claim<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe ministerial target in Northern Ireland is that by March 2020 \u201cat least 50% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first (consultant-led) outpatient appointment, with no patient waiting longer than a year\u201d. Was the politician comparing like with like? Was it credible that the waiting lists in Northern Ireland could dwarf those in England when our population is so much smaller?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer to those questions turned out to be yes, and yes. The NHS statistics for England and Northern Ireland are very accessible, and they track the same comparable metrics. The claim was accurate, and while as fact checkers we don\u2019t provide commentary on what a claim or a statistic means for society, this politician\u2019s claim was widely reported in the media to highlight the crisis in the health service in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FactCheckNI is always happy to work with the media: talk to us! After all, media outlets, alongside social media and press releases, are the main sources of claims that we investigate. And we hope that the claims we check — whether we find them accurate, inaccurate or unsubstantiated — add interesting context to what can often otherwise be throwaway lines by the claimants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network\u2019s code of principles, we place non-partisanship and fairness, transparency and accuracy at the heart of what we do. In the context of Northern Ireland, impartiality means that we cover claims across the political spectrum, across all communities, without fear or favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From its inception, FactCheckNI has offered training in dealing with misinformation and disinformation, as well as developing fact-checking and critical thinking skills, in addition to our work of researching and publishing fact-checked claim articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve trained members of the public, worked with school groups, further and higher education institutions, community\/voluntary groups and public organisations, and partnered with BBC School Report for an event in Derry\/Londonderry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Off-the-shelf packages are available as well as bespoke training programmes for particular sectors. The material often includes an introduction to fact-checking and the FactCheckNI project; practical social media and fact-checking skills (including image verification); online critical thinking techniques; and a primer on free and open source fact-checking tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ResponseSource whitepaper<\/a> provides more information from the webinar participants and other related organisations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nImage: Shibuya Crossing<\/a> by F11photo<\/a> used by license Dreamstime.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Alan MEBAN for FactCheckNI (18 February 2020) False information can cost lives. Unintentional misinformation and deliberate disinformation being shared about the current coronavirus outbreak could cause unnecessary anxiety or could cause vulnerable people to drop their guard and expose themselves to a greater risk of infection. Research suggests that the spread of anti-vaccination conspiracies…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[144],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Fact checking and fast news - FactCheckNI<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n