Deciding whether to trust an information source means confronting these two key questions:

1. Does the source have, in your opinion, a blemished record of truthfulness in the information it has previously given out?

2. Would the source appear, in your opinion, to benefit in any way by making this information public?

If you really trust a media source, you should be able to answer 'no' to both of these questions - and probably a few others along similar lines. Building up trust in a media source is a continual process of asking yourself these types of questions whenever you read the information they publish.

Imagine reading in a newspaper article that some product or other is really terrific, and that everyone should go out and buy it. You'd have to ask yourself if the newspaper was in on the deal itself, and was only promoting it to make more profits... They might even own the product themselves and are just trying to pass off their blatant advertising as genuine 'news'!

National newspapers and broadcast channels are often seen to have political bias: they can gain a wider audience - and associated advertising revenue and profits - by showing a political party in a more favourable light than is realistic. The subsequent one-sided view of the truth that their audience receives is a major target for criticism, where media organisations' own profits and power are valued higher than the truth they should be delivering.

Try comparing a number of different news sources on an issue to see if you can spot any patterns in the way they report events. Are you getting 'the whole truth and nothing but the truth'?