How do you measure the “truth” in news?

How do you find you measure the “truth” in News?
More and more these days, we tend to read the types of news, follow news aggregators, or friend or follow people on social networks with whom we agree. While this is comforting, it also shields us from the fact that there are typically many opinions on an issue and risks living in a techno-bubble.

The problem: There are few standards for Meta-News

How many times have you read an article in a major publication and thought:

• Did they interview people from both sides of the story?
• Did they provide an adequate perspective for people who disagree?
• Did I really learn what was going on?

Fine, you say, I read lots of different news and generally get a “balanced” view of what’s going on in my opinion.

A proposal: Create a near-real time accounting of the news.
If there was a site that gave you a curated view of the news (think Wikipedia, but focused on a real-time search model, and with the goal of honestly stating whether this is a “fair and balanced” treatment of the news), would you use it?

Before you say no, take a look at http://politifact.com. Now think about whether this would be a useful service if you could seamlessly find out more information about people, news, and things as an overlay to all of the other applications where you consume information.

The goal: A better-informed, critically-aware public
I’d love to get feedback on this idea. I think that we need to create better filters for our information in general, and one of the ways that we can provide value is by having better real-time or near-real time accounting of the news so that we can better assess the statements that we make and read.

join the conversation on Quora: How do you measure the “truth” in news?