{"id":23,"date":"2026-10-12T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/uncategorized\/understanding-source-credibility-a-quick-guide\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T10:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T10:12:12","slug":"understanding-source-credibility-a-quick-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/media-literacy\/understanding-source-credibility-a-quick-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Source Credibility: A Quick Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the open web, a polished page is not the same thing as a trustworthy source. Use this checklist before you rely on a claim.<\/p>\n

The CRAAP questions<\/h2>\n

Currency.<\/strong> When was this published or updated? Is the topic time-sensitive?<\/p>\n

Relevance.<\/strong> Is this actually about your question, at a serious level?<\/p>\n

Authority.<\/strong> Who wrote it? What expertise do they have? Who publishes them? Can you contact someone?<\/p>\n

Accuracy.<\/strong> Are there sources? Can you verify the claim elsewhere? Are there obvious errors or missing context?<\/p>\n

Purpose.<\/strong> Is this here to inform, persuade, sell, or enrage? Is it fact, opinion, or advertising in costume?<\/p>\n

Fast extra checks<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Read the About page. If you cannot tell who is behind the site, stop.<\/li>\n
  • Look for corrections and editorial standards.<\/li>\n
  • Ask who pays for the work. Funding is context, not an automatic disqualifier.<\/li>\n
  • See whether independent outlets reported the same facts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Common traps<\/h2>\n

    Bias alone does not make a source useless \u2014 hidden methods do. A peer-reviewed logo is not magic if the journal is predatory. A post going viral is not evidence. And a strong emotional reaction is a reason to slow down, not speed up.<\/p>\n

    Pause. Cross-check. Read past the headline. That habit is media literacy in practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Anyone can publish. This short framework helps you decide whether a source deserves your trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-literacy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/feat-source-credibility.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stop-the-rot.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}