L. Mass Media

I. What’s What in Health Policy >> L. Mass Media (Last updated 9.3.18)

Topic Outline

1 Resources for Health Care Journalists
2 Fact Checkers
- 2.1 TV Network Fact-Checkers
  - 2.1.1 Radio Fact-Checkers
  - 2.1.2 Print/Web Media Fact-Checkers
3 News Aggregators
4 Major Newspapers
5 Magazines
- 5.1 General Circulation
- 5.2 Specialty
6 Broadcast Media
7 News Wires
8 Blogs

Resources for Health Care Journalists

USC Annenberg. Reporting on Health. Provides Lessons from the Field, Sources Directory, and Useful Resource Guides for health care journalists.
Health Is Everything: Using Data to Report Great Stories on Your Community’s Health is a downloadable step-by-step guide that will help journalists, bloggers, health communicators, and researchers find data to illuminate stories on their local communities.

Fact Checkers

Duke Reporters’ Lab does an annual census of fact-checking sites around the world and reports 53 in the U.S. in 2016.

TV Network Fact-Checkers

5 Eyewitness News Truth Test (KSTP-TV, MN). Fact-checking by the news staff at the local ABC affiliate (no archive; inactive).
9News Truth Test (KUSA-TV, CO). Fact-checks by reporters at NBC’s affiliate in Denver (no archive).
ABC15 Fact Check (KNXV-TV, AZ). Fact-check videos by reporters at local ABC affiliate in Phoenix (no archive; inactive).
CBS Minnesota Reality Check (WCCO-TV-CBS, MN). Fact-checking by the news staff at the local CBS affiliate in Minneapolis (archive).
CBS News Fact Check. Regular fact-checking for CBSNews.com reported by the network’s digital staff (no archive).
CBS46 Truth Test (WGCL-TV-CBS46, GA). Student fact-checkers in a Kennesaw State University political science class fact-checked political TV ads for the local CBS affiliate in Atlanta (archive; inactive).
CNN Reality Check (CNN, Washington DC). Fact-checking by the CNN Politics team (archive).
Gazette/KCRG-TV9 Fact Checker (KCRG-TV, IA). Fact-checks by reporters at The Cedar Rapids Gazette and KCRG-TV/Channel 9 (archive).
WETM-Ch. 18 Fact Check (WETM, NY). Fact-checks by reporters at WETM-Channel 18 and MyTwintiers.com (archive; inactive).
WRAL Fact Check (WRAL, NC). Fact-checks by political reporters for the local TV station, a longtime CBS affiliate that announced in 2016 that is switching to NBC (archive; active)

Radio Fact-Checkers

KIRO-FM #FactCheck (KIRO, WA). Fact-checking segments for a talk radio program on a local commercial radio station (archive, active).
NPR’s Break It Down. Fact-checking feature of the U.S. public radio network, which is primarily funded by local member stations, corporate sponsorships and philanthropic grants and donations. Taxpayer money mostly comes indirectly via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s support for local stations.
Poligraph (Minnesota Public Radio, MN). Fact-checks by Catharine Richert, a Minnesota Pubic News reporter and former Politifact employee (archive; inactive).

Print/Web Media Fact-Checkers

AP Fact Check (Associated Press). Fact-checks distributed by the U.S. news service to member media organizations and other outlets that pay for the content (no archive).
AZ Fact Check. Fact-checks by professional journalists and journalism students from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Fact-checks are published on Azcentral.com/The Arizona Republic (part of the USAToday network; archive), and News 12.
Civil Beat Fact Check (Honolulu Civl Beat, HI). Fact-checks by reporters at the Honolulu Civl Beat. Funded eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar (archive; inactive).
Cleveland.com Truth in Numbers (Cleveland.com, OH). Fact-checks by reporters at the Northeast Ohio Media Group and published on Cleveland.com (archive).
FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It is intended to serve as a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. Site staff monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. The goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
Freep Fact Check (Detroit Free Press, MI). Fact-checks by reporters at the Detroit Free Press (archive; inactive).
Kansas Fact Meter (Topeka Capital Journal, KS). Occasional fact-checks by political writer at the Topeka Capital Journal (archive).
KIRO-FM #FactCheck (KIRO, WA). Fact-checking segments for a talk radio program on a local commercial radio station (archive, active).
Media Matters. Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Posts related to health care issues are here.
NewsBusters.org. NewsBusters is a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias. Posts related to topic Obamacare are here.
Michigan Truth Squad (Bridge Magazine, MI). A reporting project produced by Bridge Magazine, an online journal published by the non-profit Center for Michigan (archive; active).
New York Times. Fact-checking done by Times reporters (Fact checks of the 2016 election; active).
News 4 Fact Check (KMOV-TV, MO). Fact-checks by reporters at CBS’s local affiliate in St. Louis (no archive; inactive).
PolitiFact. PolitiFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times to help readers find the truth in American politics. Reporters and editors from the Times fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups and rate them on a Truth-O-Meter. There are 17 state-level subsidiaries:
1. PolitiFact Arizona
2. PolitiFact California
3. PolitiFact Colorado
4. PolitiFact Florida
5. PolitiFact Georgia
6. PolitiFact Iowa
7. PolitiFact Missouri
8. PolitiFact Nevada
9. PolitiFact New Hampshire
10. PolitiFact New Jersey
11. PolitiFact Ohio
12. PolitiFact Oregon
13. PolitiFact Pennsylvania
14. PolitiFact Rhode Island
15. PolitiFact Texas
16. PolitiFact Virginia
17. PolitiFact Wisconsin
PunditFact. PunditFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute, dedicated to checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media. Posts related to health care are here.
Quad City Times/WQAD Political Ad Fact Check (WQAD, IA). A collaboration between the Quad City area’s local newspaper in Davenport, Iowa, and a regional TV news station based in nearby Moline, Ill. (archive; inactive).
Reality Check (WAVE-TV, KY). Fact-checks by reporters at NBC affiliate WAVE3 News (WAVE-TV) (archive; active).
Reality Check (KCNC-TV, CO). Fact-checks by reporters at at Denver’s local CBS affiliate (archive; inactive).
Reno Gazette Fact Checker (NV). Fact-checks by RGJ’s Political Editor.
Sacramento Bee Ad Watch (CA). Fact-checks by reporters at the Sacramento Bee (archive; active).
Snopes.com. Fact-checks on urban legends, including many involving politics (archive; active).
Spin Control (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA). Fact-checking by the newspaper’s political reporters (no archive; active).
The Politico Wrongometer (VA). Fact-checking done by Politico reporters as a regular feature for “The Agenda,” the news outlet’s policy and ideas section (archive; active).
The Washington Post Fact Checker (Glenn Kessler, Washington, DC). This column first appeared during the 2008 campaign and The Washington Post revived it as a permanent feature at the start of 2011. The purpose of this Web site, and an accompanying column in the Sunday print edition of The Washington Post, is to “truth squad” the statements of political figures regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local (archive; active).
TruthBeTold.news Fact-Checks. Part of a non-profit, non-partisan website launched by Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism and Film in the School of Communications and staffed by student journalists (archive; active).
Voice of San Diego Fact Check (Voice of San Diego, CA). Fact-checks by reporters at Voice of San Diego, a member-based nonprofit investigative news organization. Funded by individual donors, major charitable gifts, foundations and community partnerships.

Magazines

The Alliance for Audited Media Periodical Analyzer allows users to tap into circulation data and geographic detail for nearly 700 of North America’s leading magazine, business and farm publications, a powerful analysis tool that is available at no additional cost to all AAM clients.