Bias in the media has become an increasingly important issue lately. Where once people trusted anything they read in newspapers or heard on a news station, now it seems as if many people are skeptical of all the news they hear. And for good reason.

Media is a more widespread, less controlled phenomenon than it has been in the past. Much of the media we see is designed as “click bait” just to gather the most online potential views possible. Virtually anyone with a computer can make a website and put his or her brand of “news” on it. As citizens, it is important for us to be weary of biased media—especially at a time such as this when the media we are listening to could swing our vote from one presidential candidate to the other. As a general rule, I try to gather news from multiple sources and investigate the sources I do use. What kind of stories are they reporting on? Who sponsors them? Do they report on both sides of an issue? Personally, I have found PBS Newshour, BBC News, and NPR to be extremely reliable news organizations, but to have real confidence in the news you are hearing, you should research new organizations for yourself.

While media bias and the spreading of false news stories is certainly a dangerous phenomenon, it is no less dangerous to not trust the media at all. Reliable news sources may not be as easy to find in the technology age, but they do still exist. And as American citizens we should seek them. Public figures and politicians who try to discredit journalists and legitimate news organizations are no less dangerous than biased media because they too try to hamper Americans’ ability to think freely. At a time like this, it is more important than ever that we make sure the information we are listening to is true and reliable—and to do that, we must do our own research into issues as vote this November.