Fact is such a loaded word these days. As is truth. And evidence. Which is a shame, to say the least. In my ongoing search for some form of them, I find the following sites a constant source of encouragement.
Fullfact: ‘The UK’s independent fact checking charity.’ A great mission and organisation. I wonder however if contemporary negative connotations to the word ‘fact’ could slightly impair their mission? Either way, if you’re inclined to search for un-alternative facts, aka, facts, then Full Fact is well worth adding to your daily news browsing list. Also, go support their election crowd funder now.
Next, having used my quota of the alternative F word in this post, is the brilliant Behind the Headlines section of the NHS Choices website. It works like a massive spoiler store of almost every piece of health news in the media. I wish it had it’s own search facility (yes that can be done via Google but I mean a search facility that regular people can easily use). It’s kind of like a calm and less condescending version ofbadscience.net .
On the more sensationalist side, and oddly looking more like a spammy clickbait site than a well researched fact checking site, is snopes.com. More US and pop culture focused too, but every now and then they’re a good source for debunking some meme or hotly shared ‘story’.
And on the small and perfectly formed side is answer-back.co.uk, which I wrote about before Christmas. I would love to see some updates or something on here. Such a nice premiss. Facilitating better relationships with simple access to unbiased sources, and animal gifs!
Finally, there’s the BBC News Election 2017 Reality Check series. A shame that as a section it’s buried so deep in the site, but thankfully it’s popping up more and more as the election approaches.
Documenteering 