Fact-Checking & Accountability

Backing Evidence (5 Key Documents)

The Science of Fake News (Science, 2018) Search
The Effects of Fact-Checking on Public Beliefs (American Journal of Political Science, 2017) Search
The Psychology of Misinformation and Its Correction (Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2012) Search
Independent Fact-Checking Networks: A Global Review (Reuters Institute, 2020) Search
The limits of fact-checking in polarized environments (Journal of Politics, 2020) Search

The Straw Man Arguments

Fact-checkers are completely objective arbiters of absolute truth.
Fact-checkers are always paid agents of the government trying to silence truth.

The Steel Man (Strong Counter-Suit)

Fact-checking organizations often step beyond simple verification of empirical facts into subjective interpretation, using semantic nitpicking to label opinions or inconvenient truths as 'misleading' or 'false' to control public narratives.