Media literacy
A short set of habits that make this site — and any news site — easier to read critically. None of them require trusting us.
One account of an event is one framing of it. Open the cluster and the omissions become visible immediately: what led here that was buried there, whose words were quoted directly and whose were paraphrased.
Direct quotation is an editorial choice. The people quoted in their own words are the people the outlet is treating as credible; the people paraphrased are being summarised by someone with a view.
Two outlets can agree completely on what happened and disagree completely on what it means. Divergence on facts is checkable. Divergence on meaning is a matter for you.
A story that is everywhere on one side and nowhere on the other is telling you something about both sides. That is what the blindspot page is for.
A figure quoted without its release date and its source table cannot be checked. If a number matters to the argument, find the table.