The Daily Caller is now part of the Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network, which is one of the necessary qualifications to become an official fact-checker for Facebook and Google.
The news organization’s Check Your Fact project is “loyal to neither people nor party—only the truth.” The Daily Caller is now one of only two conservative media organizations the Poynter Institute lists as reliable fact-checking publications. The other is The Weekly Standard’s Fact Check.
When Facebook initially rolled out its fact-checking feature, The Daily Signal’s Katrina Trinko criticized the organization for relying on liberal fact-checkers.
“We’re pleased to be approved by Poynter as a fact check site,” said Neil Patel, co-founder and publisher of The Daily Caller. “Giant platforms like Google and Facebook are increasingly deciding what news and information people see in America.
“To the extent that these platforms rely on help from outside fact checkers, it’s important that those fact checkers are balanced, non-partisan and representative of a variety of viewpoints. Anything less is dangerous,” Patel added.
In order to fact-check the news, Facebook and Google have partnered with the International Fact-Checking Network, operated by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism school in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The International Fact-Checking Network is a fact-checking resource aimed at stopping the perpetuation of misinformation. Poynter described Check Your Fact as a “quality fact-checking organization” in its assessment of the organization.
“While the fact-checking industry continues to grow, there are still countless untrue assertions that go unchecked. Left unchecked, they become fake news. We exist to fill in the gaps and promote honest reporting,” Patel said.
The Daily Caller’s CheckYourFact.com has been operational for less than a year, but “we’ve already generated major successes,” said Geoff Ingersoll, editor-in-chief of both The Daily Caller and its fact-checking operation. “In the last month, we’ve forced retractions from major media sources, including The Washington Post and Vox, and we’ve been responsible for Google’s decision to suspend its own fact-checking feature because it proved too faulty for public use.”
Some Facebook-approved fact-checking resources include AP Fact Check, Factcheck.org, PolitiFact, and The Washington Post Fact Checker.
The Daily Caller hopes to soon be working with Facebook in an official capacity. A representative from Facebook told The Daily Signal the company continues to grow its fact-checking program, but had not yet approved The Daily Caller. Facebook considers Poynter’s certification a prerequisite for consideration.
Google operates with a similar standard, although Patel expressed skepticism about its fact-checking work.
“From what I have seen, Google’s efforts at fact-checking to date have been beyond incompetent, especially for a multibillion-dollar company,” Patel said.
The Daily Caller recently reported flaws in one of Google’s fact-checking features, prompting the Silicon Valley company to discontinue its use.
Correction: The Daily Caller originally announced it was approved by Facebook as a fact-checker, which The Daily Signal subsequently reported. This story has been corrected to note that approval by the Poynter Institute does not automatically make the news organization a Facebook fact-checker.
