The BBC has officially launched a new fact checking site, Reality Check. Reality Check was technically started last year as a temporary project to cover the European Union referendum in the UK, but the BBC said this month it’s going to keep it going full-time.
A BBC spokesperson told iMediaEthics via e-mail that Reality Check originated as “a political discourse fact checking service during the EU referendum campaign.” iMediaEthics asked about the size of Reality Check’s staff and what specific issues it will examine, but given Reality Check is still in development, the BBC didn’t have specifics.
“Where we see deliberately misleading stories masquerading as news, we’ll publish a Reality Check that says so,” the BBC told iMediaEthics, noting it hopes to brings more viewers and readers to the fact checks than the original fake stories.
“BBC News can apply its news judgement to potentially fake stories,” the BBC said. “Where it spots a story it will do the journalism to verify or fact check the claims then publish an explainer or corrective piece that can be read and shared.”
Reality Check has its own Twitter account (with more than 25,000 followers to boot). Its website is www.bbc.co.uk/realitycheck
Recent fact checks include:
- “Can there be a quick UK-USA trade deal?”
- “Will one-third of NHS beds be cut?”
- “Would leaving customs union create 400,000 jobs?”
“The BBC can’t edit the internet, but we won’t stand aside either,” BBC news chief James Harding said to staff, according to the Guardian. “We will fact check the most popular outliers on Facebook, Instagram and other social media.