The question I get me from your dilemma: it is worth the time evaluating a source for trustworthiness ?
I see it as a proxy for actual cross checking every time, but more and more, cross-checking is needed anyway. Some sources could be permanently rejected, but ‘trustworthy’ sources consistently miss important information that only come in corrections with a significant delay. If we’re not taking the info at face value, the “trust” part is not there anyway.
And if we’re talking about well thought and researched pieces, I’d argue we should also take the time to think about them and do our own sanity checks.
I see it as a proxy for actual cross checking every time, but more and more, cross-checking is needed anyway. Some sources could be permanently rejected, but ‘trustworthy’ sources consistently miss important information that only come in corrections with a significant delay. If we’re not taking the info at face value, the “trust” part is not there anyway.
And if we’re talking about well thought and researched pieces, I’d argue we should also take the time to think about them and do our own sanity checks.