Why Is Fact-checking Important?

These days, you can’t turn on the TV or listen to the news without hearing about fake news and misinformation. 

We all know it’s important to get the facts, but once you see disinformation, deep fakes, and AI hallucinations or factual errors, fact-checking takes on a whole new level of priority. 

So, if you’re asking yourself, “Why is fact-checking important?” Let’s review why it’s crucial to modern society. 

Why Fact-checking Is More Important Than Ever

Fact-checking is a cornerstone of responsible journalism, but with new technology, social media, and artificial intelligence, its importance has grown exponentially.

In contrast to traditional journalism, where editorial oversight reviews reports for accuracy, digital platforms let anyone publish content instantly — whether it’s factual or not.

Add to this the rise of AI-generated content in search results and it’s easy to see how, if left unchecked, misinformation can erode trust. Fact-checking is important simply because it puts the brakes on misinformation. It helps the public stay informed on important issues. 

Beyond the media and politics, asking yourself why fact-checking is important means understanding how it affects other types of content we consume.

Areas Where Fact-checking Plays a Vital Role

Preserving content integrity

For content creators, preserving content’s integrity and quality is always top of mind because disinformation can spread at lightning speed. 

Content creators who fact-check content, help safeguard the quality of their work while building trust with their readers. High-quality content that’s backed by reliable sources and checked for authenticity strengthens a brand’s reputation. 

Then, for media organizations, a reliable reputation demonstrates a commitment to the truth. Content published with integrity, authenticity, and transparency lends itself well to the public discourse. It stands out as a beacon of reliability in an increasingly complex world.

Helping consumers make informed decisions

Consumers are flooded by advertisements, reviews, and sponsored content. With ads at every turn, it’s hard for the everyday user to separate genuine products from the noise. 

By verifying the claims made by companies and marketers, customers can crush false advertising, avoid misleading product descriptions, and zero in on products worth their time and money.

Promoting media literacy and critical thinking

When people continue to check the reliability of the information, they start to develop better media literacy and critical thinking skills. 

Fact-checking encourages questions about the authenticity and originality of content. People start to look for supporting evidence and check sources. 

Integrating media literacy and critical thinking skills into everyday life helps identify misinformation with greater accuracy while building awareness. 

Fact-checking Websites and Tools

To address misinformation, a number of promising fact-checking websites and tools have popped up. For instance, one of the best political fact-checking websites is PolitiFact. 

Politifact is a well-known and popular fact-checking website that reviews political facts. It is owned by the Poynter Institute, which is a global non-profit organization for media literacy and fact-checking.

Then, as well as using the best fact-checking sites, fact-checking tools present a fantastic opportunity for editors and content marketers to validate content before publication.

Using machine learning algorithms to analyze information in seconds, AI-powered fact-checkers process information rapidly for a human editor to then review. Depending on the tool, fact-checking tools can cross-reference articles and online content almost in an instant, quickly helping to debunk false claims and verify the authenticity of content.

Fact-checking With Originality.ai

AI-based fact-checkers, like the Originality.ai automated fact-checker, use AI to scan content like articles or blog posts. With the Originality fact-checker, you can opt to review an entire piece of content or particular facts.

After scanning your content, the Originality fact-checker flags facts as “Potentially True,” or “Potentially False.” Then, you can review the flagged facts further, and make any edits needed to publish high-quality, factual content with integrity.