Insights, tools and research to advance journalism
The American Press Institute’s Accountability Journalism and Fact-Checking Project aims to increase and improve fact-checking and other accountability journalism practices.
The project, which began as a grant-funded initiative, supports research to improve political fact-checking, and works with news organizations to significantly increase and improve accountability journalism practices as well as contribute to public debates on the topic.
You can follow the work of the project here, and get top advice from experts on our Better News fact-checking resource page. Sign up for the weekly newsletter or enroll in our free online course. For more information or to be involved, contact Susan Benkelman, director of the program, at susan.benkelman@pressinstitute.org.
“A dark cloud hangs over us. The disaffection and distrust that have plagued mainstream media outlets for many years is now spilling over to fact-checkers.” Those were among the remarks Alexios delivered at the fifth annual Global Fact-Checking Summit in Rome last week, where more than 200 fact-checkers from 56 gathered to share best practices. In a report […]
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ROME, Italy – This week, at the fifth annual Global Fact-Checking Summit, 200 fact-checkers gathered to share best practices, demo innovative technology and discuss problems that misinformation poses to the media industry. In conjunction with the conference, the International Fact-Checking Network published a report that takes a look behind the curtain of several different fact-checking projects. Check out the […]
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Earlier this month, the American Press Institute presented an idea that we believe could help with two challenges confronting journalism: a continuing decline in trust by much of the public, and a lack of understanding about media and its functions. We believe that if stories are built differently — using forms that follow a philosophy […]
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When it comes to Zika, rumors could fare better than real news on social media —making disease prevention efforts more difficult. That’s according to a study from Alexios and four other researchers, which looks at the engagement of verified stories vs. popular rumors about the virus. Drawing upon audience statistics from BuzzSumo, the authors found that hoaxes […]
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First up this week: Let’s take a look at the fun side of fact-checking. Daniel Radcliffe, the original “Harry Potter,” will star in the Broadway production of the 2012 book “The Lifespan of a Fact.” PolitiFact re-upped its fact check of Jake Tapper and Ben Shapiro’s comic book beef on Twitter. John Oliver fact-checks the meaning of “guardianship” with […]
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Fact-checking is always hard. In some countries, though, it’s potentially dangerous: Journalists not only risk losing their right to publish, they may risk imprisonment. So how are fact-checkers covering politics in authoritarian countries? Writing for Poynter, Daniel Funke examines veteran projects in Iran, Turkey and Zimbabwe – and the prospects for fact-checking in even more […]
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Facebook’s fact-checking tool was rolled out in Brazil last week in partnership with Aos Fatos and Agência Lupa. A flood of accusations of “censorship” and “extreme-left bias” followed. More worrying still were personal attacks and heavy insults levelled against fact-checkers on social media. As the IFCN’s Alexios Mantzarlis wrote for Folha on Friday, in Brazil, polarization seems to be […]
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While actions against the publication of fake news have proceed cautiously in the U.S. — blame the First Amendment — things are moving right along in many parts of the world. Malaysia’s newly elected prime minister is leaning towards keeping a controversial anti-fake news law that passed in early April. The Committee to Protect Journalists asked the Kenyan president not to […]
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Over the past year, interest in misinformation research has ballooned. In order to highlight some of the people working behind the scenes, Poynter’s Daniel Funke profiled just a few of the researchers whose work has changed Facebook’s fact-checking program, been cited in countless pieces on fake news and is developing solutions for debunking deepfake videos. The article […]
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When journalists talk about how they wish the public could recognize good reporting from bad reporting or even fakery, the subject often turns to whether the audience has the right skills. The discussion usually falls under the heading of “news literacy,” a body of work that typically involves a curriculum supervised by schools, heavily oriented […]
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