The week in fact-checking: Jeb’s nickname; a demon called Charlie; journalists’ secret motive

The American Press Institute presents a roundup from the world of fact checking, debunking and truth telling — just in case you haven’t been paying as much attention as we do.

Quote of the week
“If Mark Twain were around he would have to modify his famous aphorism about ‘lies, damned lies, and statistics’ to add another category of lies — reporter’s attempts at fact-checking politicians.”  Max Boot, writing in Commentary magazine.

Fact-checking: Not just for politics
Throw a bunch of beauty-contest words, phrases and prizes into the air and see how it lands: It’ll probably look something like the “National American Miss” contest, which has been contacting young girls and their parents about the organization’s upcoming pageant. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker dives into a brochure from the organization’s officials and helps them with some math problems. Read it.

Try fact-checking at home
While watching the premiere of the disaster film “San Andreas,” U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones fact-checked the film on Twitter with a lively stream of advice (“Yes! Drop, cover & hold on!”);  observations  (“The competent young woman understands vertical evacuation”), and a conclusion: Don’t learn seismology from Hollywood. Read it.

First big safety message- if the shaking is bad enough to damage a dam you won’t be able to run

— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015

The human reality of EQs. You are probably going to be rescued by your neighbor- or the cute guy you just met

— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015

Extreme fact-checking
What, precisely, is the meaning of “extremely likely”? For those who doubt that climate change is mostly man-made, the Tucson Sentinel fact-checked phrases in the United Nations climate change report to help explain the science to non-scientists. Like Jeb Bush. Read it.

Fact-checking the 2016 Election
Jeb Bush. Maybe you know him by one of his favorite nicknames: Veto Corleone — a reference to Marlon Brando’s character in “The Godfather” films. PolitiFact Florida fact-checks the history behind that nickname and whether Bush lives up to his legacy as a serial line-item vetoer. Read it.

Fact-checking under attack
One commentator thinks he knows what’s “influencing” the conclusions made by fact-checking journalists. Surprisingly, it’s not because they’re secret socialists, communists, leftists, rightists, centrists or other-ists. Watch it.

What? Something is fake on the internet? 
The silly “Charlie Charlie Challenge” making the social media circuit is really nothing more than a cheap Ouija board for tweens who’ve blown their allowance on One Direction single tracks. But the game’s origins in south-of-the-border satanism was challenged by fact-checkers who thought a Mexican demon named “Charlie” sounded a little odd. Read it.

Research
The latest “It’s all Journalism” podcast features former Washington Post and NPR editor Mark Stencel, who discusses his American Press Institute report on politicians’ reactions to fact-checking. He also expresses his desire to expand fact-checking to other topics — specifically, sports trash-talking. Listen to it.

Fact-checking around the world
FactsCan, a new Canadian fact-checking organization we wrote about in February, has launched its new web site — and it was built entirely through donations from those who appreciate the founders’ independent fact-checking efforts. See it.   And FactCheck.org, the non-profit fact-checking organization that encourages free use of their content, has expanded its audience — into  Argentina. Chequeado translated and published a SciCheck article on global warming. Read it.

For media organizations: It’s not quite as magical as “Charlie Charlie,” but our Metrics for News tool can help you predict how readers will respond to your content. Want to see how your fact-checking and investigative journalism impacts your audience? Contact us.

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