We are constantly being bombarded with information – on the Web, on TV, in books, and in conversation. Unfortunately, a lot of it is misinformation.
Fortunately the Web makes it possible to fact check on the fly. Here are some resources.
- Consumer Reports – objective product information and reviews (requires university login)
- DeviceWatch – debunks phony products and gadgets
- FactCheck.org – fact checking for the news from the Annenberg Public Policy Center
- Hoax-Slayer.com - for email and social media hoaxes and rumors; also provides informative materials to raise people's awareness about privacy, security, etc. in the information age
- MythBusters.com – from the Discovery Channel TV show that debunks urban legends, old wives’ tales, and movie physics, among other things
- OpenSecrets.org - from the Center for Responsive Politics; tracks the money in politics
- PolitiFact – the least partisan fact-checking source for politics and what politicians say
- QuackWatch – maintained by an actual medical doctor with current, valid credentials; debunks false and alternative medicine claims
- Science Literacy Project: Fact Checking Essentials - it won't give you the answer to whether a specific claim is true or false, but it does explain how to do scientific fact checking for yourself, and there is a great list of resources.
- Skeptic’s Dictionary – debunks pseudoscience and the paranormal
- Snopes.com – debunks virus warnings, chain letters, hoaxes, scams, urban legends
- SourceWatch – crowd-sourced tracing of information to its original intellectual and financial sources, from the Center for Media and Democracy
- TruthorFiction.com - for email forwards and social media rumors
