LibGuides: Misinformation: Fact-checking and Verification

Fact-checking and Verification

Verifying the accuracy and truthfulness of published information is a cornerstone of making media. Editorial fact-checking is line-by-line review of a piece before publication by someone who wasn’t involved in its creation, a “building inspector” after the structure is done, in the words of Brooke Borel of The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. This process requires evaluating discrete facts—names, quotes, data, and so on—but importantly also requires confirming the context and conclusions: “...A good fact-checker goes through a story both word by word and from a big-picture view, zooming in to examine each individual fact or statement and then zooming out to see whether the story’s premise is sound.” Ensuring this soundness is also crucial in combating mis- and disinformation: “A perfectly checked article, after all, can still be fundamentally wrong about its assumptions or conclusions,” wrote Colin Dickey in CJR.

A recent boom in fact-checking and verification websites and organizations, often dedicated to investigating and labeling the veracity of political statements and social media posts, is geared toward dispelling misinformation that has already made it out into the world. This guide is primarily focused on the fact-checking required before publishing or hitting “send”—ensuring accuracy before media is out in the wider world.

Guides & Checklists

The Truth in Journalism Fact-Checking Guide (Truth in Journalism Project)
This in-depth guide to editorial fact-checking (the thorough verification efforts often practiced by magazines) offers both the methodology and purposes of fact-checking, with “particular attention to fact-checking stories that involve trauma, stark power dynamics, marginalized communities, and questions of identity and lived experience.”
Accuracy checklists are helpful brief guides for essential fact-checking:
- The NPR Accuracy Checklist (National Public Radio)
- Accuracy Checklist for Journalists (The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism)
- Accuracy Checklist for Reporters (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY)
"The Role Of The Fact Checker" with Alice Milliken and Hannah Ajakaiye, a 30-minute audio discussion from Stage Talks with Bellingcat, delves into “the role of a fact checker in this digital age and how these skillsets are vital for journalists, researchers and the wider public.”
Verifying Online Information (First Draft News)
Billed as a “condensed guide to the wizardry of verification,” this resource includes checklists, tools, and key concepts (provenance, source, date, location, motivation) for fact-checking.
Who’s behind this website? A checklist. (Tow Center/CJR)
A detailed “reporting tool to help journalists and researchers when trying to find out who published a website.”
International Fact-Checking Network (Poynter)
Through advocacy, training, and events, the IFCN advocates for “factual information in the global fight against misinformation.” The site includes free trainings, webinars, and articles.
Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation: Handbook for Journalism Education and Training (UNESCO)
The “Fact-Checking 101” module includes lessons and activities for understanding and developing fact-checking skills.
Duke Reporters’ Lab Fact-Checking News
A database of global fact-checking websites.

Books

The Chicago Guide to Fact Checking by Brooke Borel
Publication Date: 2016

If journalism is a cornerstone of democracy, says author Brooke Borel, then fact-checking is its building inspector. In this second edition of her guide to the why, what, and how of editorial fact-checking, Borel covers the evolving media landscape, with new guidance on checking audio and video sources, polling data, and sensitive subjects such as trauma and abuse. And she addresses the challenges of fact-checking in a world where social media, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse are making it increasingly difficult for everyone—including fact-checkers—to identify false information.
Deciding What's True by Lucas Graves
Publication Date: 2016

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. 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.
Regret the error : how media mistakes pollute the press and imperil free speech by Craig Silverman
Publication Date: 2007

By pinpointing numerous categories of media errors (including “Fuzzy Numbers” — when numbers and math undermine reporting; “Obiticide” – printing the obituary of a living person; and “Unidentified Consequences” — typos and misidentifications that create a new, incorrect reality), Silverman shines a bright light on the media's carelessness. He chronicles the decline of fact-checking at magazines and the simultaneous rise of fact-checking readers and interest groups, and voices a rousing call to arms for all news organizations to mend their ways and reclaim the role of the press as the honest voice of the people.