What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is a way to understand the information you receive. It refers to the act of “being critical” of what you hear, read, and see in media sources.
How do you determine if a source is reliable and free of bias?
There is no such thing as a media source that is completely free of bias. However, the goal of the field of journalism is to present information in a manner that is neutral in bias to the greatest extent as possible. There are techniques that a good journalist will employ to reduce their own biases and to present information in a manner that is factual and clear. Specific sources, like specific newspapers or news stations, reliably employ these techniques of journalism. These are reliable sources. However, even in a reliable source, an article may carry bias. So it is important to examine not only the source of information but also the structure of the information itself to see if good journalistic techniques were actually followed.
How do these two ideas come together?
I have a passion about basing my ideas, opinions, and decisions on facts. I care about finding facts, which is tough to do these days. I use critical thinking to evaluate my information and I rely on critical sources to get data that I can rely upon.