OUR 3 FAVORITE FACT-CHECKING WEBSITES

Welcome back to the website of Jordan O’Donnell, home of the Zoon Garden Promotional Tour. We understand that in today’s intense media environment, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to practice good “media hygiene,” and effectively separate fact from fiction. In light of this, here are three fact checking sites that will help you discern today’s current events using reliable sources.

1. Factcheck.org
The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org analyzes claims made by elected officials, particularly during election season. The community prides itself on not seeking or accepting “any funds from unions, partisan organizations or advocacy groups” and their policy is “to disclose the identity of any individual who makes a donation of $1,000 or more,” as well as “the total amount, average amount and number of individual donations.” Their open policy, clear website format, and commitment to equal analysis of Republican and Democrat claims makes this a reliable go-to fact checking resource.

2. Politifact's Truth-O-Meter
Truth-O-Meter is appealing because of its graphic layout – each claim is accompanied by a “truth meter” which ranks the statement’s factual relevance in clear visual terms: a meter with an arrow landing somewhere between from True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False, and Pants on Fire. The site also boasts a sweeping count of categorized fact checks based on state, hot issues, and popular political speakers. It’s mostly self-financed through Poynter Institute, which acquired Politifact’s Truth-O-Meter in 2018. You can read its most recent financial disclosure here.

3. Snopes    
Named after a family name which appears throughout the works of legendary American writer William Faulkner, Snopes is a fact checking website owned and operated by the Snopes Media Group Inc. They are “almost entirely funded through programmatic digital advertising sales, paid memberships, direct contributions, and merchandise sales,” and do not accept funding from political parties, campaigns, or advocacy groups.
 
 ~
​
The thing to remember with all of these sites is that you are aiming to collect facts, not conclusions. Many of these resources are complemented with articles which unpack the information in potentially slanted terms – so remember that your goal is to draw your own conclusions based on all the facts and (although true objectivity is impossible) more “neutral” resources. Happy fact-checking!