Fact Check

Getting all the facts right in journalism was once a behind-the-scenes affair. Copy-editors at newspapers, or fact-checking departments at magazines, did their work to maintain a publication’s reputation and keep subscribers. Of course, there have been slip-ups big and small.

The business of journalism in the Internet Age has meant cutting back on that traditional fact-checking work. At the same time, fact-checking politicians’ claims is a public part of journalism — it’s the primary work of some new publications. This new kind of in-your-face fact-checking has grown in the last decade and a well-known part of the news landscape.

Come see this small exhibit exploring the history of fact-checking practices and how magazines and newspapers have struggled with the hard work of getting accurate news to the public. This exhibit is done in collaboration with the Government Information Center, which is creating its own display on free speech and fake news, titled Fake News Is for Real.

Banner image by Molly Adair for PolitiFact.

This is a Politics & Current Affairs program. The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.