Difficulties with evidence based policy

I have been considering lately a significant barrier to those of us who strive for non-partisan, evidence-based decision making.  To wit: who do you believe?  Increasingly there is a survey, think-tank, nth study, countless headlines, magazines and blogs on either (or every) side of a given position.  As such, is it the case that all decisions must be ideologically motivated?  Not in the sense that they are made without reviewing the evidence, but more in the sense that the evidence reviewed is already biased.

As I have mentioned before, I think that independent bodies need to exist to provide neutral information to both the government and the public.  The leaders of these bodies need to have full bios providing insight in to their affiliations.  Perhaps also with these positions only being approved by cross-party committee approval.

I would very much like to see a source for information that has undergone serious efforts to vet it for neutrality, as well as providing (by law) all sources to be provided, in full.  Can you imagine a news site that was forced to quote officials in full?  Or a rating system for polls and surveys that includes (as part of its rating system): the breadth of the survey in terms of numbers, demographics, etc and also the historical bias of the originator of that survey.

I think people could have more faith in the information they receive if the different sources of information were striving for this “substantial” rating- where an A grade would mean they had policies in place and safeguards to ensure neutrality, that all their sources were provided, and that those sources were themselves A grade in quality & neutrality.