Fact-Checking and Sources
The depth of review depends on the format, but a claim does not become reliable merely because it has been repeated many times.
Source priority
- official documents, statutes, court decisions, databases, and direct agency responses;
- recorded interviews, public statements, and statements from participants;
- professional reporting with transparent sourcing;
- secondary summaries and social media claims, which require additional verification.
What is checked
Names, dates, titles, amounts, locations, quotations, links, statistical context, and the current status of legal or administrative information are checked. A contested claim should have independent confirmation whenever possible.
FOIA and open data
An agency response may be incomplete, subject to exemptions, or limited to records the agency maintains. Those limitations are described alongside the data. The author’s estimates and calculations are separated from source data.
