Why join Gigafact
Gigafact is focused on bringing more trusted, expert organizations into the practice of fact-checking unsupported claims. In order to make this process more efficient and effective, Gigafact has built a network of organizations that participate in a standardized fact-checking program. When a newsroom signs on to this program, they become a member of the Gigafact network—a growing coalition of newsrooms that publish fact briefs in response to salient and important claims.
Gigafact network membership entitles newsrooms to the following benefits:
- In-depth training on identifying claims, drafting and publishing fact briefs, and amplifying those fact briefs.
- Help identifying promising fact brief writer candidates.
- Editorial training and support while the newsroom is becoming oriented to publishing fact briefs, as well as ongoing guideline compliance support services thereafter.
- Some start-up funding to offset the costs of a new fact brief writer.
- Access to software tools, including a publishing platform, tipline and quiz.
- Assistance in boosting the traffic and engagement of fact briefs through distribution partnerships and arrangements.
- Access to best practices, events and a community of like-minded organizations.
Tools
Publishing console: Gigafact offers partners access to a unique publishing platform environment, where they can gather and sort claims, monitor their tiplines, publish their fact briefs, and more.
Tipline: The tipline enables readers to request new fact briefs when they encounter an unsupported claim. Each Gigafact partner receives a white labeled tipline that they can embed on their website. The tiplines come with some smart intent detection, making it trickier for bad actors to submit spam or abuse. Newsrooms can opt for email updates when tips are submitted, or they can view all tips on the Gigafact publishing console
See an example of Wisconsin Watch’s tipline here.
Quiz: Fact briefs, because they all have “yes” or “no” answers, make for great quiz materials. Gigafact enables partners to create simple, themed quizzes that are shareable and engaging. Like the tipline, all quizzes are white labeled and provide space for a call to action at the end.
View examples of quizzes here.
AI fact brief researcher: Coming soon! This is a new undertaking for Gigafact that’s exploring how fact brief writers and editors might leverage AI to improve the speed of their fact-checking.
How contributing fact briefs works
Gigafact provides training, structure, methodology, standards and support to newsrooms in its network that publish fact briefs. During the early months of membership, Gigafact retains the authority to reject any fact briefs that do not meet its editorial standards, but after this time frame, its editorial team only offers advice to newsrooms on how to make their briefs the best they can be.
Fact briefs are published on newsrooms’ websites in a manner similar to any other piece of content. Copies of these fact briefs are also housed on the Gigafact website. Gigafact is not the author or owner of these fact briefs. From time to time, the Gigafact team may help newsrooms identify claims that are worthy of being checked or offer feedback on drafts, but newsrooms retain full editorial control over which claims they choose to check and the findings and conclusion of those fact briefs.
Recently active members
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
Who is eligible for membership
Gigafact is working to make sure fact briefs become a trusted source for claim interventions. Members’ fact briefs should be high quality, non polarizing pieces of journalism that reject partisan point scoring in favor of pursuing facts—all while being relevant to modern media consumption preferences.
Building and maintaining this trust is a hard needle to thread in our polarized times, and we are intentional about selecting contributors who align with this mission. To that end, Gigafact seeks organizations that have an outsized commitment to enhancing public understanding via nonpartisan journalism. The following criteria and standards help evaluate contributor candidates, and are expected to evolve with Gigafact’s experience.
Types of organizations considered
News organizations:
Newsrooms with an outsized commitment to factual reporting, as opposed to opinion, commentary, or analysis, are considered as potential members. At this point, Gigafact is focused on onboarding well-reputed local or regional newsrooms that offer broad news coverage to general audiences, as these are often the public’s most trusted news sources. We recognize many newsrooms fall outside this criteria, including those with a more specific mission to speak for particular policies, underserved communities or interests. We hope to expand the Gigafact criteria in the near future to accommodate their work.
Non-news organizations:
Gigafact also selectively welcomes academic, science-based and research organizations whose primary mission is to explain complex, topical issues using great sources and data in a non-partisan manner. We view this as an opportunity to fill important subject matter gaps that our local and regional news coverage model does not cover. At this time, we only consider organizations whose mission is to advance public understanding, rather than to advocate for specific policies.
Editorial Posture and Requirements
Dedication to combating misinformation
Contributors should have a strong interest in pushing back on misinformation in their communities and domains.
Dedication to maintaining trust
In order to be considered, organizations must be committed to eventually achieving compliance with the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. This means that the organizations in question should be well on their way to meeting IFCN’s standards for nonpartisanship, fairness, transparency, and corrections.
Capacity
Newsrooms should ideally have some staff capacity dedicated to each of the following activities:
- Editing articles (ideally working with younger or newer journalists)
- Publishing articles and maintaining the organization’s website
- Engaging readers on social media platforms
The Gigafact program encourages high volumes of publishing, and newsrooms should have the staff to ramp up to publishing multiple articles per week, if they are not already.