Here's one possible response:

Both these sources are real local news sources according to Wikipedia, one a TV station and one a newspaper. The story is real. If I had to pick one of the two I would pick the TV station (abcnews4) in this case because they are more local to the event (they are in the city where it happened) vs. the Vindicator which seems to just be reprinting someone else's story.

How do we get there? We start by doing our "just add wikipedia" trick. Let's show the ABC one first:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/3b72c03d-534a-4d73-bae9-ef2f542dad1d/alligator-abc1.gif

We search the URL or domain and add our bare keyword "wikipedia". Selecting the most relevant search result we find it is about a local TV station in Charleston. Just to be sure the article is for the right site, we scroll down and make sure the URL matches. It does!

What about the "Vindicator"?

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/e6144229-c913-446e-9f19-59aa85bc9236/alligator-vindy1.gif

We do the same search for the URL or domain adding our bare keyword "wikipedia". We notice the top result is about an Ohio newspaper and this reminds us that there may be multiple newspapers named this, and we should check to make sure we have the right one. When we get to the article we find it is an old newspaper with a decent reputation, and we scroll down and make sure the URL matches. It does!

When are local sources good?

Here's our first reflection: we often talk about authority being "contextual and constructed." Let's take that "contextual" piece. An organization that might have authority in one area, but won't have the same level of authority in all areas. For example, a fitness instructor might be a great person for advice on a fitness routine, but you wouldn't get medical advice from them. Likewise, you might ask your doctor about an illness or medical condition, but you wouldn't expect them to be an expert in aerobics.

Local and national newspapers employ reporters that have very similar skills, much more similar than fitness instructors and doctors. But even here authority differs depending on the type of story. For your first reflection, think of a sort of story where a local paper would have a high degree of authority. Then think of another sort of story where they might have far less authority.

Next up: Volcano Plane (Prompt)