The International Fact-Checking Network announced the fifth Global Fact-Checking Summit will be held in Rome from June 20-22, 2018. The conference is free to attend and will address topics ranging from how to reach out to skeptical audiences to automated fact-checking. (Express your interest here). Quote of the week “People are commenting on comments without even checking out the […]

Fake news is making the news in Italy. Preparing for election season and an expected barrage of misinformation, the governing party is demanding that Facebook and other social platforms help in the fight for facts — but not everyone trusts the messenger. Plus, a look at which advertisers help pay for fake news sites. Quote of the week “I prefer the term […]

No one is better situated to fight digital misinformation than professional journalists who work with social media every day. But that’s not happening in many news organizations today. Newsroom social media teams are due for a redesign — one that would include more fact-checking, debunking and accountability, according to a new American Press Institute report. Read […]

Since he died seven weeks ago, at least 20 of Paul Horner’s fake news websites have gone down, a Poynter analysis found. (The site information is available in this shared document). While the infamous misinformation creator’s death is no longer in question — despite initial media doubts and Twitter conspiracies — his legacy is. Quote of the week “Two things are clear. […]

Google, Facebook and Twitter were questioned this week on Capitol Hill about their roles in the proliferation of fake news and disinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Slate asks if the entities “are too big” to fix their own problems; Recode had the rundown of what happened; and CNET has a collection of critical quotes from U.S. senators at Wednesday’s hearing. Quote of […]

This week, researchers released significant studies that you really should read. Here are our short summaries; click on the names for more details:  People believe misinformation even when it comes from a source they don’t like (Brendan Nyhan and Yusaku Horiuchi) … The way people define and view fake news might not be what you think (Rasmus Kleis […]

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? In a sign of the growing appeal of the term “fact-checking,” Czech prime ministerial candidate Andrej Babiš launched a website aping an existing fact-checking outfit’s name. Unsurprisingly, its “fact checks” cast Babiš in a positive light. But will it make a difference? Quote of the week “Historians and […]

  Quote of the week “Objective reality exists, truth matters, and we have to pursue them with purpose and without fear. But in our present moment, truth, including truth that unsettles us, has far too often become subordinate to justifying and defending at all costs our own, often unsound, preconceptions. You can see that in […]

Think you know how to tell a real tweeter from a fake one? Test yourself with  10 tips compiled by digital sleuther Henk van Ess for Poynter. Quote of the week “Most people, most of the time, don’t use social media for politics. But in the days before a major election or referendum social media platforms provide […]

Quote of the week “If you can generate attention you get paid. If you yell fire in a theater, you still get paid. Attention gets rewarded and not quality of information.”   —  Twitter founder Ev Williams on social media platform advertisers’ desire for attention. Treading on the partisan divide Eighty-eight percent of Donald Trump supporters told […]