Political Fact-Checking and the 'King of Whoppers'

Dr Lucas Graves from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has published a paper on how journalists and computer scientists are developing automated fact-checking tools, and in a related podcast, 'King of Whoppers', he considers, specifically,  the role of the fact-checking movement in the 2016 US Presidential Race.

The underlying paper 'Understanding the Promise and Limits of Automated Fact-Checking' explores the technologies that have arisen to combat online misinformation, or 'fake news'.   Dr Graves argues that while these tools can help verify a narrow range of simple factual claims, much of current fact-checking requires a sensitivity and type of judgement that is currently beyond automated systems.  The 'promise', he believes lies in adapting these technologies to assist human fact checkers.  In his podcast 'King of Whoppers', as part of the RISJ's Business and Practice of Journalism seminars, he discusses the history of the fact-checking in the United States over the last decade, and the ways in which Donald Trump helped establish the movement as both legitimate and necessary.

Listen to the podcast: 'King of Whoppers' and political fact-checking in the 2016 US Presidential Race

Read the paper: Understanding the Promise and Limits of Automated Fact-Checking