Despite Travis’ best efforts, it’s still possible to occasionally read posts on the internet that are not perfectly accurate. In fact, Travis’ failure to turn networking technology into primarily a means of rationally exchanging ideas and substantive policy issues has forced media outlets all over the globe to employ so-called “fact checkers.”

To get a better handle on this phenomenon (for which, to reiterate, podcast host Travis View bears most of the blame) we spoke to the hardest working man in online fact checking: BBC Verify Senior Journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh. For years, he has tracked and reported on viral falsehoods, both silly and deadly, in many countries.

We discuss how Shayan got into this unique discipline of journalism, his response to the criticism that “fact checking” primarily serves the reinforcement of establishment narratives, research which suggests fact checkers are less trusted than other kinds of reporters, the rise of deep fakes, atrocity denial, and how to maintain trust as a fact checker.

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www.patreon.com/QAA

Shayan Sardarizadeh

https://x.com/shayan86

BBC Verify

https://www.bbc.com/news/reality_check

Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

SOURCES

The Onion: Factual Error Found On The Internet

https://theonion.com/factual-error-found-on-internet-1819566445/

Nieman Lab: Readers are more suspicious of journalists providing corrections than journalists providing confirmations

https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/08/readers-are-more-suspicious-of-journalists-providing-corrections-than-journalists-providing-confirmations/

Rolling Stone: Right-Wingers Heartbroken by Picture of Little Girl Who Doesn’t Exist

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/ai-girl-maga-hurricane-helene-1235125285/

Washington Post: Viral attack on Walz features fake former student making false claim

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/10/21/tim-walz-matthew-metro-video/

Newsweek: Gaza War Death Toll Passes 43,000, Palestinian Health Ministry Reports

https://www.newsweek.com/gaza-war-deaths-surpass-43000-palestinian-health-ministry-reports-1975910

BBC: False claims of staged deaths surge in Israel-Gaza war

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67760523

UN News: Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147976

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Türk says world must act as darkest moment of Gaza conflict unfolds

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/turk-says-world-must-act-darkest-moment-gaza-conflict-unfolds