Creating your own "blue checkmark" process

• Explain the difference between fact-checking and verification.

• Describe the processes of identifying claims and fact-checking. 

• Suggest resources for fact-checking claims and verifying information provided by sources. 

• Discuss situations in which information from criminal legal system actors like police cannot be independently verified and what to do in those situations.

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify claims that require verification.

• Identify and evaluate sources of information needed to verify claims. 

• Use journalistic methods to fact check and verify claims. 

• Identify situations that necessitate disclaimers about unverified information.

• Bradshaw, P. (2020, October 6). The 7 habits of successful journalists: how do you develop scepticism? Online Journalism.

• Himma-Kadakas, M., & Ojamets, I. (2022). Debunking false information: investigating journalists’ fact-checking skills. Digital Journalism, 10(5), 866-887.

• Parker, A., & McDaniel, J. (2023, February 17). From Freddie Gray to Tyre Nichols, early police claims often misleading. The Washington Post.

• Silverman, C. (n.d.). Verification and Fact Checking. DataJournalism.com. 

1. Present students with the Parker & McDaniel (2023) analysis of false police claims in several high profile cases. Facilitate a discussion with students about the impact of this misinformation on journalists and readers. Some important questions for students to consider:

• Should journalists report preliminary information and information gathered exclusively from police reports?

• What issues can arise from sourcing information from police reports?

2. Introduce the terms fact checking and verification. Discuss why fact checking is needed when receiving information from police and other criminal legal system actors. Emphasize the importance of using verification processes with sources who have a history of dishonesty and with official sources who control public access to certain types of information. 

3. Review for students what content should be fact-checked when reporting public safety information. At a minimum this guide recommends:

• Proper names

• Place names

• References to time, distance, date, season

• Physical descriptions

• References to the sex/gender identity of anyone described 

• Quotations (and facts within quotes)

• Any argument or narrative that depends on fact

4. Cover elements of police reports that journalists be wary of, including:

• Passive language (i.e. “a confrontation occurred,” “a struggle ensued”) 

• Vague descriptors (i.e. “medical distress”) 

• Information painting a critical picture of a person hurt or killed by police 

• Extraneous use of legal phrases (i.e. “after duly reading his Miranda warning, I ___”, “after observing the drugs in plain view and receiving voluntary consent, I searched ___”)

5. Provide students with examples and methods of fact-checking. Examples from this guide include:

• Consulting the primary source

• Contacting verified experts in a related field

• Reviewing literature on Google Scholar

• Using open data portals

• Contacting witnesses and other stakeholders 

6. Discuss the verification processes many social media sites have introduced (like the original, now-defunct “blue checkmark” on Twitter) to inform readers that accounts are authentic and credible. Ask students the following questions:

• Should newsrooms implement similar standards for sources frequently relied on in crime reporting? What would be the benefit of this? Potential drawbacks?

• What are some standard criteria that could be used to “blue checkmark” these types of sources?

7. Explain the practice of applying disclaimers to information that cannot be verified prior to publication of the story. Ask students to consider the following:

• Is there ever a situation when you should print an unverified claim or should you always refuse to publish information if it cannot be verified? 

• What language can you use to tell readers that a piece of information in the story has not been independently verified? 

• Examples: “The information provided by the chief of police has not been independently verified.” “The authors asked for body camera footage of the incident to verify the police version of events, but the request was denied.”

• Are there other steps you can take to place unverified claims in context?

• Examples: citing instances where police reports have turned out to be false, referencing a source’s history of dishonesty, etc…

8. Activity 1: Students will develop their own process for determining whether a source is credible based on the methods discussed in class. Students should be able to explain how their process would prevent the spread of inaccurate information. Instructional note: This activity may be done in class by dividing students into groups or partners, or may be assigned as an individual homework assignment to be completed in conjunction with the assessment.

9. Activity 2: Show students the video of a press conference that took place immediately after the Uvalde school shooting in Texas. Students should pretend they are journalists attending the press conference and take notes while watching, identifying which claims warrant further fact-checking and verification before they would write their story. Instructional note: The entire press conference length is 62 minutes. Thus, you may want to select a clip for students (for example, the portion from 23:50-28:20 in which the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety speaks) to view in class or assign the video and accompanying assessment as homework.)

Students should apply their process for fact checking and verification to claims they identified from the Uvalude press conference. Students should then write a short article reporting on the press conference, using appropriate language to indicate where inaccurate information was presented.

Readings and Guides

• CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. (2022, July 5). LibGuides: Fact Checking & Verification for Reporting: Fact-Checking Your Reporting. Research Guides.