1. Where do you get your information from? What news channels are you watching, what publications are you reading, etc.?
While I get it from a genuine variety of sources and more often than not I only particularly care what's in the News if either it's mentioned elsewhere or my parents talk about it, I will be specific on this as I'm aware this sounds ignorant.
I am a firm believe in the Illuminati controlling the News and yet I am left-wing. I do not understand why most conspiracy theorists are right-wing, it is a fact that right-wing News is even more blatantly geared to disinformation than the left-wing news but both have their fair share of context twisting and brutal manipulation of the facts to fit their biases.
So, I firmly believe that almost no news source that's mainstream is at all not a part of the problem and instead I focus on news sources that I think have the kind of biases I would like to see actually supported, I do really look at all news sources but the ones I trust most and take most serious on matters are those whos biases align with my own, this is the actual way to operate in a world of fake news, the one with the agenda you support is likely to tell you the line of thinking you should hate the least and question the least. I do always look around a topic, even in 'metoo' scenarios, to check if really the person was frame or not but what I do trust most and found my cross-source investigations support nearly 95% of the time (genuinely 92-95 out of 100 kind of ratio) is the ones with both a left-wing lean and yet a lean that isn't entirely dedicated to 'hating the right-wing'. To avoid helping people locate me, I will give examples of sources I trust most.
The Guardian (all countries where it has a branch, it's reliable)
BBC News
ABC News
Vox
Sky News Australia (massive right-wing lean but my investigations found that it actually states the truth often)
CBS News
The Independent
Often CNN (extreme bias but it fits my own and rarely directly lies, just twists context)
Al Jazeera (but I never trust it on matters it has locally in the middle east, instead its international reports are where its real reliability lies, it is very biased to be anti-israel and anti-American-right etc so I am careful what I trust or don't trust).
The Atlantic
and many others of course.
Canada is a developed nation where I personally have found a real overload of bullcrap filled with bias in its News so I stick to the source 'The National Post' there, even the national news source of Canada is filled with too much bias to bother following regularly. Just take one look at its website:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada
It looks like a teenager with 2 week's experience designed that website under extreme time pressure. I don't feel they put much effort into removing blatant bias from their articles.
There are many others I follow on the side but basically those sum up what I look at.
I follow many scientific magazines/papers. These include Psychology Today and New Scientist (as well as BBC's science branch). I also follow many YT channels that aren't officially 'news' for hot takes on things etc. Some are even right-wing, I am a Jordan Peterson subscriber for instance.
2. How do you go about vetting the information you consume?
Aside from when I give a damn about a particular article and do that cross-checking exercise (forcing myself to read many reports on the same topic/event) what I generally do to vet is just go with what I basically know the bias is and will fit mine. You see, since bias and twisting the truth to suit one's agenda is fairly inevitable in journalism, what I want is a twisted truth coming from a source that ultimately has the same overall morals and goals I have for society since they'll rarely report the truths that matter for my agenda in a twisted or fallacious manner.
Such biases include, supporting a shift to higher minimum wage, better workers' rights, a total shift to the left for overall politics, not overly pandering to minorities just because left-wing (overly pandering includes things such as forgetting that Islam is linked to Sharia Law and that the influence it has on a culture they immigrate into needs to be significantly mitigated if it is to remain left-wing and liberal, it also includes not supporting calling Caitlyn Jenner 'woman of the year' after she had only been a woman for one year despite definitely supporting trans rights on a personal level). I also would say a huge thing for me is to report more on the mental health aspects of mass shooters without needing to deny them being the villains they are. We need to empathise even with those we despise, this is a significant life skill both wings lack at the moment but the right-wing lacks more for sure.
As for science news (which matters much more for our species than bullshit political news but unfortunately the latter can't be ignored) I generally find they don't lie even if they're biased, so if they state facts you can trust it regardless of agenda and it's nice to read.
3. How exactly do you identify when you think someone else is not “thinking for themselves”?
Well, it's pretty easy really, the hard part is accepting that barely anyone does. What I do is ask them 'alright, this is your take on this topic so why do you believe it and are you willing to let me attack it?' obviously I don't directly word it like that but I basically do that. Be careful doing it, it can cost you friendships and pleasant exchanges, however that ultimately is the test. If they get more hostile the more interest you take and less hostile the more you nod and gloss over any take they have on any topic, you know that you're dealing with a 'sheep'.
Unlike others who are very self-driven and notice 'sheep', I've learned to accept them, I don't have hostility. Some of my close family are what I'd call 'sheep' but I just let it be, I can't change them being sheep any more than they can change me being a self-thinker with a rare ability to admit my own biases while determining truth. The more you fight to change people, the worse your life will get. Instead just get along with them, socialise with them and appreciate their strengths, leave the deep chats for people who also want that. Your life will get much better and more fulfilling.
When with shallow thinkers, learn to think shallow. I say that without any resentment or hostility at all, I have come to be at total peace with this concept and way of living life. Save the philosophy and political shit for people who really wanna chat about that.
