How do I separate breaking news facts from background history without bias?

[AdamL]

I saw a major breaking news alert this morning about a significant international event. The initial reports are all over the place, and I'm trying to understand the background. I know I need to do a breaking news context analysis, but I'm not sure where to even start looking for reliable historical information that isn't already colored by today's headlines. How do you separate the immediate facts from the deeper historical causes when everything is moving so fast?