Media and fact-checking Mainstream mediahas in recent years come under severe economic threat from online startups. In addition the rapid spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories via social media is slowly creeping into mainstream media. One solution is for some media staff to be assigned a fact-checking role  . Independent fact-checking organisations have also become prominent . However, the fact-checking of media reports and investigations is subject to the same confirmation bias as that for peer review of scientific research. This bias has been little studied so far. For example, a fact-checker with progressive political views might be more critical than necessary of a factual report from a conservative commentator. Another example is that facts are often explained with ambiguous words, so that progressives and conservatives may interpret the words differently according to their own beliefs.
Media and fact-checking Sensationalist newspapers in the 1850s and later lead to a gradual need for a more factual media. Colin Dickey has described the subsequent evolution of fact-checking.Dickey, Colin (Fall, 2019). The rise and fall of facts. Columbia Journalism Review. URL Key elements were the establishment of Associated Press in the 1850s (short factual material needed), Ralph Pulitzer of the New York World (his Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play, 1912), Henry Luce and Time magazine (original working title: Facts), and the famous fact-checking department of The New Yorker. More recently, the mainstream media has come under severe economic threat from online startups. In addition the rapid spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories via social media is slowly creeping into mainstream media. One solution is for more media staff to be assigned a fact-checking role , as for example The Washington Post . Independent fact-checking organisations have also become prominent , such as Politico. However, the fact-checking of media reports and investigations is subject to the same confirmation bias as that for peer review of scientific research. This bias has been little studied so far. For example, a fact-checker with progressive political views might be more critical than necessary of a factual report from a conservative commentator. Another example is that facts are often explained with ambiguous words, so that progressives and conservatives may interpret the words differently according to their own beliefs.
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Mainstream mediahas in recent years
Sensationalist newspapers in the 1850s and later lead to a gradual need for a more factual media. Colin Dickey has described the subsequent evolution of fact-checking.Dickey, Colin (Fall, 2019). The rise and fall of facts. Columbia Journalism Review. URL Key elements were the establishment of Associated Press in the 1850s (short factual material needed), Ralph Pulitzer of the New York World (his Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play, 1912), Henry Luce and Time magazine (original working title: Facts), and the famous fact-checking department of The New Yorker. More recently, the mainstream media has
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some
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, as for example The Washington Post
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, such as Politico.