From deepfakes to conspiracy theories: a day in the life of a News and Online Journalist at Full Fact

As a journalist on Full Fact’s News and Online team, I specialise in debunking online misinformation about current affairs. This ranges from deepfakes of public figures and conspiracy theories to miscaptioned footage from conflict zones or natural disasters.

This article is part of the #FactsMatter campaign, which is highlighting the work we do at Full Fact and why we believe it matters. Over the course of the campaign we’ll be talking about how we check facts, the challenges we face in getting to the heart of evidence and the difference we can make when we do so. 

We’re asking people to share what we publish, sign up to our newsletter and tell the world why #FactsMatter more than ever. Find out more about the campaign and how you can support it here.

Morning monitoring

Most days follow the same structure, beginning with a search for viral misleading claims. 

A weekly rota assigns each member of the team a different source to monitor—these include X (formerly Twitter) and the Meta Content Library (a database of public posts on Meta platforms like Facebook, Threads and Instagram). 

We share our findings to a Slack channel before discussing them in more detail at a morning team meeting at 9.45 am. This is when our editor commissions new fact checks, fact checkers give updates on their progress with ongoing pieces, and we decide what to prioritise for publication that day. 

Once a week, I start work earlier at 7am to read the front pages of the newspapers and listen to government ministers, and politicians from other parties, on the broadcast round. This gives us a head start reaching out to the relevant offices when misleading or incorrect claims crop up, and helps us to respond quickly to any breaking stories.

The rest of the day is typically spent researching and writing new fact checks, as well as moving pieces through the editorial pipeline towards publication—one fact checker can often be writing as many as five at a time. 

Each piece passes back and forth between the writer and a reviewer until both are happy with it, and then the same happens with a subeditor. This rigorous reviewing process is designed to sense-check our logic, ensure the sources we use are robust and that our writing style is consistent and digestible for readers. We also present videos explaining the findings of certain fact checks for Full Fact’s social media channels. 

OSINT skills

Beyond the day-to-day, my role requires keeping on top of a wide range of skills, such as  using the latest open source intelligence techniques (OSINT) to help with image verification and geolocation. I completed a three-month OSINT training programme with the Digital Forensic Research Lab and attended the Centre for Investigative Journalism conference last year. 

One big challenge of the role is the requirement to spend time in hostile and uninspiring corners of social media. When finding and debunking online misinformation, you can end up falling down some pretty strange and dark rabbit holes, for example when verifying disturbing footage or in the comment sections of divisive posts. I really value having such a supportive team around me, and will always try to get outside at lunch or if the online world becomes overwhelming.  

One of the best things about being a journalist at Full Fact is that I never stop learning. Accuracy is wired into how we operate, and you often acquire extensive knowledge on quite specific subjects, such as the concept of ‘15 minute cities’, the cow food additive Bovaer or the details of government support for asylum seekers.

This depth doesn’t come at the expense of breadth though—I’ve written fact checks on a wide array of things. And it’s a very satisfying feeling to see your fact checks add clarity to topics where existing information is muddled, manipulated or misinterpreted.