The source chosen for this assessment is the news website called The Onion. To establish the online source’s credibility, one should look at the website’s creator, the authors’ credibility, the possibility of verifying the information, the individuals accountable for the information, and the presentation of the information (Lunsford et al., 2019). For this analysis, one news article published on The Onion has been selected (“Congressional Democrats,” 2021). One thing that strikes the eye is that the website does not mention the names of the authors of its articles. It significantly undermines the credibility of the website because readers cannot establish the trustworthiness of the authors, and it is unclear who can be held accountable for the information published on the website. Based on the .com extension, one can also conclude that this website is commercial, which also negatively affects its credibility.
Further, it is necessary to assess the quality of the information published on the website. First of all, the website mentions publication dates for its materials and keeps its information up-to-date, which is a good sign. However, the news presented on The Onion sometimes cannot be verified in other sources. For example, the “Independence Day pageant” that was allegedly staged by Democrats has not been mentioned anywhere else (“Congressional Democrats,” 2021, para. 2). Moreover, the article “Congressional Democrats” (2021) clearly shows that the information presented on The Onion is not straightforward but satirical. Given this assessment, I conclude that The Onion is not a credible online source because of several issues. First, it does not provide information about the authors of its articles, which does not allow for establishing the authors’ trustworthiness and holding them accountable. Second, the website is commercial, which also suggests lower credibility. Finally, the information presented on this website is satirical and not verifiable, which means that it cannot be used as a credible source.
References
Congressional democrats put on an elaborate 4th of July pageant to teach republicans the importance of democracy. (2021). The Onion. Web.