News & Research

What sources of news and information can you trust?  Check out these links below….

Indivisible (National) – the “parent” to state & local Indivisible groups

Ad Fontes Media – public corporation that uses a team of analysts with a wide range of political views to analyze news content, and from that, rate news media, including audio, video, and print articles.  Media are rated based on reliability (is the source consistent over time?), validity (how factual is the reporting?), and bias (is the source neutral, or does the source lean more conservative or liberal?).  The Media Bias Chart can help a reader find the most neutral news sources.

UMass Amherst library – list of resources to help readers & researchers spot fake news….scroll down to see the list of links to fact-checking resources 

Media Bias / Fact Check – independent website that rates the bias, factual accuracy, and credibility of media sources; widely used by libraries and news organizations as a neutral tool for assessing bias

Have something you think should be added to this list? Fill out our suggested resource form and submit your idea!

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Other reliable sources for factual information

USA Facts – a not-for-profit resource created by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, that provides the public with government data that has been collected across administrations

Pew Research Center – A subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan fact tank that conducts research to inform the public about issues, attitudes, & trends that shape the world

National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) – nonpartisan, non-profit organization founded by the son of President Franklin Roosevelt, to protect these 2 programs for Americans

Brennan Center for Justice –  an independent, nonpartisan law & policy organization that works to enhance and defend our system of democracy & justice

KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation)  – health policy organization rated by Media Bias Fact Check as having high credibility, leaning center-left

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Blogs worth reading

Many of the blogs worth reading come through Substack, an online platform for news and information.  Many contributors offer both free and paid subscriptions. 

Heather Cox Richardson –  Letters from an American – American historian and history professor at Boston College

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance – former US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, now a professor of law at the University of Alabama, and a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice

Thinking About… – by Timothy Snyder – American historian of Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust; author of On Tyranny

Robert Reich – an American political commentator, professor, economist, and author; former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration

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Podcasts

Rachel Maddow presents Ultra:

• Season 1 – The story behind the rise of fascism in the USD in the 1930s and 1940s,and how America stood up to defeat attempts to take over the government in the years before WWII. 
• Season 2 – The story behind the blackmail campaign that led to the shocking suicide of a US senator in his senate office, its ties to the ultra-right movement in the US and Senator Joe McCarthy, and the final push back against McCarthy. 

NPR Fresh Air – In-depth reports and discussions covering a wide variety of topics; politically-oriented shows are especially timely

The Best People (Nicole Wallace, from MS Now) – Interviews with people who are the best at what they do and bring out the best in others.  Wallace seeks to bring a wide variety of perspectives to the discussions of how to continue to reach for truth, decency, and connections.

Autocracy in America (hosted by Anne Applebaum – writer for The Atlantic– & Peter Pomerantsev) – Focuses on the vulnerabilities of the US democracy, and our slide toward authoritarianism.  Each episode discusses authoritarian tactics, where to look for them, and how this movement has impacted Americans.

Tangle – Independent news organization covering biggest political stories in the US by providing views from a variety of perspectives, and labeling what is opinion and what isn’t. 

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