Reuters & Fact Checking

Have you ever had to Fact Check something you heard about online? Sometimes it’s just something that just doesn’t sound right. Sometimes it’s something like, that’s-not-sand-it’s-metal-proving-chemtrails-exist! Reuters is a News Website with a subsection dedicated to fact checking information. Fortunately for their website there is a lot of information that needs to be debunked and fact checked.

Fact Checking is simple, you just need to figure out if something is legit or not. How can you do this? Sources, citations, witnesses, or any form of proof. A lot of Reuters’ website uses videos to confirm or debunk conspiracies or accusations.

In the particular Reuter debunked instance we’re discussing today there is a video going around X (Twitter) of “no plane” crashing into the twin towers and flames just appearing, as if it were a bomb set from the inside. The user captions this tweet “This clip surfaced years later…. No planes, just bombs. Wake up please.” This curiously comes on the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Just barely surfacing, huh?

What makes this misinformation spread is there are numerous “reliable” people who are spreading these types of conspiracies. An Arizona senator even claims that 9/11 never “Added up.”

Fortunately, Reuters uses multiple sources to fact check posts like this. Although 9/11 is high up on the conspiracy list they’ve done a good job debunking some of the outrageous claims surrounding it. This video was proven to be altered using various first-hand witnesses as sources, videos from different angles, and funnily enough, the exact same video from the same angle with the plane edited out published years prior to this accusation. There is even a recounting from the Photojournalist who took the original video himself remembering the event.

Reuters does a great job of holding itself and its staff responsible for the accuracy of various conspiracies on the web. On their about page you can learn more about their mission, staff, methodology and even their standards of correction.

Why is fact checking so important? Reuters’ own page outlines why it’s important and what they choose to fact check.

Thanks Reuters!