The Importance of Fact Checking
In reality of so many information out there, the readers don't know what to trust when misinformation obscures the truth. Thinking critically and questioning everything is the process how you can spot fake news. The following websites and ebooks can be a start to check and review the facts for evaluating and verifying sources.
- RMIT/ABC's Fact Check Fact Check determines the accuracy of claims by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in the public debate.
- The Conversation - articles on FactCheck The Conversation offers commentary and debate on the issues affecting our world, curated by professional editors
- Snopes - Fact Check Snopes.com’s fact checking and original, investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis.
- PolitiFact PolitiFact’s core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.
- FactCheck.org FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. Monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
- Full Fact Full Fact is the UK's independent fact checking charity. Full Fact pushes for corrections where necessary, and work with government departments and research institutions to improve the quality and communication of information at source.
- Reuters Fact Check Fact check by Thomson Reuters.
- Beyond 'fake news' 2020 BBC Academy helps you understand the challenges posed by disinformation and fake news.
- International Fact-Checking Network - Poynter Poynter champions freedom of expression, civil dialogue and compelling journalism that helps citizens participate in healthy democracies. Specializes in ethics and fact-checking, reporting and storytelling, developing journalism's leaders etc.
- Accredited Fact Checkers Full list of accredited fact checkers on the International Fact-Checking Network’s (IFCN) website.
- TinEye (Reverse Image Search) TinEye is an image search and recognition company.
The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking by
"A column by Glenn Garvin on Dec. 20 stated that the National Science Foundation 'funded a study on Jell-O wrestling at the South Pole.' That is incorrect. The event took place during off-duty hours without NSF permission and did not involve taxpayer funds." Corrections such as this one from the Miami Herald have become a familiar sight for readers, especially as news cycles demand faster and faster publication. While some factual errors can be humorous, they nonetheless erode the credibility of the writer and the organization. And the pressure for accuracy and accountability is increasing at the same time as in-house resources for fact-checking are dwindling. Anyone who needs or wants to learn how to verify names, numbers, quotations, and facts is largely on their own. Enter The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking, an accessible, one-stop guide to the why, what, and how of contemporary fact-checking. Brooke Borel, an experienced fact-checker, draws on the expertise of more than 200 writers, editors, and fellow checkers representing the New Yorker, Popular Science, This American Life, Vogue, and many other outlets. She covers best practices for fact-checking in a variety of media--from magazine articles, both print and online, to books and documentaries--and from the perspective of both in-house and freelance checkers. She also offers advice on navigating relationships with writers, editors, and sources; considers the realities of fact-checking on a budget and checking one's own work; and reflects on the place of fact-checking in today's media landscape. "If journalism is a cornerstone of democracy, then fact-checking is its building inspector," Borel writes. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking is the practical--and thoroughly vetted--guide that writers, editors, and publishers need to maintain their credibility and solidify their readers' trust.
ISBN: 022629093XPublication Date: 2016-09-30
Deciding What's True: the rise of political fact-checking in American journalism by
Over the past decade, American outlets such as PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and the Washington Post's Fact Checker have shaken up the political world by holding public figures accountable for what they say. Cited across social and national news media, these verdicts can rattle a political campaign and send the White House press corps scrambling. Yet fact-checking is a fraught kind of journalism, one that challenges reporters' traditional roles as objective observers and places them at the center of white-hot, real-time debates. As these journalists are the first to admit, in a hyperpartisan world, facts can easily slip into fiction, and decisions about which claims to investigate and how to judge them are frequently denounced as unfair play. Deciding What's True draws on Lucas Graves's unique access to the members of the newsrooms leading this movement. Graves vividly recounts the routines of journalists at three of these hyperconnected, technologically innovative organizations and what informs their approach to a story. Graves also plots a compelling, personality-driven history of the fact-checking movement and its recent evolution from the blogosphere, reflecting on its revolutionary remaking of journalistic ethics and practice. His book demonstrates the ways these rising organizations depend on professional networks and media partnerships yet have also made inroads with the academic and philanthropic worlds. These networks have become a vital source of influence as fact-checking spreads around the world.
ISBN: 0231175078Publication Date: 2016-09-06
Fact-checking journalism and political argumentation: a British perspective by ISBN: 3030305732Publication Date: 2019
From Urban Legends to Political Fact-Checking: Online Scrutiny in America, 1990-2015 by
This text presents an historical examination of political fact-checking, highlighting how this is part of a larger phenomenon of online scrutiny that manifests itself in multiple forms. Reflecting the long history of "fake facts" in America, the book discusses important developments in this area from the emergence of the public Internet in the 1990s to the start of the Trump-Clinton presidential election campaigns. Topics and features: describes how some of the major players in political fact-checking began with the purpose of scrutinizing and debunking of urban legends; considers how this was part of a wider culture, encompassing B-grade horror movies, truth-or-fiction television shows, and groups warning about computer viruses; explains how such developments are connected, revealing political fact-checking as one of many forms of scrutiny applied in the face of a complex, dangerous world; provides a range of detailed case studies, covering such topics as the rumors surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and academic interest in contemporary legends; discusses how pre-Internet technologies such as bulletin boards, Usenet, and proprietary online service providers such as CompuServe and AOL were used to both disseminate and debunk urban legends; examines the rise of political fact-checking, reviewing all of the major initiatives in this area undertaken in the United States. This timely study touches on issues of popular culture and major events, and offers profiles of colorful individuals and organizations, and as such will appeal to a broad audience interested in the history of fact-checking and efforts to protect the political process from falsehoods.
ISBN: 3030229513Publication Date: 2019-08-30
