As an accountant I try my best to practice "professional skeptisicm" and these are my basic rules regarding "news".

1. Needs to be proven - I try to do my own homework. If a story doesn't cite a source it immediately goes into the suspect category.
2. Read the abstract - "Study shows silly putty linked to VD" you don't need to read the study just look at the abstract and you can gather really valuable data about sample size, population...many articles cite scientific studies and pull statistics out of context to fit their narrative.
3. Use Social Media - If the story came from your friend that wears their Make America Great Again hat every day the story is probably truthy at best. Same goes for your friend with the Prius with the Bernie Sticker with a I'm with HER sticker over the top of that.
4. Don't be part of the problem - If you don't know if it is true don't spread it