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Fact-checking became popularly known as a result of unverified user-generated content and the distribution of fake news spreading like wildfire simultaneously across digital platforms in the form of text messages, emails, blogposts and videos. Fact-checking has become a necessity to offer a check and balance while we wade through an Inverness leading to the vast ocean of content.
Let’s begin with a scenario in Malaysia.
On 9 May 2018, citizens of Malaysia would have cast their democratic vote at the 14th General Elections. Najib Razak, representing United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a party that has maintained its power since Malaya’s Independence in 1957, stumbled and lost the seat to a new coalition Just a month earlier in April, the Anti fake-news act was enacted. The Act defines “fake news” as including, “any news, information, data and reports, which is or are wholly or partly false, whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or in any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas. Section 4 of the Act sets out the offense of “creating, offering, publishing, etc., fake news or publication containing fake news,” stating that “[a]ny person who, by any means, maliciously creates, offers, publishes, prints, distributes, circulates or disseminates any fake news or publication containing fake news commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand ringgit [about US$128,575] or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six years or to both, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding three thousand ringgit [about US$771] for every day during which the offence continues after conviction. The bill was put forward by Azalina Othman, a lawyer and minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, who at the time was a Najib Razak.
An article in Aliran, a website dedicated to promoting justice, freedom and solidarity, factchecks the ongoing trial of Najib Razak. Read the article here: The Najib Razak 1MDB Trial Ep50: Fact check.
We’ve compiled a list of fact-checking websites so you can cross check before sharing and posting content and well, being labelled as an irresponsible sharer. As a consumer and a content creator, it’s now on us to spread authenticity and not fakery.
Tips when fact-checking:
- Go to the source
- Get a statement from the office of the individual who had allegedly said it
- Quote the closest and most reliable source
- Add references at the end of the article
Here are a few platforms that provide fact check services at no charge from around the region.
Let’s now look at a scenario in Australia.
ABC
Myth. For many years, this statement was believed to be true until an Australian Labor Party former national president Warren Mundine suggested via Twitter that it be factchecked. Although a myth, it was also believed true by the first Indigenous member of the NSW Parliament, Linda Burney who said in her maiden speech on May 6, 2003: “For the first 10 years of my life, like all Indigenous people at that time, I was not a citizen of this country. We existed under the flora and fauna act of New South Wales.”
Burney also says that Australia is the only first world nation with a colonial history that doesn’t recognise its First people in its constitution. This checked out as TRUE.
Since last week, with Labor’s successful win at the 2022 Australian Federal Elections, Ms. Burney is now Australia’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister.
Australia’s RMIT ABC Fact Check determines the accuracy of claims by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in the public debate. It is jointly funded and a partnership between RMIT University and the ABC, combining academic excellence and the best of Australian journalism to inform the public through an independent non-partisan voice. RMIT ABC Fact Check is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles.
AFP
The Australian Federal Police, a great place to start if you wish to verify facts concerning public safety and welfare. Their policing reaches the Australian Capital Territory and Australia’s territories, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island and Jervis Bay. The AFP works closely with a range of other law enforcement and government agencies at state, territory, Commonwealth and international levels, enhancing safety and providing a secure regional and global environment.
The AFT focuses on combating complex, transnational and organised crime and terrorism, disrupt crime offshore and support regional security as Australia’s principal international law enforcement representative. Their role also extends to protecting Australian high office holders, foreign dignitaries, Australian government infrastructure, and designated international airports.
https://www.afp.gov.au/fact-check
AFP
AFP Fact-Checking Stylebook | Fact Check
All Together Now
Registered charity All Together Now (ATN) imagines and delivers innovative and evidence-based projects that promote racial equity. I have been following their work for some time now and admire the way they make waves in this space. Agent C is a project by ATN that focuses on online conspiracy theories and fake news and trains young people to challenge divisive and hateful conspiracy theories and fake news. This includes but is not limited to far-right extremist conspiracy theories and fake news narratives. We want to enhance the confidence and capacity of young people aged 14-21 to unpack and critically engage with hateful conspiracy theories and fake news and to have stimulating conversations with their peers encouraging critical thinking.
