Curious does anyone else double check data from multiple sources

[Bella2000]

I'll be the first to tell you that I confirm random email before forwarding it (little tommy is sick, uplifting story to send to friends...etc) to friends/family, however now I use it regarding the news. I wondered whether others do this as well.

A few months ago while traveling I sat next to this really interesting young man. We started talking and he told me that he was joining the service when he finished his senior year of high school. His dad is a career service man. Anyway, he started telling me how little we know what is going on with the war and around the country. He said that he has clearance through his dad's military access regarding the "official" govt service news sites on the web complete with pictures etc. I was really intrigued. I know there is a ban on certain pictures but news? So I started asking friends in the service about the news - this was around the time of the prison stuff and they confirmed that I had "no idea" 1/2 of what is going on and what I did not see.

I guess I was really naive because I thought how can that be? So, since then I've been looking at foreign news (allies (BBC) and not). What I found interesting was stories that have not been covered here on page one or in the headlines but they are there. I'm not looking at this from a political perspective but that conversation really made me look at things a little differently and now I admit when I read something in the paper, on the internet or see it on tv, I seek out more data and look at a foreign papers to see how it's reported. I've been amazed at what I do or do not see. I am not saying that I want to see doom and gloom on the news (hey I was psyched to see the Red Sox on the cover of the paper) but I've found that I use the nonpartisan factcheck sites and urban legends a lot more often that I have in the past. I also now look for political affiliation in the about section on the website where I didn't before or do google searches on names to see if there are affiliations to certain groups.

Again, I am not suggesting that this is something new but I was curious if anyone else is doing this more than they have in the past or at all?

 

[AmyBeth68]

Yes...I find myself fact-checking and researching stuff all the time. It started with all those forwarded internet "hoax" emails and now I pretty much research any story that sounds interesting or unlikely to me. I've been using the fact check sites after the debates. I guess I've become pretty cynical .

However, I think it is a great idea to read foreign publications to get a different perspective...I'll have to look into that more!