Glossary: Fact-Check
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A fact check is a structured examination of a specific, checkable claim against the available evidence, typically concluding with a clear assessment of whether the claim is accurate, partially accurate, or false, along with the underlying reasoning and full sources behind that final conclusion reached by whoever originally conducted the check.
Good fact checking is genuinely transparent about its own method throughout: which sources were consulted, what evidence was carefully weighed, and where genuine uncertainty still remains unresolved. This transparency is precisely what allows a careful reader to evaluate the fact check itself rather than simply trusting its conclusion outright and without question.
Fact checks are most useful for narrow, quite specific claims rather than broad questions of interpretation or opinion, which is exactly why understanding what was actually checked matters just as much as the final verdict attached to it in the end result of the entire process undertaken.