adminA fact check is a piece of journalism that verifies claims made in an article, news story or other source. It’s a critical tool in the fight against disinformation, especially in the wake of fake news campaigns. There are many tools available that allow you to verify a claim, including Google’s fact check and ClaimReview markup.
Fact files are a great way to help your students understand the process of reporting and research. They are also an excellent opportunity to develop research skills and investigate a range of different topics. There are four key moves that you can use to fact check a claim:
Check the source – Find out who the author or organisation behind the claim is and read what others have said about them. This is especially important if you’re dealing with a controversial or emotive claim.
Make sure the information is current – Check when the article was written and if it has been updated since then. Old, inaccurate information can be easily mistaken for true and can mislead.
The results of the experiment suggest that both the Alt-Facts and Fact-Check treatments have a positive effect on voting intentions in the full sample, but that their effects on posteriors on facts are opposite. This is consistent with the salience mechanism: the treatments attract voters’ attention to immigration, which causes them to update their opinions about MLP more than other aspects of her policy positions (as shown by the larger effect on the belief that refugees come to France for economic reasons in the Alt-Facts treatment, compared to the smaller effect on this same belief in the Fact-Check treatment). Moreover, they move voters’ opinion about MLP away from her father’s views toward a more moderate position.
