Speaker A
In the last video, we talked about how fact checkers outperformed some of the smartest people in the world.
Learn how fact checkers investigate sources using Wikipedia and web searches to verify organizations and publications quickly and effectively.
Key Takeaways
- Always verify the credibility of a source by looking beyond its own claims.
- Use Wikipedia as a fast and effective starting point for source investigation.
- Check the references in Wikipedia articles to confirm the accuracy of information.
- A simple Google search combining a domain name with 'Wikipedia' can quickly reveal source credibility.
- Fact checkers rely on external verification rather than trusting the original site.
What the video covers
- Fact checkers outperform many experts by using effective verification techniques.
- They do not rely on what an organization says about itself but investigate external sources.
- Example given: distinguishing a hate site from a respected professional organization.
- Fact checkers use Google searches to find Wikipedia pages about organizations.
- Wikipedia provides a quick, reliable starting point for investigating sources.
- A simple trick involves searching 'domain name + Wikipedia' to get relevant info fast.
- The Telegraph is used as an example of verifying if a publication is credible.
- Wikipedia articles should have sourced facts that can be verified by clicking through.
- If unsure about Wikipedia content, check the references at the bottom of the page.
- This method applies to organizations, publications, and experts.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
In this video, I want to show you one of the techniques they used to do that.
Speaker A
Let’s go back to the original example, okay? We were looking at these two sites.
Speaker A
One of them was a long-respected professional organization, one of them was considered by many to be basically a hate site, right?
Speaker A
So, how did the fact checkers quickly discern that it was a hate site? Now, this may sound absurdly simple.
Speaker A
They came to this page, the American College of Pediatricians, but they didn’t read it.
Speaker A
They got off it. They went to another page, they went and did a Google search.
Speaker A
They started asking themselves, “Who are these people publishing this information?” Once you put in a search like that, a Wikipedia page comes up that talks about it as a socially conservative advocacy group.
Speaker A
Its membership, it says, is estimated at five hundred. You’ll see that they have an annual budget somewhat around eighty thousand.
Speaker A
This is not a comparable organization to the American Academy of Pediatricians. The point here is, in order to find out the truth about an organization you’re looking at, do not look at what the organization says about itself.
Speaker A
Look at what the web is telling you about the organization. That’s where you’re going to find the truth of the matter.
Speaker A
I’ll show you one trick that you can do that makes this technique super-fast. Most fact checkers use Wikipedia as a starting point.
Speaker A
It’s usually a great first stop for investigating journalistic sources and organizations. Take this example, an article from a publication called “The Telegraph.”
Speaker A
So, a lot of times I’ll come to a site like this and wonder, “Is this really a news site?”
Speaker A
So, here’s what I can do: I can go up to the location bar and I can chop off everything after the initial domain name.
Speaker A
Then I type Wikipedia after it. Don’t forget the space. And then I hit return.
Speaker A
Now, if you do that, it will float the Wikipedia page to the top of your search results, and if you click into that Wikipedia article, you can see the Telegraph turns out to be a well-respected publication.
Speaker A
You can do this with organizations, publications, experts. Wikipedia won’t always return a high-quality article, but it usually returns a good starting point.
Speaker A
If you get to a Wikipedia article and you’re not sure you can trust it, just scroll to the bottom.
Speaker A
Every fact in Wikipedia should be sourced to another publication. By clicking through to those articles, you can verify the individual facts in the Wikipedia article.
Topics:fact checkingsource verificationdigital media literacyWikipediaonline researchmedia literacyinformation verificationfact checkersjournalistic sourcesCTRL-F
