Trust Indicators
It is helpful to look at these trust indicators, when trying to determine if a website or source is trustworthy or not.
- Best Practices
- Journalistic Expertise
- Labels
- References
- Methods
- Locally Sourced
- Diverse Voices
- Actionable Feedback
ARIZONA FREE NEWS
Which trust indicators does Arizona Free News have?
Pass = green | Fail = red
Best Practices
Journalistic Expertise
Labels
References
Methods
Locally Sourced
Diverse Voices
Actionable Feedback
1. Best Practices
Yes, we do know who is behind this news website.
The site protects honest and independent reporting by adhering to a code of ethics and stating in their mission statement that their mission is to “foster independent journalism.” The Arizona Freedom foundation funds this organization.
2. Journalistic Expertise
Yes, we know who made the information.
According to their About page, Eric Porteous is their managing editor, and they have two reporters, Corinne Murdock and Terri Jo Neff. Both reporters have good reputations according to their bios in the about section and have been recognized by other news sources. Here is some more of Corrinne Murdock’s work at the Daily Wire. Terri Jo Neff was recognized by the Arizona Press Club for her public safety work in areas of “law enforcement, courts, corrections, fire and rescue.”
3. Labels
The different categories of news are labeled between news and opinion.
Only the Arizona Free News reporters write the actual news category, opposed to other authors writing the opinion pieces. The stories typically tend to be very impartial and are not sponsored. In the code of ethics, they state that they “will not pay or compensate our sources in any way for information or news tips,” and “we will not endorse any candidates for political office or ballot measures.”
4. References
Yes, all of the articles have proper hyperlinks to sources.
Most articles include twitter feed images to add additional credibility. However, many of the hyperlinks are links to older posts by Arizona Free News and not other credible sources. Here the lateral reading for the organization is lacking. The sources, even if they are their own, back up what is provided in the article.
5. Methods
No, the journalists and reporters do not address the ways in which they retrieve their information.
6. Locally Sourced
Yes, the reporting is done with deep knowledge of the community.
However, most of the articles written, the journalist was not on the scene. Many of the news articles are in reference to the happenings which are occurring in the community. However, not a lot of attention or direct statements come from the community themselves.
7. Diverse Voices
Most of the articles do not address diverse topics nor do they contain diverse voices. There is extremely little attention to diversity and stereotypes.
8. Actionable Feedback
There is not much attention given to the readers responding and inviting them to participate.
The only mention of participation is in the code of ethics where they state, “we will acknowledge any mistakes and correct them promptly.”
Assessment :
Overall, Arizona Free News has an excellent grasp on honest and credible reporting. Looking at their organization as a whole, they are in the right place with the right intentions. Their mission is to: “foster independent journalism and provide people like you with access to news and information not covered by traditional corporate media.”
How can they improve?
They are only using 5 out of the 8 trust indicators and the ones they are lacking are very important to the strength of the organization. In the future, the reporters could address or clarify their methods they used to find their information. Since currently they are lacking in diversity, they could also add another reporter that could focus mainly on diversity and different perspectives in the community. Sadly, they are not the only news media that is lacking in this very important area. According to Pew Research, “Newsroom employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall.” If Arizona Free News allowed commenting and encouraged community participation, they may receive more feedback on how they are addressing the diversity issue. Additionally, they have many exceptional resources. It could be beneficial for their website to undergo some upgrades, because currently, the aesthetic leads the user to be suspicious of the content even though it’s actually quite respectful.
ARIZONA SILVER BELT
Which trust indicators does the Arizona Silver Belt have?
Pass = green | Fail = red
Best Practices
Journalistic Expertise
Labels
References
Methods
Locally Sourced
Diverse Voices
Actionable Feedback
1. Best Practices
No, we do not know who is behind this news website when only looking at their site. If we dig deeper, we find on Wikipedia that the editor is Joseph H. Hamill and it is owned by the News Media Corporation. When you go to this link, there is nothing on the website. The website is just blank white, and this is extremely suspicious.
2. Journalistic Expertise
No, we find most articles have the authors names attached, however, some articles (like the one below) do not have an author. Additionally, doing some preliminary research on some of the authors, they are not credible and do not have a lot of information on either themselves or their writing online.
3. Labels
They do have most of their posts categorized into different labels, for example: Front Page, Community News, Sports, Obituaries, Viewpoint, Arrest Reports, and Classifieds. Again, digging deeper, we found that the Classifieds label category has nothing posted to it. The purpose of the media company and each article was not clearly shown. There were many instances where the article or webpage was promoting something. At the bottom of the webpage, they have a section entitled “Other Sites” and there is a link to Gateway to the Copper Corridor. They also have advertisements (like the one below) for this visitors guide.
4. References
There is a limited number of sources that are used in each article.
The only type of source that I could find is quotes. There are no links, hyperlinks, videos, or documents other than some quotes and images for the header of the article.
5. Methods
There were no inclinations how much or to what extent of reporting was done. Nor was there any evidence as to how they reported the news and the methods they used.
6. Locally Sourced
Clearly, the media is based in the local area of Globe, Arizona. There are many references in different articles, as well as in the obituary category, which references many who lived in Globe, Arizona.
How involved the reports are physically in the community is extremely hard to decipher.
Over the course of my dissecting the website, a questionnaire popped up which I would say could be classified as trying to engage with the community.
7. Diverse Voices
There is a definite lack of diversity in both the reporters and reporting.
8. Actionable Feedback
There is no notice or inquiring about feedback or correcting errors. You can see when the last edit occurred on each post, which could help if you are trying to figure out if errors were changed or fixed. One thing to note about the questionnaire is that they are not asking for feedback on their site but more of a poll about news topics.
Assessment :
Overall, there were many instances where things looked good and professional, but after completing some research and digging using the truth indicators and SIFT method, there were many red flags. I was barely able to find any positive truth indicators for this news website. These indicators are a very good indication to use and see if a source is credible or not. However, addressing each issue takes time, research, and digging. I feel like in everyday life others wouldn’t take the time to research into the platform before making a judgment call. The Arizona Silver Belt has a lot of work in order to even get close to being a reliable news source. They should start by creating an about page in order to clarify their intentions and reveal their directors, editors, and reporters. They could then move onto clarifying the authors of all their posts and work towards explaining their process to the consumer.
