Gigafact Fights Spread Of Misinformation Ahead Of Election
Dice blocks with flip over from FAKE to FACT word on orange background. Gigafact, a nonprofit organization, aims to combat misinformation in the media by equipping nonpartisan local and regional newsrooms with funding, training, software tools, recruitment assistance, and distribution support. (Getty Images)
Forbes
It should be no surprise to anyone that our divided country is living in two different realities. From the people pushing the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election to Phil Lyman, the Republican candidate for Utah governor, blaming the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on the effort to increase diversity in workplaces.
But, sometimes there’s a man, I won’t say a hero, because what’s a hero? But, sometimes there’s a man, a man for his time and place, who fits right in, and with apologies to the Big Lebowski, Chandran Sankaran, is that man.
In 2022, Sankaran created Gigafact, a nonprofit that equips nonpartisan local and regional newsrooms with the startup funding, training, software tools, recruitment assistance, and distribution support to give them the ability to counter misinformation.
“Many people are afraid to attack the misinformation problem,” said Sankaran. He founded Gigafact to go to high-quality, trusted, local newsrooms and teach them to fact check claims circulating on social media. John Marcom, the editorial head of Yahoo! Finance, served as Gigafact’s founding editorial director and helped develop its format.
Gigafact is currently partnered with eight regional and metro newsrooms—Wisconsin Watch, The Nevada Independent, MinnPost, Fort Worth Report, El Paso Matters, Oklahoma Watch, Skeptical Science, and Colorado Sun. Sankaran said the network is expanding and plans to partner with at least 20 U.S.-based newsrooms ahead of the 2024 elections.
MORE
RELATED STORIES FROM THE INTEGRITY PROJECT
