Main method
Use a source for its job.
A story is not only a set of facts. It is also a frame: who is centred, who is blamed, what is hidden, and what is treated as normal.
Sources and framing
Compare sources before trusting the frame.
TWIS uses news sources to check basic facts, compare framing, and notice what gets turned into a crisis headline.
- 1. One wire source Reuters or Associated Press for a fast factual baseline.
- 2. One UK-facing source BBC, Sky, Channel 4, Guardian, Financial Times, or similar.
- 3. One international public-media source France 24, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera English, CBC, PBS, NPR, or NHK World-Japan.
- 4. One state-position source where relevant For Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, or any other state actor, check how the official or state-aligned frame presents the issue.
- 5. One source closer to the affected place A regional outlet, official statement, local reporting, local non-governmental organisation, or local expert body.
- 6. One evidence source Statistics, regulator reports, parliamentary records, academic work, specialist analysis, or primary documents.
Our own frame
TWIS has a point of view.
TWIS is not neutral in the sense of having no values. It is openly concerned with fairness, care, public pressure, poverty, disability, neurodivergence, work, housing, food, power, and the language used to make unfairness sound normal.
That means TWIS has a point of view. The discipline is to name that point of view, check claims carefully, compare sources, correct mistakes, and avoid pretending that our own frame is invisible.
Rules
How TWIS uses sources
Use sources to check facts, compare framing, and notice what gets turned into a crisis headline.
Main rule
No single source is the full truth
TWIS compares sources because every outlet has a frame: who is centred, who is blamed, what is hidden, and what is treated as normal.
Bias rule
Western sources are framed too
Reuters, BBC, Guardian, Financial Times, and other Western sources can be useful, but they still carry institutional assumptions, sourcing habits, language choices, and news priorities. TWIS compares them rather than treating them as neutral reality.
Aggregator rule
Google News is a map, not evidence
Use Google News to see story clusters and repeated frames. Do not cite it as the factual source for a claim.
Handling rule
State-position sources need labels
Russian and Chinese state-position sources can show official and counter-Western framing, but they are not treated as neutral baselines or used alone as evidence. The same checking habit applies to Western sources too.
Official and evidence
Official line, law, figures, and standards
Start here when you need the document, the rule, the number, or the official wording.
Government line
GOV.UK News and communications
Use this for official announcements, department language, and policy framing.
Law in motion
UK Parliament Bills
Use this to check what is actually moving through Parliament.
Evidence layer
Office for National Statistics
Use this for inflation, work, earnings, population, productivity, and public data.
Broadcast standards
Ofcom Broadcasting Code
Use this when comparing regulated UK broadcast news.
Wire services
Fast factual baselines
Wire services are useful first checks because many outlets build from them.
Wire baseline
Reuters World News
Use this for a fast baseline on world events, courts, conflict, diplomacy, business, and markets.
Wire baseline
Associated Press World News
Use this for a concise factual baseline, especially when many outlets repeat the same event.
UK comparison
Mainstream UK framing
Use these together to see how the same pressure becomes a headline, a political problem, or a public story.
Mainstream baseline
BBC News
Use this as the broad UK news baseline.
Rolling news
Sky News
Use this to compare fast UK rolling-news framing.
Broadcast comparison
Channel 4 News
Use this as a second UK broadcast comparison point for accountability and human-pressure stories.
Newspaper lens
The Guardian Politics
Use this to compare newspaper framing against broadcast framing.
Business-policy lens
Financial Times UK politics
Use this when money, markets, tax, spending, trade, or institutional power is central.
Public pressure
Risk, disruption, food, weather, and daily-life pressure
These are useful when politics becomes practical: heat, storms, food alerts, safety warnings, and public disruption.
Weather risk
Met Office UK weather warnings
Use this for heat, storms, floods, snow, travel disruption, and public-risk conditions that often become political pressure.
Food safety
Food Standards Agency news and alerts
Use this for food recalls, safety notices, public-health alerts, and food-system pressure that may sit behind bigger headlines.
Economic pressure
Bank of England statistics and reports
Use this for inflation, interest rates, financial stability, and the official economic language behind cost-of-living stories.
World comparison
World news stations for clarity and comparison
Use these to avoid treating the UK or US frame as the only frame.
UK international public media
BBC World Service
Use this for a UK public-service international frame, then compare it with sources outside the UK.
French / European lens
France 24 English
Use this for a French and European public-media view of diplomacy, Africa, Europe, and conflict.
German public-broadcast lens
Deutsche Welle English
Use this for a German public-broadcast view of Europe, conflict, economy, climate, and rights.
Middle East / Global South lens
Al Jazeera English
Use this for comparison on war, occupation, diplomacy, international justice, protest, and Global South framing.
European headline mix
Euronews
Use this for a quick European comparison point.
Canadian public-broadcast lens
CBC News World
Use this for a Canadian public-broadcast view of world stories.
US public-media lens
PBS NewsHour
Use this for slower US public-media framing.
US public-radio lens
NPR World
Use this for US public-radio framing.
Japan / Asia-Pacific lens
NHK World-Japan
Use this for a Japanese public-media view of Asia-Pacific stories.
EU politics lens
Politico Europe
Use this for European Union politics, regulation, elections, and insider-policy framing.
Russia and China
State-position and counter-Western framing
Name these sources clearly so TWIS does not pretend Western media is the default neutral view. Use them for comparison, then check factual claims across other source types too.
Russian state agency
TASS
Use this to see formal Russian state-agency framing and official language around diplomacy, sanctions, war, NATO, and domestic authority.
Russian state agency
RIA Novosti
Use this to compare Russian domestic and state-agency emphasis, especially where Western outlets frame the same event differently.
Russian state media
RT
Use this to study Russian international-facing counter-Western framing, blame language, omissions, and selected emphasis. Do not use it alone as factual evidence.
Russian state media
Sputnik
Use this to compare Russian international messaging, especially around the West, NATO, sanctions, conflict, and legitimacy claims.
Chinese state agency
Xinhua
Use this to see formal Chinese state-agency framing around diplomacy, trade, development, technology, security, and global order.
Chinese state media
CGTN
Use this to compare Chinese international-facing broadcast framing, especially where Western outlets lead with conflict, threat, or rivalry.
Chinese state-aligned newspaper
Global Times
Use this to study sharper Chinese nationalist or party-state aligned framing, especially around Taiwan, the United States, trade, and security.
Chinese Communist Party paper
People’s Daily
Use this to study official party language and the terms used to present legitimacy, stability, development, and authority.
Chinese state media
China Daily
Use this to compare English-language Chinese state-media framing aimed at international readers.
Check and context
Claim-checking and slower analysis
Use these when a claim needs testing or a headline needs wider context.
Claim checking
Full Fact
Use this when a public claim sounds too neat, too useful, too frightening, or too politically convenient.
International context
Chatham House analysis
Use this for slower international-affairs context after the breaking-news frame has settled.
Fiscal evidence
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Use this for tax, benefits, public spending, inequality, schools, work, pensions, and household-income evidence.
Living standards
Resolution Foundation
Use this for wages, poverty, household pressure, inequality, work, and living-standards context.
Climate evidence
Carbon Brief
Use this for climate, energy, extreme weather, emissions, and environmental evidence.
International body
United Nations News
Use this for United Nations framing, humanitarian claims, conflict, aid, rights, climate, and international law.