Once you find a Web site that looks interesting, you need to evaluate it critically. The Internet creates an environment in which anyone can easily publish documents that look just as professional as those at The Economist or News.com Web sites. In this environment, you have to carefully judge the content of each Web page you read.

When long-standing print publications like The New York Times or The Economist go online, it is probably safe to assume that their online editions will abide by the same standards that guide their print versions. However, fact-checking and other editorial procedures for Web sites are still evolving, so keep your critical antennae up-even at sites whose print versions you trust. Ask yourself

Does this make sense?

Does it mesh with what I already know about the subject?

Can I verify the facts with another source?

Although online versions of print publications can ride their parents' coattails into cyberspace, new Internet-only publications like News.com are trying to build their credibility from the ground up. At this kind of site, you need to ask all of the same questions that you'd ask at an established publication's site, but you also need to recognize that these publishers face additional challenges. They may be so busy trying to turn a profit in a notoriously unprofitable business that their editorial departments may scrimp on research, fact-checking, and other quality controls.
[Note: News.com actually seems to have pretty good editorial procedures in place, and of course there is wide variation in editorial practices within and across all media.]

Because anyone with access to a computer and an Internet connection can publish, amateurs can distribute information that looks every bit as valid as the content at a professionally produced site. You need to be particularly careful at these sites. Rather than having a simple straightforward URL like www.fda.gov/, the address of these amateur sites are likely to be long (www.isp.com/userpages/username/) or contain a tilde (www.isp.com/~swanson/). But because anyone can easily register a domain name (the yoursite part of www.yoursite.com), neither can you assume that a short Web address indicates a professional site.

Former presidential press secretary Pierre Salinger lost credibility when he uncritically accepted a dubious Internet document about the crash of TWA flight 800. His misunderstanding of the Internet brought him much ridicule and woe. Don't let this happen to you. Be a critical consumer of information you find on the Internet.

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