I applaud the Deseret News article on disinformation during a pandemic written by Sofia Jeremias. The examples of misinformation coming from social media, major networks, as well as the White House illustrate the huge difficulty in sorting through the “infodemic.”
One of the recommendations in the article was to “choose one local and one national outlet to keep up to date.” I would caution that simply choosing one outlet for each locale is insufficient.
Before selecting news sources, do some research on the media. Find out the leanings of each organization. Try to pick sources that are generally acknowledged as less biased. If you can make time, choose at least two different sources for national news and pick ones with different perspectives.
Journalism is subject to partisanship, so take opportunity to compare the reporting of major stories by different media outlets. If your time is extremely limited, try alternating your news source each day so that you get a variety of perspectives. Also, for local news, if you read a conservative newspaper, listen to a more moderate or liberal talk radio station. You could even check out the opinion page of a different newspaper. In this way, you can be more savvy in sifting out the misinformation from credible reporting.
Sheri Terry
Orem