I just wanted to see if I can help you understand a little about the internet and answer some of the questions you have for me. In the beginning you had to have a phone line, but the big cable companies started to use the cable system to transfer the data making it faster and more reliable. Private companies would start-up web browsers and search engines, internet service providers and email; all quickly changed the landscape and the culture around us. Many people became rich and powerful, but along with them came the scammers and those that were less ethical. Because of them the reliability of what you were reading, viewing or watching became suspect. There was so much money to be made because the net had exploded into almost every household in America. You had asked how to check the reliability of what you are reading; there are many ways to do this.
The simplest way is to look at the internet as a vast array of knowledge and ask who you trust to be fair and accurate. If you get your news from newspapers or from television, then you can easily go to their web sites for information. Another way would be to use the WIKI websites. These sites are open for all to post, but are also monitored for their accuracy. The largest of all would be Wikipedia. Even though it is made up of User Generated Content (UGC), recent studies have shown it to be reliable as well. It also allows you to see past updates from users so you can judge for yourself. Many experts also have blogs that are easy to access.
Anyone can claim to be a blogger and start posting information, so you need to look again at sources you already trust. If a newspaper or news organization hosts an area for blogs, then you can probably trust that they are being watched by experts to make sure the content is correct.
The simplest way is to use search engines and read various articles on the same topic to see what information is reoccurring. Whether you trust the information you collect is a