Evaluating Sources: Fact Checking Websites

PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, an independent newspaper in Florida, as is PunditFact (https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/), a site devoted to fact-checking pundits.

FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. According to FactCheck.org, they monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

The Snopes.com website was founded by David Mikkelson, a project begun in 1994 as an expression of his interest in researching urban legends that has since grown into a fact-checking site.

While focused primarily on political facts, it covers specific claims in-depth and with plenty of cross-referencing.

A reverse image search app to double check image sources and see where they came from.

Click on the camera icon in the Google Images search bar to upload an image or enter the link to an image online. This tool will retrieve similar images, which can provide information about the source and credibility of the original image.