Filter out unreliable information

This is a slightly belated TFR, reporters! Things are a bit hectic right now, as you might know, so I’m going to throw up a video I recorded for Boston University.

If you’re looking for firm, trustable information on a hot topic (like, say, a fast-moving virus), you should try using Google filetype filters and website filters instead of Google itself.

Samantha Sunne @SamanthaSunne

I recorded a video on how to use filters like "site:", "inurl:" and "filetype:" when looking for reliable information on the web. You may want to consider these when reporting on the coronavirus: mymedia.bu.edu/media/Filterin…

An example would be “coronavirus filetype:pdf site:cdc.gov.” This would only show you PDFs published by the CDC. Helpful!

In general, these filters can help you find academic papers, government sources, educational sites and other handy, hard-won information. They work on some other search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo.

Stay safe and wash your hands!