Distrust in mainstream media is spilling over to fact-checking

Fact-checking has some ‘growing pains’

“A dark cloud hangs over us. The disaffection and distrust that have plagued mainstream media outlets for many years is now spilling over to fact-checkers.”

Those were among the remarks Alexios delivered at the fifth annual Global Fact-Checking Summit in Rome last week, where more than 200 fact-checkers from 56 countries gathered to share best practices. In a report for The Washington Post, Glenn Kessler wrote about the conference — and how it’s a notable milestone for a movement that has come under heightened scrutiny from partisans.

“Fact-checkers have increasingly come under attack, facing accusations of bias and partisanship that the neutral journalistic format was supposed to avoid,” Kessler wrote. Read his story here.

This is bad

• Fake social media posts from Russian trolls posing as activists made a notorious police shooting even worse.
• The never-ending battle: NPR reports on a newspaper that was shut down after printing fabricated information — in the 17th century.
• The writer of “Boys Don’t Cry” says it was the “most inaccurate piece of journalism I’ve ever written,” Village Voice writes.

This is how we do it

• This hoaxer “messed with the wrong fact-checker.”
• Facebook’s fact-checking partnership has expanded to Canada.
• USA Facts has a new immigration resource: a 170-year timeline of immigration policy and populations.

This is fun

• Time magazine fact-checks the Jurassic Park dinosaurs.
• Researchers are actually taking bets on when the first “deepfake” video will appear during 2018 U.S. elections. Prizes include cocktails.
• Here’s a Twitter moment with some notable moments from Global Fact last week.

A closer look

• Characterized as a way to avoid the mistakes that Facebook made, here’s how Apple is planning to not screw up the 2018 U.S. elections.
• It’s all about perspective, right? Either fake news is just a nuisance and not a threat, or it’s going to destroy the world.
• The Washington Post takes a look at the limitations of Facebook’s fact-checkers in Mexico.

If you read one more thing

Is the growth of misinformation actually the result of too much democracy? Politico Magazine makes the case.

8 quick fact-checking links

1. Malaysia’s new government appears to be officially backing off its fake news law.
2. When fake news turns deadly: An upcoming BBC report.
3. Here’s a primer on misinformation on WeChat, the Chinese language app.
4. That “crying girl” Time magazine cover needed some fact-checking.
5. The Christian Science Monitor says journalists are losing the battle against President Trump’s truth problem.
6. California dreamin’? State officials want to appoint an advisory group to help solve the fake news problem.
7. The Verge reports on Adobe’s efforts to use artificial intelligence in its fight against faked images.
8. Facebook says its expansion of fact-checking tools “will never be finished.”

Until next week,

Daniel, Jane, and Alexios