We live in strange times.
The rise of AI, the fall of local newspapers, the increasing willingness of politicians to bend the truth (OK, outright lie), the speed at which falsehoods spread on social media — it’s no wonder that the majority of Americans have a hard time separating fact from fiction.
New York Focus is helping to change that.
We’re partnering with Gigafact, a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps local newsrooms respond to common questions, rumors, and claims. Together, we’ll be publishing weekly “fact briefs” that provide a clear “yes” or “no” answer to the questions at hand and show the sources used to verify or debunk that claim. All in 150 words or less.
Experienced fact-checker Ferdi Ferhat Özsoy will produce weekly briefs, with claims sourced from social media, readers, and other avenues. Özsoy has spent more than a decade working to combat misinformation in both Turkey and the US, most recently as the deputy director of the International Fact-Checking Network, where he led strategic initiatives supporting more than 170 fact-checkers across more than 80 countries.
Read Özsoy’s first fact brief — published today — about whether working-class residents in New York City are fleeing faster than wealthy residents.
“One reason we launched Focus was that we kept noticing New York politicians repeating things that weren’t true — and often, no one was calling them out on it,” said Akash Mehta, editor-in-chief of New York Focus. “We’re excited to add fact briefs to our toolbox of ways to hold power to account.”
“New York Focus is doing invaluable work investigating New York’s state government, and we’re so pleased that their offerings now include fact briefs,” said Robyn Sundlee, Gigafact’s co-founder and head of operations. “This program will provide New York residents with speedy access to important and useful facts regarding their state.”
Got a claim you want us to check? Submit it via the form below.
