Discussion Stop falling for social and local media lies

[anru]

In the age of the internet where information is readily available on everything from various different sources, how does one determine which sources are credible and which ones are best to disregard?

Information outlets that have lied to the masses in large quantities:

1. Cable news media outlets regardless of political affiliation keep producing copious amounts of misleading and dangerous advice to be distributed among their gullible audiences. Not to mention the various different methods in which they have been practically an unofficial branch of corrupt governments who emit state propaganda.
2. Social media outlets such as YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Tumblr, and many others which have "influencers" who's purpose is to subvert the world views of many. What type of information is distributed by these "influencers" is based on whomever controls their revenue streams at any given point in time regarding social issues. Essentially they are propagandists/professional protestors for hire. There are also Botnets which exist on these platforms to super-spread ideas deemed as worthy of being spread by data harvesting algorithms.
3. Alternative media outlets such as 4Chan and Kiwi Farms also have contributed to this mess because of the relentless amounts of schizo posting with utterly outlandish claims being stated and objectively incorrect conclusions being drawn. Although they do have some credibility since anyone can post in them, actual critical analyzers of situations can in fact voice their opinions and be heard without being shutdown.

To navigate this sea of relentless information dumping that is the internet, one must put any and all ideas they hold or oppose through the scientific method in order to observe if they reflect truths or falsehoods. Avoid sources which have been known to be unreliable time and again while associating with, and even contributing to sources which try to reach truths.

No source is perfect, so the responsibility of determining what is true or false falls upon the shoulders of the readers of news reports.