S2 EP4: What IS Fact-Checking?

And how it may work in the near future.

This week's episode is focused on a very specialized job in journalism: the Fact-Checker. Our guide is journalism's OG of information verification, Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Adair. He explains the origins, methodology, and challenges of fact-checking in a "post-truth" world. Plus, how journalists are partnering with technologists to build tools that they hope can make the very word "fact" less politically charged.

GO DEEPER:

Post-truth politics and why the antidote isn't just fact-checking. Platforms driving users to misinformation. There's such a thing as fake fact-checkers. Fact-checkers going OT in Brazil. Google is working on a fact-checking search engine. Fact-checking is on Broadway. How Facebook is downplaying false headlines. Why this journalist fell for this fake video.

ILLUSTRATION:

The unofficial dean of fact-checking, Bill Adair, gets the data viz treatment from Giorgia Lupi of Accurat. Here's the key...

CREDITS:

David Herman, Audio Engineer and Composer

Dan Dzula, Audio Engineer

Thalia Beaty, Producer

ZigZag comes from Stable Genius Productions, in partnership with Civil. We are proud members of Radiotopia, from PRX.

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