The Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism, has entered into a partnership with Google News Lab to expand the work of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). The project aims to dramatically increase the searchable output of fact-checkers worldwide, expand fact-checking to new markets and support fact-checking beyond politics, such as in sports, health and science.
In 2018, the IFCN and Google News Lab will host four fact-checking workshops, prioritizing parts of the world where fact-checking is most needed and least rooted.
"At a time of massive online misinformation, we need more and better fact-checking,” said Alexios Mantzarlis, the director of the IFCN at Poynter. “Support from Google News Lab will enable the IFCN to encourage more fact-checking around the world, while also helping raise the standards and impact of existing initiatives."
This 12-month partnership with Google News Lab will also offer new resources for existing fact-checkers, including an engineering “time bank” and free access to social monitoring, verification and visualization tools.
“With so much information available around the clock and across devices, being able to understand at a glance what’s true and what’s false online is increasingly important,” said Erica Anderson, partnerships manager at Google News Lab. “Through partnerships with organizations like the IFCN, we hope this gives people a better understanding of the information they are about to click on online.”
The International Fact-Checking Network is a global forum for fact-checking organizations launched in 2015. Among other things, the IFCN monitors trends and formats in fact-checking worldwide, publishing regular articles on Poynter.org and in a weekly newsletter; helps uphold best practices through the fact-checkers' code of principles; funds annual fellowships and a crowdfunding match program; convenes fact-checkers in a yearly conference (Global Fact); provides training in person and online; and advocates for more fact-checking, including through an annual International Fact-Checking Day.
Thirty six organizations are currently verified signatories of IFCN’s code of principles, a document promoting higher standards of transparency among fact-checkers. Being a verified signatory is a minimum condition for being accepted as a third-party fact-checker by Facebook.
Poynter receives support from foundations, corporations and individuals to support its mission of promoting independent journalism in service to democracy. In addition to Google News Lab, the IFCN has received funding from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Duke Reporters’ Lab, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Omidyar Network, the Open Society Foundations and the Park Foundation. If you are interested in supporting the work of Poynter or the International Fact-Checking Network, please email the executive director of the Poynter Foundation, Elisa Jackson, at ejackson@poynter.org or the director of the IFCN, Alexios Mantzarlis, at alexios@poynter.org.
