ATLANTA — "Where do you get your sources?" "Why should we trust your fact-checking?"
These are questions the 11Alive Verify team receives on our fact-checking coverage.
We get it, there's a lot of information circulating these days and you have every right to be vigilant about the information you trust. In fact, we recommend it! Audiences are consuming news like never before and lives depend on it.
Which is why we want to clarify a few points on why our fact-checking stands out from others, and why it can be trusted.
A Verify story is born from tips and questions we receive from viewers questioning the validity of a story, viral post, or ad seen on TV. We know all too well that once a post or comment takes off, it can be seen by thousands before ever being debunked.
The 11Alive Verify team is dedicated to getting facts in order to answer your questions. We do not take this responsibility lightly.
This is how our Verify process works:
- We go directly to the source to confirm any fact we share.
- We list all sources in our Verify stories on-air and on 11Alive.com.
- We use multiple primary and expert sources to fact-check the claims you send us. Primary sources come from people like eyewitnesses or officials in charge. Expert sources are people like scientists or analysts who have conducted research or extensively studied a particular topic.
Generally, primary and expert sources are the most reliable sources for fact-checking something you see online.
All 11Alive and TEGNA journalists are trained through First Draft News to identify false information to help audiences distinguish between accurate and inaccurate information and become better-informed news consumers.
The Verify team is comprised of regional fact-checkers and journalists to provide transparency into the reporting process. So, you might see familiar faces from Atlanta in our Verify coverage, but we also have TEGNA journalists from local stations across the country helping answer your questions.
If you have a story or claim you want us to Verify, email us at Verify@11Alive.com or click here to share your story.