Evaluate a News Story

SLO: Evaluate sources using specific criteria and recognize that they vary in quality, usefulness,
perspective, purpose, and format.
 Specifically: Evaluate a news story using the CRAAP criteria plus more

Name: Instructor:

Part 1: Find a News Story

Find a news story to evaluate. You have three options:
1. Go to your Twitter account and select an online news story that appears in your feed
2. Go to your Facebook account and select an online news story that appears in your feed
3. Select one of the news stories below:
a. http://abcnews.com.co/obama-executive-order-bans-pledge-of-allegiance-in-schools/
b. http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1979.htm
c. https://usahitman.com/aaifdssn/

Please note: you are not evaluating a webpage. You are specifically looking for a news story, essentially
an article that discusses current or recent news. It will likely be part of a larger website that contains a
collection of news stories. The larger website should look like an online newspaper, with a variety of
headlines, articles, links, and other newsy items.

If you’re not sure the news story you found is appropriate for this assignment, please send it to me to
review.

Part 2: Evaluate the News Story

Read the news story and answer these questions about it:

GENERAL
I found my news story via: (Facebook) 1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. This assignment
URL of the News story/article you’re evaluating URL:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1365250/arroyos-
appointment-as-adviser-on-clark-projects-big-
boost-bcda
What was your first response to the news story? Disbelief and Shocked, because I didn’t expect
Curiosity? Disbelief? Anger? Something else? that after the issue about the former President
Does it speak to a personal belief or bias? Why Arroyo, she will be appointed as the adviser on
did you respond this way? Be specific. Clark’s Project
Are there ads? Yes
If so, are the ads provocative or click-bait (content, Provocative
especially that of a sensational or provocative nature, whose main
purpose is to attract attention and draw visitors to a particular web
page.)?
Is the news story satire or a joke? No

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 AUTHORITY
Who is the author of the news story? Use
Google, Wikipedia, About Us, etc. to investigate. Philippine Daily Inquirer
What did you find out about him/her/them?
Who is responsible for the site on which the
news story appears? Investigate the
owner/sponsor. Use Google, Wikipedia, About
Us, etc. to verify. Who are they? What did you
find out about them?
Go to the news story’s home page (the main
page of the online newspaper the news story is
in). List the titles of two other news stories
posted on that page.
Briefly scan both news stories. What are your
first impressions of the news stories? Do they
influence how you feel about the news story you
selected and the Authority of the site?
Is there a Contact page/info? If so, does the
contact information appear to be legitimate? If
not, what does that tell you about the authority
of this site?
ACCURACY
Read beyond the headline. Does the content of
the news story support what the headline says?
Does the news story use sources to support the
claims? Do the sources actually exist? (Click one
or two of them to find out.)
Investigate one source cited in the news story.
URL of the source you’re investigating:
Evaluate the source using CRAAP Criteria.
Address each of the 5 criteria. Does it provide
Gabriel Pabico Lalu, he is a journalist on
The owners of the Inquirer are the Rufino-Prieto
Family that now belongs to Ramon Ang.
INQUIRER.net is the official news website of the
INQUIRER Group of Companies (IGC). Under the
IGC umbrella are Philippine Daily Inquirer, Hinge
Inquirer Publications, Cebu Daily News, Inquirer
LIBRE, Bandera, INQUIRER.net, Inquirer Mobile,
Print Town, DZIQ 990AM Radyo Inquirer, Delivery
Access Group, and Inquirer Digital Outdoor
Media.
The website features breaking news 24/7 and the
latest on issues and current event. The website
also highlights compelling commentaries on
Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Lifestyle,
Business, and Technology, as well as stories
around the world relevant to all Filipinos
overseas.
1. PH COVID-19 caseload nears 430,000
as 10,579 more patients recover
2. Suicide car bomb kills 30 Afghan
security personnel
I was intrigued and curious about the title of the
news stories. No, it does not influence on how I
feel on the news that I selected.
Yes, because it is posted in the “About Us”
section of the page. It also has the complete
details of the contact personals.
Yes, it gives the supporting details about the
headline.
There are no other sources cited in the news
story.
URL: None
Currency: Yes, the information is current and up
to date, it was posted last Thursday and the links
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good, accurate, reliable information? are functional.
Relevance: The intended audience are the
citizens of the country. The information is related
to my topic. Also, in other sources they do have
the same content.
Authority: The story came from one of the
journalists of Philippine Daily Inquirer and their
contacts and other information are stated in the
page.
Accuracy: There are no cited sources in the news
story. Other reputable sources also have the
same content but the source that I had use have
the briefer content. The content seems to
objective and there are no typographical errors.
Purpose: The purpose is clear and they intend to
inform the citizen.

Search the web for another news story on the
topic, one from a site you know is reputable (e.g.
NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post,
Time Magazine, NPR, etc.). What is the URL of the
news story? What does that news story say about
your topic? If you cannot find a reputable news
story on your topic, what does that tell you?
In searching for a reputable source, did you learn
anything from the results of your search? That
is, did the links you retrieved reveal anything
about your news story?
Fact check your original news story by checking
two of these: snopes.com, politifact.com, or
factcheck.org. What did you learn about your
news story when you checked?
URL: https://www.rappler.com/nation/duterte-
taps-gloria-arroyo-adviser-clark-projects
The news story was more detailed than the
source that I had used for my evaluation. The
source that I used in my evaluation was the brief
one or the summary of the news.
Yes, I learned that some of the news we saw or
we read are just the summaries of it. In other
sources that I had search on, the whole story or
news was written on it and the details were
complete. Also, we cannot prevent having biases
when it comes on writing news articles.
1.
2.

CURRENCY
What is the date of the news story? Is the The date of the news story was on November
information in the news story current? 26,2020. Yes, the information in the news is
current. Although the document was signed on
November 23,2020 it was only revealed last
Thursday, November 26,2020.

PURPOSE
What is the purpose of your news story? What is The purpose of my news story is to inform the
the purpose of the organization sponsoring the people about the newly appointed adviser on the
website on which your news story appears? Is the Clark project. The information sited on the story

11 May 2017
 information provided in the news story and on is objective and its intention is to inform the
the site biased? Objective? Fact? Opinion? people.

Part 3: Reflect on your evaluation

Take a moment to check your own bias and honestly consider the information in the original news story
you found, along with all the information you discovered when you investigated it.

What are your conclusions about the accuracy and reliability of the original news story you found? Does
it pass the CRAAP test? Would you feel good sharing it with a friend? Would you use it as a source in a
paper?

The original news story that I found is somehow lacking some points. The background of the author is
nowhere to be found even on the page of the inquirer. The news story only gave brief information about
the topic that is stated on the headline, if a person only wants a brief part of the news story and it’s the
perfect article for him/her. I would not share it to a friend, I will recommend a source that gives the
complete detail of the given topic. No, I will use another source so that I can have a full understanding of
that certain topic.

11 May 2017