Journalism or Press Release? This Tool Will Tell

We live in an age of information, it is said again and again. But that doesn't mean we live in an age of good information, as last week seemed intent on bearing out. Each day, we have to weigh the credibility of a piece of information and decide whether to put our faith in it.

It's not really feasible for each of us to track each piece of information to its source (nor would it be efficient), so, instead, we use clues — who wrote this, where is this published, does this square with other information we know. The trouble is that these clues aren't perfect indicators, at least in part because even credible publications and professional journalists sometimes regurgitate information without giving it a careful vetting, a process often referred to as "churnalism" (just as gross as it sounds). Read more...