Well stated. I like your example of "up" and "down". Removes real-life party affiliations. I kept emphasizing "both left and right" in my posts, but people kept insisting I was only commenting on right-wing sources. Despite my providing a graphic that showed that the more partisan a source was, the less accurate it was.

I totally agree with you that you should reject the second and third sources out of hand. You can't know if they are telling you the REAL truth or what their marketing studies say you want to hear. They could be telling the trust, or maybe not.

And "critical thinking", while vital, may not be enough to resolve this. If I see a story from an UP source, and I want to verify it, where will I go? If I'm in their demographic, I'll probably lean towards another UP outlet that likely got their info from the same -possibly faulty- source.

The outlets and sources that approach the platonic ideal are the only ones anyone should be consulting. Ones that do actual investigation and verifying of sources.