Fact-checking Tools for Exhausted Journalists
I am afraid I have some bad news…
The latest Digital News Report by Reuters found only 34% of respondents thought journalists were “trustworthy.”
Ouch.
I know this does not come as a surprise to most of us. And of course we all know the importance of being accurate in our work. But if we are being honest (and as journalists, we must) sometimes making that extra phone call to confirm a a piece of information feels like climbing a mountain.
Fact-checking can be tough when you’re trying to meet a tight deadline, on a budget, inside an echo chamber of Twitter conspiracy theories and unverified YouTube footage.
Yet that’s exactly when we should double down.
So here is a list of the best fact-checking tools for busy journos, organized by type of content. And they are all FREE. Because, January.
Articles
• Whether you’re editing someone else’s work, fact-checking a study or just want to make sure you didn’t accidentally copy-paste something into your draft, QueText is a very useful online plagiarism checker.
News Sites
• Hoaxy helps you track where and how fake news spreads on social media (it’s in beta but it’s pretty fun to play with. Even searching for “pizza” you find dozens of conspiracy theories)
• This Google Doc by communication professor Melissa Zimdars contains a tragically long list of false news sites and a series of criteria to help debunk them.
Videos
• Start by reading How Can Newsrooms Verify Video from Eyewitnesses? by First Draft News. You can also check out this brief guide on how to piece together visual clues for verification.
• Learn how to verify the date of YouTube uploads here.
• You can also use Google Earth (make sure to download the Pro Version) to verify videos and photos. The Pro version allows to you to track “historical imagery” which is extra useful if you’re trying fact check claims of deforestation or nuking.
Photos
• Make Google Image Search your new best friend.
• You can also use TinEye’s reverse image search tool (it is free to use for non-commercial searching).
• These quick guides by IJNET and First Draft News are a solid starting point.
• Using Instagram? Here’s how to find out exactly when a photo was uploaded.
Data
• This is a whole field onto itself but I would suggest reading this article from the very useful (yet slightly intimidating) Data Journalism Handbook.
Regional Information
Looking for a regional fact checking organization? You can find a wonderful list of them here — from Nigeria to South Korea.
And if you’re feeling lazy…
• Hire an assistant! I know it sounds lavish but if you’re working on a long-term project or short-term deadline, you can hire a fact-checker.
Sites like Truelancer and Upwork offer a bunch of virtual assistants who specialize in fact checking for $10 to $30 an hour.
For more verification wisdom check out…
First Draft News a site dedicated to providing free training resources for verifying eyewitness and social media.
The Verification Handbook is also immensely useful. It focuses mostly on “breaking news” and contains specific advice on issues like crowd-sourcing and disaster coverage.
Happy fact-hunting,
L
PS: Did I miss your favorite fact-checking app? Do you have a career dilemma you’d like some help with? Hit me up. dear.laura@womeinjournalism.org
Hosted by the Coalition for Women in Journalism
Curated by Kiran Nazish
