User:Superb Owl/Reliable Source Engine

Search a selection of reliable news sources

This custom Google Search engine searches mostly perennial sources of generally reliable () journalism. It excludes sources rated as no consensus on reliability (or as unreliable) and excludes op-eds when possible. See Wikipedia library for academic sources.

See also

• Wikipedia:Advanced source searching#Custom search engines

Appendix

Final update

November 23, 2024

{{Search for expanded}} template

I am no longer updating this search engine given the limitations of Google programmable search (which seems to be getting worse somehow) and imagine there will, in a year or two, be an AI search assistant that will be far better than anything I could do to improve upon this tool.

Sources used

Full list available in different formats on Github (last update: November 14, 2024)

Sources excluded

List of Opinion/op-eds, blogs, commentary, editorials, tags, author profiles and forums (also on Github)

I omitted some sources with because:

1. Can't filter to a specific time period when content was most reliable using Google (Bing Custom Search API might be able to though...)
   1. CNET (before October 2020)
   2. ZDNET (before October 2020)
   3. Newsweek (before 2013)
   4. The Independent - concern by editors starting in March 2016, though very close to including anyway
   5. The Weekly Standard – US opinion magazine (1995–2018), the domain is inactive and redirects to an unreliable source, so the main issues is finding a domain to search (https://web.archive.org/web/20181231145630/https://www.weeklystandard.com/ did not work)
2. Confusing to differentiate between opinion (or low-quality information) and news, at least for beginners (looking for AI-assisted search tool that could enable the inclusion of the reliable content from these sources)
   1. Forbes (articles written by 'contributors' are unreliable)
   2. Jacobin - difficult to tell blog from article
   3. IGN - too many caveats to memorize
   4. Space.com (recommended to check qualifications of each author)
   5. Yahoo! News (aggregates news from a number of sources, including very unreliable ones)
3. Not reliable for all political topics
   1. ADL.org - not reliable for Israel/Palestine
   2. Business Insider - just reliable for culture
   3. HuffPost – American news aggregator, blog launched 2005
   4. The Jewish Chronicle - removed due to pre-2010 caveat and politics flags
   5. Kommersant – Russian daily newspaper
   6. Rolling Stone (magazine) – American monthly magazinePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
   7. South China Morning Post – Hong Kong newspaper
   8. Sixth Tone – State-owned English-language online magazine in China
   9. TheWrap – American entertainment and media news website - not evaluated for reliability on politics (and includes significant politics coverage)
4. To avoid explicit content ('safe search' is also turned on for this search engine)
   1. AVN (magazine) – American magazine covering adult entertainment
   2. Playboy – American lifestyle and entertainment magazine
5. Video Game-specific sites
   1. People Make Games - removed and suggested for inclusion on the custom Video game search engine (though YouTube might not be indexable like other sites)
6. Unclear whether it would be helpful:
   1. Aon (company) – Professional services firm - can't find weather-specific page
   2. Geographic Names Information System – Geographical database - useful in this kind of search engine?

Other sources added and considered

(beyond the perennials sources with a )

Obviously reliable sources not listed as 'Perennial'

1. Nature (not added - redundant to Wikipedia Library)
2. Science (not added - redundant to Wikipedia Library)
3. The Lancet (not added - redundant to Wikipedia Library)

Non-profit outlets with some accountability as members in:

1. Institute for Nonprofit News (see Talk:Using INN membership for reliability discussions?)
2. Global Investigative Journalism Network (see Talk:Should GIJN membership indicate general reliability?)
3. International Fact-checking network (English language sites added only to Fact-checking search engine) See WP:IFCN for discussions on its general reliability in evaluating fact-checking sites
4. IPSO - early discussion indicates not enough for general reliability given inconsistent enforcement and many publications under this jurisdiction not deemed generally reliable by editors

Reputable outlets that focus on politics

1. Foreign Policy (added)
2. Foreign Affairs (added)
3. Ballotpedia (not added - too much WP:False balance)

Outlets that focus on the media (given the importance of media criticism for building Wikipedia)

1. Poynter (added)
2. Columbia Journalism Review (added)
3. Nieman Lab (added)
4. Editor & Publisher (added - caution: many are press releases)
5. Current (added)
6. Tow Center for Digital Journalism (added)
7. American Press Institute (added)
8. Media and Journalism Research Center (added)

Regional Newspapers of Record

1. Chicago Tribune (added)
2. SF Chronicle (added)

Public broadcasters

1. List of public broadcasters by country (that are listed as having editorial independence from the government by State Media Monitor and have a Wikipedia article)
   1. English-language outlets (or sections) - included
      1. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (added)
      2. CBC (added)
      3. Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (added)
      4. PBS (added)
      5. Channel Four Television Corporation (added)
      6. Special Broadcasting Service (added)
      7. Radio New Zealand (added)
      8. Television New Zealand (added)
      9. Pacific Media Network (added)
      10. Swissinfo by Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (added)
      11. Radio Slovenia International - by RTVSLO (added)
      12. https://www.kbs-america.com/ by Korean Broadcasting System (added)
      13. Yleisradio (added)
      14. EFE (added)
      15. Radio France (added)
      16. France 24 (added) parent: France Médias Monde
      17. Arte (added)
      18. Eesti Rahvusringhääling (added)
   2. Not included (but would if there were an English section)
      1. ORF (broadcaster)
      2. S4C
      3. Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation
      4. Belgischer Rundfunk
      5. RTBF
      6. Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie
      7. Česká televize
      8. Czech Radio
      9. DR (broadcaster)
      10. https://da.wiki.x.io/wiki/TV_2_Danmark
      11. France Télévisions
      12. ARD (broadcaster)
      13. ZDF
      14. Latvian Television
      15. Lithuanian National Radio and Television
      16. https://de.wiki.x.io/wiki/Liechtensteinischer_Rundfunk
      17. Teleradio-Moldova
      18. Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (organization)
      19. RTCG
      20. NRK
      21. Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
      22. EITB
      23. Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals
      24. Valencian Media Corporation
      25. Radiotelevisión del Principado de Asturias
      26. Sveriges Radio
      27. Sveriges Television
      28. Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company

Articles are republished and cited often by reputable outlets

1. States Newsroom (96k+ articles republished, including by local NPR stations)

Next steps

1. Update Templates (see above prototype of 'Search for expanded')
   1. Change WRS description from: 'a Google search that only searches sites vetted by Wikipedians.' to 'a Google search limited to hundreds of higher-quality sources' for:
      1. Template:Find sources (proposed)
      2. Template:Find sources multi
      3. Template:Find general sources
      4. Template:Find video game sources
2. Helping to update WP:WRS
   1. Submit xml files with sources to add and exclude