Fact checkers and statistics
What is fact checking?
Fact checking is a journalistic process of verifying whether claims are true or factual.
Publications often have in-house fact checkers to check if their stories are accurate before publication.
In this project we are focused on fact checkers who verify external claims. That is, claims in the public discourse made by influential people like politicians or journalists.
Fact checkers aim to prevent the spread of information that would be harmful to people.
Where fact checkers work
Fact checkers often work in independent fact checking organisations. Although some also work within traditional news organisations.
There are fact checking initiatives in many different countries across the world working in many different languages. The International Fact Checking Network brings these fact checking organisations together to discuss their work, promote best practice and offer training. The list of signatories to the IFCN Code of Principles contains a list of fact check organisations and countries they work in.
How fact checkers work with national statistics data
Fact checkers often rely on national statistics data to verify if claims are true or not. The easier it is for them to access the data they need, the quicker and more thoroughly they can do their job in fighting misinformation.
To help understand how fact checkers use national statistics data, we have an overview of the workflow they often go through.
Look for claims: Fact checkers scan the media and other sources for big or impactful claims being made. These could be on health or politics or other areas where misinformation could have a negative impact on society.
Decide what to check: They make an editorial decision on which claims to fact check. They may depend on things like urgency, or the what’s in the news, or the size of the impact of the misinformation.
Look for supporting data: Fact checkers then survey what data or information they need to show whether the claim is factual or not. Often fact checkers will have organisations and people they know they can rely on as authoritative sources of information, including national statistics institutes.
Search NSI website: If they believe the NSI has the data they need, they will go to the NSI’s website. Sometimes they know exactly where to find the data, other times they need to search and browse around. Over time fact checkers become very familiar with their country’s NSI website and learn how to navigate it.
Perform analysis: Often fact checkers will pull certain data points or perform their own analysis on datasets they find. They aim to extract the information they need which they can present to their readers. They may create their own plots or visualisations based on the data.
Publish the fact check: When they create and publish their fact check article, they’ll include a reference link to the NSI page where they got the data so that readers can go and look for themselves.