How do I know what is actually "orthodox" vs. who has the dominant "voice" in Catholic news/media/world?

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What is orthodox depends on who and what you read — at least in the sense of going beyond magisterial documents to commentary. See LifeSiteNews, for example. Their presentation may be different from, say, America Magazine.

Even sites I used to trust, like EWTN and National Catholic Register (which is owned by the former), seem to lean more and more in one certain direction.

Or is up to the Catholic to simply choose a preference? More and more, it seems like the church is split between two very different groups. The Church Militant holding one extreme while the National Catholic Reporter holds the other (maybe).

Where is the orthodox, Pope-Francis supporting, middle?

I used to like National Catholic Register and NewAdvent, but with this whole Vigano affair, it seems more and more that they hold a…uh…particular view re: Francis, let’s just put it nicely.
 
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Personally I make sure I listen, with openess, to all types of views in Catholic media, and never feel I have to join or defend any particular ‘tribe’.
 
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Here’s an example I’m more clear about:

NCRegister defends the male-only priesthood.

NCReporter says there should be women priests.

In this case, I know that the former is probably more orthodox – at least in this case – because they align with official church teaching.

Is that the standard? Should I read every article in reference to church teaching? Or maybe the Gospel message? The words of Jesus?

There are more nuanced examples, though. For it may seem like one is aligned with traditional church teaching, but they are missing important aspects that stem from other Catholic teaching, or say the Gospel message.
 
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catholic1seeks said:
Even sites I used to trust, like EWTN and National Catholic Register (which is owned by the former), seem to lean more and more in one certain direction.
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Nice link, comparing EWTN to Richard Nixon? From your linked article:
What is happening in our church in this country is similar to what happened to the Republican Party. In the late 1960s, Richard Nixon adopted the “Southern Strategy” to entice conservative southerners angry about Civil Rights legislation into the ranks of the GOP…Throughout those years, Republican leaders knew they had to feed the beast, but they assumed the beast would not eat them. It was one thing to work to secure the vote of racists and white nationalists, but you wouldn’t want to empower them such that they could take over the party…Has not something similar happened in conservative Catholics circles?
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Comparing conservative Catholics to racists and White supremacists?

I can’t even quantify the irony that you cited that article in an attempt to refute “sites I used to trust”
 
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Unfortunately, we live in a time with a lot of doctrinal confusion and division. In those cases, we should stick with the faith of those who came before, during those times when there was not such confusion. For example, ordination of women is a clear novelty compared to the universal faith of the Church in the past. Plus, it has been definitively ruled out by the Apostolic See. Those are two clear signs.

Here’s a good read from the 5th century by St. Vincent de Lerins (under the pseudonym Peregrinus), all about how to know the true faith in such times, with some good examples.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm

At the end of the day, if we seek to believe what the Church believes, we will believe with the Church, even if we accidentally get it wrong. Then the faith of the Church, which is our faith, covers our erroneous opinions.
 
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“Is that the standard? Should I read every article in reference to church teaching? Or maybe the Gospel message? The words of Jesus?”

I would encourage you to relax a little. You are going to wear yourself out very quickly if you feel you have to read every article on Church teaching for everything you read or hear in Catholic media! But if I were to recommend reading one thing, it is to keep returning to the Beatitudes, and not worry too much about all the varied views present in Catholic media on the internet.
 
First, look to see if the source is approved by the Church. That is not a total assurance but a minimum standard. National Catholic Reporter is not and National Catholic Register is.
Then you can look at positions.
 
You are actually asking if ‘National Catholic Reporter’ and ‘America’ are orthodox?
 
The question is more if NC Register and EWTN are orthodox, given the absence of “a religious submission of the mind and heart” to the teaching from St Francis.
 
The Pope gave his first big interview to America. It is run by priests in good standing. So yeah… you just proved the OP’s point. You proclaim it is obvious that they’re heterodox… but that doesn’t appear to the Pope’s opinion… so how do average Joe Catholics reach your conclusion with such certainty?

Years ago I loved reading Fr Z’s blog. I still enjoy the Liturgy related posts. Then I started to see more and more conservative sensationalism. More recently, Father has half insinuated that +Francis may not be a valid pope…while his readers / commentators have come out and said as much without reprimand. This was a blog that many at CAF long upheld as a standard of orthodoxy . It certain appears that many here and there no longer consider Rome a standard for orthodoxy…
 
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twf, if you are asserting that Pope Francis grants some endorsement to anyone that he gives an interview to, that is obviously not correct. Francis regularly grants interviews to atheists and secularists.
 
Exactly. And WHAT? I could see someone saying NCReporter is not orthodox. But America??? Really? It takes a super-conservative or tradionalist to claim that. Maybe they lean more progressive (poor people, let’s help LGBT folk, etc.), but they are definitely orthodox.

These days, unfortunately and with many Catholics, being “orthodox” comes down to personal opinion or party affiliation.
 
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