Vetting news content that appears on TV or in a livestream can be trickier to vet since you’re not reading about it online. Yet, much of the content you see on TV or video is available online as a video clip and they might even include a transcript. If corresponding online info isn’t available, stations often rebroadcast content or programs again.
Use this guide to help you vet TV and video content. First, use the “Quick Check” guidelines to quickly rule out content as misinformation. If the content passes that, move onto taking a “Closer Look” and see how the content holds up. If you need more information, vet the content against our “Digging Deeper” guidelines.
1. Publication
Quick Check
- Check the video publisher’s profile (for videos on video sharing platforms)
- Look for the indicator that says they’re a verified source
- Look at the plan level the publisher has. Although not guaranteed, someone who’s paying an account is more likely to be valid.
- Look for the indicator that says they’re a verified source
- Check the URL
- Make sure you’ve found the correct site for the news source
- Evaluate the quality of the site
- Poor quality in design and layout can indicate a fraudulent site
- Check the for details about the company that legitimizes who they are
- Look for an About Us, Contact Us, or “Meet the Team” section. Not all news stations will have an About Us section. Most will have a contact us section with phone numbers, email address, and mailing addresses.
- If content in those areas is exaggerated or sensational, then it’s a good indicator the site is not credible.
2. Author
Quick Check
- Look up the person presenting the content
- Validate the person by finding a bio, LinkedIn profile, or other content they might have created
A Closer Look
- See if the presenter has an agenda
- Look up other content by the presenter and see if there’s a common theme or motive behind their content. Examples include promoting something to sell, driving traffic to their site, promoting a particular point of view
3. Content
Quick Check
- Listen for mentions to references
- Quotes should be from specific people and organizations
- Vague references (e.g., “a White House employee”) or a lack of references usually indicates the source isn’t credible.
- Sometimes anonymous sources must be used, but they should be specific enough (e.g., “a senior White House official”) and be used for a valid reason. (http://ethics.npr.org/tag/anonymity/)
- Evaluate the overall tone of the message
- An angry tone or happy sales pitch indicates there’s an agenda behind the presenter or content.
A Closer Look
- Check if people or organizations quoted are authentic
- Pro tip: Put the individual or organization’s name in quotes. This will search the exact name as it appears.
- See if the content presents a balance of pros/cons, including: Interviews with all parties involved, research done by professors or universities
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- See if other publications are talking about the same information with the same facts
- Pro tip: Use Google to search, and then filter with results with the News tab. It will provide a broad list of related news. This is helpful when trying to find a specific news article. Use news.google.com to search a current event topic. The search results are displayed in an easy-to-consume manner.
Digging Deeper
- Look up the stance of the people and organizations mentioned in the content.
- Seeing a pattern in their position can help inform you.
- Look up any research projects mentioned
- This can help better inform you.
- Check to see if the content presented is original
- Pro tip: Use quotes when searching phrases in Google. This will search the exact phrase as it appears.
- If it’s been reproduced, look into the extent it’s copied. Credible sources might quote or paraphrase content, but will properly credit the original source.
- Research the validity of statements to see if they’re facts
- There are several fact-checking tools, including: https://www.factcheck.org
- There are several fact-checking tools, including: https://www.factcheck.org
- Validate locations that might appear in the video
- Use Google Maps to look up a location, then view the area with Street View. Note: check the date of the images. Not all locations will have a Street View available. In those instances, a satellite view might be useful.
4. Comments
- If there’s a comments section on the page, check to see what the comments mention
- If the comments call out the articles credibility, it’s usually a good indicator that the content is false.