Latest news with #AngieDrobnicHolan
Fox News
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Fact-checking director warns of 'crisis' as Meta, Trump's DOGE cuts threaten their 'honorable, patriotic' work
Fact-checkers are facing severe challenges and political pressure while doing their "honorable" and "patriotic" work, one director warned. On Wednesday, International Fact-Checking Network Director Angie Drobnic Holan penned an op-ed for Poynter to mark "International Fact-Checking Day." Though the day has been a time of celebration for her in the past, she wrote that the community has already faced several major blows in 2025, threatening not just the profession but society as well. Holan pointed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing in January that the company would be ending its fact-checking system across Facebook, Meta and Instagram platforms. "Not everyone loves fact-checking, and there are powerful political forces that would simply like it to go away," Holan wrote. "This is indeed a crisis for fact-checkers, but it's even worse for the general public. Disinformation hurts people. It has real-world consequences." She cited President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) efforts to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as another example. Holan said, "The public funding that Elon Musk is trashing was another factor in the growth of fact-checking; groups like USAID thought that funding fact-checking overseas would empower democracy and accountable government." "I remember an international development officer telling me that fact-checking encouraged fact-based public debate on important public issues and therefore encouraged stable societies," she recalled. Holan attributed attacks on fact-checking to its effectiveness. "Fact-checking holds the line on reality for history's sake. It builds evidence-based records that can withstand political pressures," she wrote. "Politicians who want to create their own realities are fighting hard against fact-checking, and they're strong-arming tech companies and social media platforms into helping them." Holan called on fact-checkers to defend their "truth-seeking" in the face of these challenges. "If we want a society that respects truth, now is our time to fight for it," Holan concluded. Liberal commentators have attacked Meta's decision to pull fact-checkers, claiming that it was Zuckerberg capitulating to Trump ahead of his inauguration. Some even called the decision "dangerous."
Associated Press
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Celebrating fact-checking around the globe
It's International Fact-Checking Day, an event to highlight the work of fact-checkers around the world. In a message marking the day, Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the the International Fact-Checking Network, noted the recent challenges faced by fact-checkers, including a loss of funding and attacks on fact-checkers and their organizations. 'This is indeed a crisis for fact-checkers, but it's even worse for the general public,' Holan said Wednesday. 'Disinformation hurts people. It has real-world consequences. Without fact-checking, more grandparents will fall victim to financial scams. Adults will refuse to vaccinate children against proven killers like measles. Teens will read faked reports of current events with no way to tell them apart from the real thing.' The IFCN launched in 2015, started the event in 2016 and has more than 170 members around the world. Each signatory has been vetted and approved by independent assessors. They are required to show a commitment to nonpartisanship and transparency, about both sources and funding. AP Fact Check is a member of the IFCN, a unit of the Poynter Institute. Getting the facts right has been core to AP's mission since our founding in 1846. When a public figure says something questionable, it is our job to investigate it and offer the facts. It appears the AP's first stand-alone political fact check was written Nov. 9, 1993, around a debate between Vice President Al Gore and businessman Ross Perot on the merits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, often referred to as NAFTA. From there it has grown from fact-checking politicians' speech to checking for false and misleading information that gains widespread traction online. You can find those stories here. We also do live fact-checking around events like presidential addresses, political debates and campaign events. As with all AP staff, AP fact checkers must adhere to the company's Statement of News Values, which states: 'AP employees must avoid behavior or activities — political, social or financial — that create a conflict of interest or compromise our ability to report the news fairly and accurately, uninfluenced by any person or action.'
