German voters go to the voting booth on Sunday and “fake news” has been less of a concern. A propaganda expert tells Correctiv that bots were dormant during the campaign. Still, Motherboard found plenty of misinformation spread from both Russian and American media outlets. The Alliance for Securing Democracy created a dashboard to track the Russian efforts. Either way, the regional […]

More from the ongoing saga of Facebook’s complicated relationship with journalism: Politico fired off a story that criticized the platform for not sharing information about its fact-checking program. Then, Politico claimed the program itself doesn’t work (though the studyactually frames it a bit differently). Facebook also admitted that Russian propagandists bought ads aimed at impacting the U.S. elections. And a new study found […]

Americans’ infatuation with misinformation — as depicted in this widely viewed Vox video — could make a fact-checker despair. But there are ways to potentially reach the fact-resistant, and we’d like to see fact-checkers give them a try. Quote of the week “it is also tempting to dismiss the impact that actual fake news has on those who […]

Two stories this week remind us that the history can be a great teacher and that “modern” burdens actually were borne by generations before us. Adrian Chen writes for the New Yorker about early radio and its role in “information anarchy.” And Merrill Fabry of Time magazine explains how fact-checkers were able to do their jobs well before the Internet was […]

PolitiFact’s championing of structure and ratings has informed the work of dozens of organizations around the world. As the website turns 10 this week, here’s a look at the global trend it helped inspire. Quote of the week “Democracy, like a muscle, needs to be worked out. …It means that news organizations must redouble their efforts […]

Over the past week, Twitter users outed white supremacists they thought they spotted in photos from the march in Charlottesville. Getting it wrong can have serious consequences, as The New York Times reported. Identifying people is not a simple task: Storyful, for instance, seeks eight to 10 sources before confirming anything. Here are some tips and an incredible list […]

Facts — and fact-checking —can be sterile, dry and a bit academic. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) But are there more effective ways to present facts and controversial issues, and to reach fact-resistant audiences? Yes, says a new American Press Institute report; and it means more listening, fewer words and even a little psychology. See the stories and platforms that have done just […]

Almost eight months into its partnership with third-party fact-checkers, Facebook is shaking things up. The social network says it will be using “updated machine learning” to detect more potential fakes to flag to fact-checkers. Fact checks will also be appearing more often in related articles. Fact-checkers are being paid, a spokeswoman confirmed to The Wall Street Journal. (Meanwhile […]

Snopes is in a legal mess, so founder David Mikkelson turned to its community for help. The audience responded with a crowdfunding effort that raised more than $600,000 in 48 hours. The American Press Institute has some thoughts on why the appeal resonated. Poynter takes a look at what Snopes says the money will be spent on. The San Diego Union Tribune does a nice […]

Two new studies this week could encourage you to change the way you write and market your fact checks. A study co-authored by FactCheck.org’s Kathleen Hall Jamieson indicates that using videos and humor in fact-checking can be more effective than text-only fact-checking. And research from Columbia University says that people are more likely to believe fake […]