An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
What does the IFCN Code of Principles Require? The International Fact-Checking Network first published its Code of Principles in 2016. After Facebook made adherence to the IFCN’s code of principles a requirement for partnering in its effort to limit misinformation, the IFCN developed an application and review process for would-be signatories. The application elaborates on the text of the original…
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We’ve encouraged the International Fact-checking Network to systematically offer updates regarding its routine work of reviewing compliance with its code of principles. We don’t see that happening, so we’re taking it on ourselves to provide the type of news update we’d like to see from the IFCN. Unfortunately, we do not anticipate having the time to do this task adequately….
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A fact-checking organization either is or is not a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles. Right? In truth, it’s hard to tell. The system has gray areas. First, “partial compliance” apparently counts the same as “full compliance” with various IFCN criteria. Fact-checking organizations routinely pass inspection despite failing to fully comply with the IFCN code of…
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This post was updated on June 27, 2019 to add imagery that no longer shows up in an embedded Tweet. Are fact checkers immune to confirmation bias? Survey says no. On Twitter today fact checker Brooke Binkowski, current managing editor for Truth or Fiction and former managing editor for Snopes, posted a link to the non-profit March of Dimes’ page…
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The Brush-off On Oct. 3, 2018 Zebra Fact Check contacted PolitiFact to point out the need for a correction to a PolitiFact Missouri fact check from Sept. 20, 2018. Our message explained the correction was necessary because PolitiFact Missouri had rated “Mostly False” a claim PolitiFact had stated as true in 2013. PolitiFact gave Zebra Fact Check the brush-off. PolitiFact…
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Not long after the International Fact-Checking Network committed to policing whether signatories to its code of principles were following that code, we observed that the means the IFCN chose to ensure compliance with its code set a low bar for fact-checking organizations. That bar was especially low for organizations’ policies for “open and honest” corrections: How does one verify scrupulous…
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PolitiFact Does a Poor Job With Corrections. We’ve belabored the point that PolitiFact has yet to fix two problems we pointed out to the International Fact-Checking Network. The independent assessor chosen by the IFCN wrote that the problems we pointed out deserved a reply. But despite the passage of months we have seen no evidence PolitiFact has either run a…
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This blog post will clear my spindle of two recent issues connected to the International Fact-Checking Network. If you sign and the IFCN does not verify, then you did not sign A recent update to the IFCN’s page of principles and verified signatories to its statement of principles offended our sense of logic. The IFCN encourages fact-checking organizations to subscribe…
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The Big Takeaway from the Knight-Gallup media survey On Jan. 16, 2018 I ran across a tweet from Derek Thompson, a writer for the respected magazine The Atlantic. 1/ Very short thread on the new Knight-Gallup media report. The big takeaway is that Fox News is a uniquely successful—and, I would say, uniquely detrimental—force in the news media ecosystem.https://t.co/Z67IeJc7WS —…
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On Jan 9, 2017 the Daily Caller broke a story about Google’s search engine providing media information apparently slanted against conservative websites. Conservative websites like The Daily Wire and Newsbusters quickly echoed the Daily Caller’s story. Mediaite also joined in. Here’s how Mediaite’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn described the situation: When searching individual websites that have a blatant political slant, two…
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