# Reliability Criteria for News Websites

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.03865 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.03865/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 4 Jul 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [A Survey on Automatic Credibility Assessment Using Textual Credibility Signals in the Era of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.21360/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Misinformation poses a threat to democracy and to people's health. Reliability criteria for news websites can help people identify misinformation. But despite their importance, there has been no empirically substantiated list of criteria for distinguishing reliable from unreliable news websites. We identify reliability criteria, describe how they are applied in practice, and compare them to prior work. Based on our analysis, we distinguish between manipulable and less manipulable criteria and compare politically diverse laypeople as end users and journalists as expert users. We discuss 11 widely recognized criteria, including the following 6 criteria that are difficult to manipulate: content, political alignment, authors, professional standards, what sources are used, and a website's reputation. Finally, we describe how technology may be able to support people in applying these criteria in practice to assess the reliability of websites.