For too long, we have held Q&A truths to be self-evident – but #NotAllPanellists are created equal.
This morning The Conversation announced they would henceforth commission academics with ‘deep expertise’ to check statements made on-air against the evidence. Once the facts have been checked the article will be sent for “blind review” to a second academic specialising in the topic – who will not know the identity of the first – and then published on their FactCheck vertical.
This announcement comes less than a week after a landmark decision by the ABC to move the program from its ‘Entertainment’ division to its ‘News’ division, which saw Tony Abbott lift his ban and announce he was “looking forward to Coalition frontbenchers reappearing on Q&A.”
Sunanda Creagh, FactCheck Editor,
said of their decision:
“The idea is to tap into academic expertise to test the claims we hear on Q&A against the evidence, and write about it in a really simple, straightforward way. If knowing they’re being fact checked keeps the panellists accurate and honest, then that’s a win.
We are not interested in gotcha journalism. Sometimes we find claims are plain wrong but other times they’re correct, or misleading. FactChecks present an opportunity to make sense of the claims we hear in the media, explain an issue and add the insight of experts who have spent years researching these topics.”
For those of you playing at home: you can request statements to be FactChecked via Twitter using #FactCheck and #QandA, on The Conversation FB or by checkit@theconversation.edu.au.
via The Conversation.
Title image by Pool via Getty via Photoshop.
