The folks at NewsTrust are running an interesting pilot project this week, testing to see how well people can determine the accuracy of statements made in the news. We at the Poynter Sense-Making Project were intrigued enough with the idea to partner with them on the effort.
Truthsquad will run for seven days. Each day, editors will select a handful of short quotes, statements or assertions made in news reports, political ads and other media. Participants declare if they believe the statement to be true or false, although “not sure” is also an option. They can provide links to sources that support their conclusion and rate the stories and sources that others have provided.
After people have weighed in, Truthsquad editors will issue verdicts.
“The primary goal of the project is public education,” said Fabrice Florin, executive director of NewsTrust. “It’s a way to teach each other and learn together as a community how to become more savvy about the news we consume.”
Sleuthing out the veracity of a given statement is merely a bonus, Florin said.
Truthsquad posted four quotes on Monday, generating 185 answers in the first eight hours. The results ranged from clear consensus to absolute disagreement. Only one person believed U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch’s claim that 87 million Americans will be forced out of health care coverage as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; 49 called it “false”; nine were “not sure.”
Participants were divided over the accuracy of political commentator Dick Morris’ claim that illegal immigration has dropped because of the recession, not law enforcement.
The first day of the test run turned up some interesting challenges. Participants can change their answers at any point, and at first there was no way to track the changes. But by the end of the day, Florin could track how many people were changing their minds. “We realized that it’s perfectly OK to change your mind; in fact, it’s a sign of maturity,” Florin said.
NewsTrust is primarily funded by the MacArthur Foundation. The Truthsquad pilot is funded by the Omidyar Network and advised by Factcheck.org.
If the project is successful, Florin hopes to open it up to the public, allowing citizens to post their own facts so the crowd can weigh in.
CORRECTION: Due to a particularly ironic editing error, this post originally stated that the Truthsquad pilot is five days long, not a week. That has been corrected in this version.
