Editing Fact-checking (section)

== History of fact-checking ==
Sensationalist newspapers in the 1850s and later led to a gradual need for a more factual media. Colin Dickey has described the subsequent evolution of fact-checking.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.cjr.org/special_report/rise-and-fall-of-fact-checking.php|last=Dickey|first= Colin (Fall 2019)|title= The rise and fall of facts|journal= [[Columbia Journalism Review]]|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191207195717/https://www.cjr.org/special_report/rise-and-fall-of-fact-checking.php|archive-date=2019-12-07}}</ref> Key elements were the establishment of Associated Press in the 1850s (short factual material needed), [[Ralph Pulitzer]] of the New York World (his Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play, 1912), Henry Luce and Time magazine (original working title: Facts), and the famous fact-checking department of [[The New Yorker]]. More recently{{When|date=February 2025}}, the mainstream media has come under severe economic threat from online startups.{{cn|date=February 2025}} In addition, the rapid spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories via social media is slowly creeping into mainstream media.{{cn|date=February 2025}} One solution{{According to whom|date=February 2025}} is for more media staff to be assigned a fact-checking role, as for example [[The Washington Post]].{{cn|date=February 2025}} Independent fact-checking organisations have also become{{When|date=February 2025}} prominent, such as [[PolitiFact]].{{cn|date=February 2025}}