**Online Verification Skills — Video 4: Look for Trusted Work — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/online-verification-skills-trusted-work/

Learn how to verify online information by investigating sources, using trusted fact-checkers, and trading up to higher quality news.

## Key Takeaways

- Always investigate the source before trusting online content.
- Use trusted fact-checking sites to verify claims and build a reliable source list.
- Go to original reporting rather than relying on repeated summaries.
- Trade up to higher quality sources when verifying information.
- Fact checking skills help prevent being misled and save time on credible stories.

## What the video covers

- Competent web readers investigate the source, especially if unfamiliar.
- Avoid relying on repeated re-reporting; go back to original reporting.
- Build a habit of fact checking and develop a library of trusted sources.
- Fact checking provides context and verification beyond simple rulings.
- Trusted fact-checking sites like Snopes perform thorough verification work.
- Professional reporters are trained to fact check, making traditional news sources valuable.
- The concept of 'trading up' involves finding higher quality sources than the original.
- Using search techniques can help find trusted coverage on a topic quickly.
- You are not bound to the first story you find; the internet allows finding better sources.
- Investigate sources before reading and rely on trusted work to avoid misinformation.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to habits of competent web readers
2. 00:26 Building a library of trusted fact-checking sources
3. 00:44 Example: Fact checking the Canada Child Benefit claim
4. 01:41 Understanding fact checking beyond simple rulings
5. 02:05 Choosing quality fact-checking sites like Snopes
6. 02:29 Importance of traditional news sources and professional reporting
7. 03:39 Using search techniques to find trusted news coverage
8. 05:10 Summary and final tips for effective fact checking

Answers

## Questions about this video

Why is it important to investigate the source of a website or article?

Investigating the source helps determine the credibility of the information, especially if the website or organization is unfamiliar, reducing the risk of being misled.

What does 'trading up' mean in the context of fact checking?

'Trading up' means seeking out higher quality, more reliable sources than the original one you found, often by searching for trusted news outlets or fact-checking sites.

Why should you rely on traditional news sources for fact checking?

Traditional news sources employ professional reporters trained in fact checking, making their work more reliable and trustworthy compared to unverified online content.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:02

Speaker A

So, we’ve gone over two habits of competent web readers. First, they investigate the source, especially when the website or organization they land on is unfamiliar to them.

00:16

Speaker A

Second, they don’t simply read the re-reporting of the re-reporting of the original reporting. They get back to the original article that did the work, that talked to the experts, that talked to the witnesses.

00:26

Speaker A

But, for lots of stories, claims, or events, you don’t even have to do that because if you’re a fact checker, and if you build a fact checking habit, over time, you’ll build up a library of trusted sources that you use.

00:38

Speaker A

And if they have done the verification work for you, you can lean on them.

00:44

Speaker A

Let me give you an example. A site called FactsCan recently called to claim that the Canada Child Benefit have lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. They called it misleading.

00:55

Speaker A

Their reasoning: the benefit was predicted to have that effect, but we don’t know yet whether it did.

01:01

Speaker A

Now, is that really misleading? Maybe, maybe not. But fact checking gives you a lot more than a ruling.

01:07

Speaker A

If you skim down this article, you can see the immense amount of work they pulled together. They emailed the Ministry of Family, they talked to an economist.

01:15

Speaker A

Maybe you have a slightly different conclusion, but even if you disagree, this is a great starting point for that question.

01:21

Speaker A

You might want to make sure that you choose fact checking sites that are quality.

01:25

Speaker A

My particular go-to source is Snopes, which has been in business the longest. But the reason why you trust these sources is not that they agree with you, but that they do this important work of verification.

01:37

Speaker A

Now, it may seem weird that you should be relying on traditional news outfits in a course that’s largely about the web.

01:49

Speaker A

But looking for true news sources is important mostly because professional reporters are taught fact checking as part of their work, and they’re expected to do it on the stories that they write.

02:00

Speaker A

Good fact checkers build this list in their head of reliable sources. Rather than relying on the source that initially comes to them, they go out and they fetch a higher quality source.

02:11

Speaker A

I call this trading up. We can show you a really simple way to do this online.

02:15

Speaker A

Say you find a story that it snowed in the Sahara, but it’s from an untrustworthy source.

02:19

Speaker A

Here we see ‘Global Warming hits the Sahara’ and there’s a picture supposedly of the Sahara covered in snow.

02:25

Speaker A

Now, you could trace this story to the source, but you could also just look for coverage from a trusted source.

02:31

Speaker A

If you search Snow Sahara in Google and then hit the news tab, you’ll see a well-researched story from NPR, one from CNN, one from Forbes.

02:42

Speaker A

All confirming that this happened. If you have a favourite fact checking site or publication, you can float that up to the top of your search results just by typing the name after it.

02:53

Speaker A

So, in this case here, we put the word Snopes after snow in the Sahara, and we see it floats the Snopes site to the top.

03:02

Speaker A

Going to the Snopes story, you’ll find out that snow did fall in the Sahara, but that snow actually falls in the Sahara more than you would think.

03:10

Speaker A

The point is you’re not wedded to using the story that came to you. It’s the internet.

03:16

Speaker A

You can go out and you can find a better story and invest your time in that.

03:21

Speaker A

And that’s it. There are many other tricks to fact checking, but if you just do these things, if you investigate sources before you read, if you go to the original source of the reporting, if you look at trusted work, you’re going to do so much better on the web.

03:40

Speaker A

Doing it before you invest time in reading the article or watching a video will make sure you’re investing your time on decent stories and also prevent you from being fooled.

03:50

Speaker A

So those are the tricks, those are the skills, that’s it!

Topics: online verification fact checking digital media literacy trusted sources web reading skills source investigation media literacy information verification Snopes news literacy

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