The internet has forever altered how journalists acquire information. What was once a soap box became a published periodical. A news broadcast, now a viral video. From blogs to vlogs to Twitter, there’s definitely no shortage of news available, but how accurate is the info you’re receiving? While technology expands the amount of news outlets, the system is concurrently being overloaded with incorrect intelligence. And while it’s becoming more difficult to separate fact from fiction, there are some who still hold journalism up to its code of ethics we all once held so dear.

Here are three types of journalism to help you decipher the fact from the fluff:

Parachute journalism:  This is the process of placing unequipped reporters with little-to-no knowledge of the subject matter directly on the scene. Shoddy investigations, distorted news reports, and inaccurate information are usually the outcome. But sometimes the situation becomes more dire as witnessed with the South Korean ferry disaster.

Citizen Journalism: Giving a whole new meaning to audience participation, citizen journalism is—essentially—Twitter. If you’re getting your news from tweets by @Joe_Mama241 (not a real person), triple check their source before offering your opinion on the matter. Before you thank Captain Obvious, remember how word of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ death was incorrectly tweeted by the usually more-than-reputable news source NPR.

Ethical Journalism: In 2008 the International Federation of Journalists launched the Ethical Journalism Initiative focused on the accuracy and standards for factual reporting. So if the source you’re reading from is without an ethics code or is simply regurgitated news (i.e. linked from another source, littered with libel, or written without attribution), you may want to find a more reliable authority. (Read tech journalist Kara Swisher’s code of ethics here).

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