Conspiracy Theories – All Together Now
Cybercrimes
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is an Australian Government initiative under the purview of the Ministry of Defense, in collaboration with state police bodies to improve cyber security. Their role is to help make Australia the most secure place to connect online.
https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/report
Australian Cyber Security Hotline: 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371)
FactCheck.org
A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania in the USA.
Website: www.factcheck.org
Media Bias Factcheck
Check an URL here and it’ll be cross referenced against 3500+ media sources. What’s cool about this website is its country-by-country report where you could check on freedom of press ranking, media ownership and media bias.
Reading their country media bias reports, it’s interesting to note this stark World Press Freedom Rank between these four nations as an example to show how media freedom differences relate in these countries; Australia (26/180), New Zealand (9/180), Malaysia (101/180) & Indonesia (119/180).
Rappler
Philippine’s online news website, Rappler started as a Facebook page (MovePH) in 2011 by Maria Ressa and a group of Filipino journalists. Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize laureate this year. Rappler values truth-telling, facts, and factual reporting. In their website description, it states, “We correct at the first instance inaccuracies spotted in our own reports and false claims made by public officials, key public personalities, and other accounts on social media. Fact-checking is done both internally and externally to create and sustain an environment anchored on truth, which is essential to a healthy and working democracy,”.
If you suspect a Facebook page, group, account, a website, or an article is spreading false information, let Rappler know by contacting them at factcheck@rappler.com.
Reuters
A British newswire I’ve known since I was a child, Reuters states in its website that it, “we provide trusted intelligence that powers humans and machines to make smart decisions,”. Founded in 1851, Reuters stance is its signature Trust Principles of independence, integrity and freedom from bias, working relentlessly to bring news from the source and from every corner of the world. Canadian media conglomerate, Thomson group acquired Reuters in 2008.
View one of Reuter’s fact-checking reports here.
In this investigative report on Crypto King Vignesh Sundaresan, aka Metakovan’s path to riches, Reuters interviews former coworkers, staff and investors to authenticate Metakovan’s bitcoin journey. He is now a man in history as the man who flipped the art world with his $69 million investment on a digital artwork by an American artist nicknamed Beeple, titled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days.”
Website: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check
Fact-checking the fact-checkers
Wikipedia’s answer to fact-checking mentions a paper by a Stanford University PhD student Chloe Lim. She found little overlap in the statements that fact-checkers check. Out of 1,178 fact-checks by PolitiFact and 325 fact-checks by The Washington Post‘s Fact Checker, there were only 77 statements that both fact-checkers checked. The study found that the fact-checkers gave the same ratings for 49 and close ratings for 22 out of 77 statements, about 92% agreement. Lim concluded, “At least in some cases, the strategic ambiguity of politicians may impede the fact-checking movement’s goals.” Read Lim’s paper here: Checking how fact-checkers check – Chloe Lim, 2018 (sagepub.com).
An article by UK-based Alliance for Natural Health investigates fact-checkers and exposes conflicts of interest and disinformation. One of their take-aways? Don’t trust the fact checkers if you want facts…
On a personal front, I find that self-regulating is necessary when carving out a report or article. I try to unravel the origin source, get a statement right from the horses’ mouth or refer to a press release issued by the company. As writers, it is on us to present to readers well-researched articles. It is our job to make the reader’s job just that – to read. We present the facts, the reader deduces. Who can blame readers if they are distrustful of claims they read unless it’s verified by authority?
That is why editors are worth their weight in GOLD. An editor will need to sieve through the intent, purpose and facts in an article before presenting it as genuine news to the reader. We appreciate your work, fact-checkers and editors! Let’s keep questioning and with that mindset, let the truth be told.