I offer some specific suggestions below — but as a rule: read broadly, question everything, and don’t overlook local news.

Whether I’m giving a speech or teaching journalism students at Fresno State, one question keeps coming up: which news sources are actually reliable? My answer: read broadly. And if you want specifics about news sites, they’re in the fifth and sixth paragraphs below.

In an era when misinformation spreads within seconds and most people encounter news through social media feeds, relying on a single source is not helpful to understanding an issue. It’s a vulnerability. Readers need to develop the habit of comparing information across multiple reputable news organizations.

Reliable journalism rests on a few core principles: accuracy, transparency, verification, accountability, and a genuine willingness to correct mistakes. Look for news organizations that identify their sources, distinguish reporting from opinion, provide context, and explain how they gathered the information they’re presenting. Good journalism doesn’t simply tell you what happened. It shows you the reporting behind the story and gives you what you need to evaluate the facts yourself.

Those principles are at the heart of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which calls on journalists to seek truth, minimize harm, act independently, and remain accountable to the public. These aren’t just standards for journalists. They’re a framework for audiences, too.

I regularly turn to wire services — the Associated Press and Reuters in particular — because their mission is gathering and distributing verified news, not advancing opinion. Their reporting is syndicated by newspapers, broadcasters, and digital outlets worldwide precisely because accuracy is their product. That global reach also demands a more neutral tone. Stories written to serve a thousand different news sites can’t afford a point of view.

I also encourage readers to consult established national and international outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC and NPR. No newsroom is perfect, and every organization makes editorial choices. But outlets with strong journalistic traditions have built-in systems for fact-checking, source verification, corrections, and editorial oversight. That institutional accountability matters.

Don’t neglect local news sources, either. They’re essential for understanding the community you live in — covering school board meetings, city hall decisions, and the civic fabric that shapes daily life. Be cautious with television news, which leans heavily on crime coverage because it’s cheap and easy to produce. Meaningful reporting on local government demands more resources, more expertise, and more time, which is precisely why it so often goes under-covered.

Reading broadly doesn’t mean treating every source as equally trustworthy. It means seeking a range of credible perspectives while understanding the difference between professional journalism, commentary, advocacy, and outright misinformation. A reader who regularly consults multiple reliable sources is better equipped to spot patterns, identify missing context, and weigh competing claims.

Pay attention to how a story is reported, not just what it says. Are sources named? Is evidence provided, including documents, data, on-the-record interviews? Has the organization corrected mistakes when it got something wrong? Does the headline reflect the reporting, or is it engineered for clicks? These are the questions a savvy news consumer asks every time.

Possibly the greatest challenge in today’s media environment is the pull toward information that simply confirms what we already believe. It’s easy, and comfortable, to gravitate toward sources that reinforce our political preferences and validate our assumptions. But comfort isn’t the same as being informed.

Social media algorithms make this worse, feeding us content based on what we’ve already liked, viewed, or shared. Over time, our information diets narrow without us noticing. People with different viewpoints can end up living in entirely different information environments, each convinced they’re seeing reality clearly.

The answer isn’t to abandon journalism. It’s to become a more demanding consumer of it. Read widely. Compare coverage. Learn to distinguish reporting from opinion. Seek out credible sources that occasionally challenge what you think you know. When a story matters — an election, a court ruling, a public health crisis, an international conflict — don’t settle for a single account.

There is no perfect news organization. There never will be. But there are good habits: curiosity, skepticism, and the discipline to look beyond the first headline. In a democratic society, those habits matter far more than loyalty to any single outlet.

(This column has been updated).