We see the news everywhere. On social media, on our TVs, in the newspaper, everywhere. Most of us get our information from what we believe to be reliable news sources, such as the Guardian, BBC, and more. But many people also get their information about important situations from much less trustworthy sources such as social media, where fake information can spread very quickly. False information can easily change our perspective on different things which is why it’s important to discuss it and bring awareness to it. 

Firstly, there are multiple issues with the information on social media. It’s extremely easy for it to spread, especially on popular social media platforms. Someone could be biased towards a certain topic or situation and when they post it, it could lead to that biased information spreading and making thousands of people believe something that is misleading or not true. For example, since many more people use social media apps rather than news apps, they most likely use the social media platforms to learn about ongoing situations. Along with social media, news accounts are also places where people look to find information. However, some people use more reliable sources but still get biased and false information. An example of this is Russian news sources when informing Russian citizens about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Putin, the president of the country, forbade Russian journalists from calling it a ‘war’ or an ‘invasion’. This has caused many people to believe that nothing serious is happening between the two countries and share it on social media. This is an example of how language can be used to manipulate people into believing things that are not true. 

The trustworthiness of the information that is used in articles or in anything that will be publicly posted is extremely important as it could end up being shared to many different people. If you are planning to use a source with information about a serious or important topic, it’s crucial that you know where it’s from and if it’s reliable or not. There are multiple ways to avoid false or biased information and they can be very helpful, especially when researching for an article. Here are the main ones:

1. If you are using websites to find information, it’s best to avoid less accurate sources such as blogs. Instead, it’s better to use a news source such as the Guardian, BBC, or CNN. 
2. The website address also plays a role in the reliability of the website. If it ends with .org, .gov, or .edu, then it’s probably reliable because it either comes from the government, an organization, or an institution. 
3. When sources aren’t online, it’s best to try and use a primary source, for example, a person that has experienced the topic you’re researching. The information will be realistic because they have lived through the situation and have seen everything happen in real life. There might still be bias though, and everyone is a bit biased, but be careful to look out for it if your article is more of a factual piece.
4. Finally, there should always be books containing information about significant events and they are reliable because they are usually written by researchers or they have evidence of their investigation. If you need to know more, books usually have the sources they used, so you can use that. No matter the topic, always make sure to analyze your sources before using them. 

With these four main tips, you should be able to find good information and sources that you can use.

Lastly, in the High, we write articles often so we usually research a lot of information to include in our work. We write about current or important topics that we care about so we always try to use reliable sources and if we interview someone, we make sure they are familiar with the topic. Members of the High have said that when researching online, they try to use websites from research institutions, organizations, or news companies. All these types of websites usually research the topic to make sure the information is true. Finally, to make sure that the information is trustworthy, we try to cross-reference it and to check the date to see if it’s up to date. We try to have information that is as reliable as possible to make sure that our readers get trustworthy information. We want the High to be the place where people look for information about important and interesting topics.

In the end, we see news and information everywhere, but sometimes we don’t think about whether it’s true or not. That is why it’s always important to make sure that the information you receive is accurate, especially if you’re going to post it publicly somewhere or if it’s about a current topic.