, and tools needed to outsmart false and misleading information.
 
ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force.
 
Media Bias Chart
See where news sources fall on the map of the media landscape.
 
Four Tips for Spotting a Fake News Story
From the Harvard Division of Continuing Education. Don't be fooled by false reporting. Here are some tips to help you tell fact from fiction in today's news.
Classroom Resources
K-12 Infolit and Fake News Activities and Resources
An extensive collection of websites, articles, online activities, lesson plans, and resource collections that includes materials for all grade levels. 
 
10 Questions for Fake News Detection
From the NewsLiteracyProject.org, A checklist for identifying fake news. Asks questions such as, "Where was the article found?" "How well-known is the source?" How did the headline make you feel?" 
 
News and Media Literacy Resource Center
From Common Sense Education. This collection of news and media lessons, videos, printables, and more is a great place to start. Everything's been carefully vetted by Common Sense editors (and fellow teachers) to help you find that "just right" resource for your classroom.
 
The Learning Network
From the New York Times. Teaching Resources for Middle School Using the NYT.
Identifying Internet Trolls
Internet Troll and Disinformation Quiz
From the Clemson University Media Forensics Hub. A quiz where YOU examine images of real social media content and decide whether it's from a legitimate account or an internet troll.
Fact Checking Sites
New York Times Fact Checks
The NYT fact checking website that provides analyses of claims made by both political parties.

FactCheck.Org
A nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. Monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

Politifact.com
A not-for-profit independent fact checker and journalism outlet.

Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart's mission is to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to all Americans.

League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters of the United States encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

Snopes
Snopes is the oldest and largest fact-checking site online, offers fact checking, evidence, and transparency of sources. 
 
Articles and Research
Comic: Fake News Can be Deadly. Here’s How to Spot It
An NPR article and illustration tailored to kids that shows how fake news spreads.
 
Fake News: How to Spot Misinformation
This short NPR article provides five tips for identifying and dealing with false information. 
 
Disinformation, Fake News and Influence Campaigns on Twitter
This study is one of the largest analyses to date on how fake news spread on twitter both during and after the 2016 election campaign.
 
Evaluating information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning
The Stanford History Education Group has prototyped, field tested, and validated a bank of assessments that tap civic online reasoning—the ability to judge the credibility of information that floods young people’s smartphones, tablets, and computers.
 
A Propaganda Model
By Edward Herman & Noam Chomsky. Provides a model of five filters that the media works through.
 
Many Americans Believe Fake News is Sowing Confusion
From Pew Research Center. 2016 survey about fake news and understanding basic facts.
Video
Defining Confirmation Bias
In this video, reporters and media professionals define the term “confirmation bias,” and discuss its effect on how people approach and evaluate news and other information.

How Not to Spot Fake News
PBS Idea Channel video: "We’re gonna talk about about how NOT to spot fake news, about how certain news items can seem suspect... but not all blemishes make their stories necessarily fake. We’re gonna talk about what ISN’T fake news by using Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman’s book Manufacturing Consent, as our guide."

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