Information & the record
media literacy
The practice of evaluating information: who made it, from what evidence, with what interest, and what an independent record says.
In full
The practical habits are consistent: find the original document, check the date, notice whether a number has a denominator, separate what happened from what someone says it means, and look for the strongest version of the other side's case. These habits matter more than any list of trustworthy outlets, because they transfer to sources nobody has rated.
Where to go next
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Browse every term in the glossary, or see the vocabulary in motion in the How government works walkthroughs.
A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.