Media Action Plan’s Fact Check Campaign

Media Action Plan has launched one of our biggest campaigns ever – Fact Check Here!  The campaign’s mission statement is ‘credible news gets fact checked’.  The goal is to combat misinformation by making Canadians aware of credible news sources.  With help from the team at Wunder, MAP has produced television, newspaper, digital and radio promotions reminding Canadians that news from every sector of society, needs to be fact-checked by trained professionals. 

The campaign launched in late September with Unifor President Lana Payne in attendance. “High quality news has never been more important,” she said. “We are exposed to a tidal wave of information on a daily basis -- not all accurate, not all based in fact.”  

Misinformation comes from a variety of places, some more obvious than others.  Artificial intelligence is perhaps the most notable source of misinformation seeping into media.  According to The Globa and Mail, over half of Canadians say they do not trust AI as a “source of competent, honest information”.  The Fact Check Here campaign advocates that subscribing to trusted news organizations with professionally trained journalists, is the best way to combat AI misinformation.

Over the past two decades, social media has ushered in a new era of online journalists and pundits.  These influencers and personas rarely have their work edited, verified or cross-checked in any manner.  Small revisions and corrections get a fraction of the views that initial headlines get.  Professional media institutions have systems in place to safeguard against firehoses of falsehoods – social media does not.

As goes journalism, so goes democracy.  The erosion of trusted news sources is tied in many ways to the current threats to western democratic institutions. President Payne pointedly said, “the Canadian news media remains under attack, and all of us are bearing the brunt of this upheaval. When journalists are silenced, truth is silenced, and when trust in media is eroded, misinformation fills the void.”  Support for these trusted media businesses will be necessary in the fight against journalist suppression.

It is that determination to push back against these forces that limit our credible news, which has led MAP to the Fact Check Here campaign.  Artificial intelligence, social media and oppressive leaders stand no chance against credible, fact-checked news from professionally trained journalists!

Visit the Fact Check Here campaign: Home | Facts