Aaron Sharockman is the executive director of PolitiFact. Aaron oversees PolitiFact’s operations, development and revenue, assists in our journalistic mission, manages our state partnerships and lead efforts to develop new products for PolitiFact users. He also helps coordinate some of our special products, including our debate coverage and our media appearances. Aaron has been with PolitiFact since 2010 and served most recently as the editor of PunditFact, a website dedicated to checking claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers and the hosts and guests of talk shows. He also has served as a government and politics reporter for the Tampa Bay Times since 2003. He is a graduate of Indiana University. Facebook and fact-checkers are fighting back against the spread of online hoaxes. But it won't solve everything. Aaron Sharockman, the executive director of PolitiFact, the largest fact-checking organization in the United States, takes you behind the scenes of life on the front lines in the battle against fake news, and explains what governments could be doing to help.

1. AARON SHAROCKMAN
@ASHAROCK
POLITIFACT.COM
BUCHAREST, 4 MAY
FOR FACTS'
SAKE

2. AARON
SHAROCKMAN
Executive Director, PolitiFact
Political journalist, covered Florida
and national politics for the Tampa
Bay Times. Joined PolitiFact in
2010.
Spent an hour on the phone with
Marco Rubio debating taxes. (We
haven't talked since.)
Let's talk about fact-checking
methodologies or PolitiFact's
work.

3. POLITIFACT:
10 YEARS,
15,000 FACT-
CHECKS
First website to win the
Pulitzer prize.
Partnerships in 14
states, fact-checking
local politicians. 10
journalists.
115 million page views
in 2016. 80 million
page views in 2017.

4. POLITIFACT:
10 YEARS,
15,000 FACT-
CHECKS
11 full time employees.
Truth-O-Meter
measures claims on a
six point scale.
$1.5 million USD
budget in 2018.

5. CHAPTER 1
WE'RE FUCKED*

7. "EVEN THE SO-CALLED FACT
CHECKERS, WHO ARE CROOKED AS
HELL THEMSELVES, THEY'LL CHECK
FACTS WITH ME, AND I'LL BE LIKE
99 PERCENT RIGHT, AND THEY'LL
SAY THEREFORE HE LIED! THESE
PEOPLE ARE BAD….WHAT A
GROUP OF DISHONEST SCUM WE
HAVE, I'M TELLING YOU."
DONALD TRUMP

8. CREATING DISTRUST
In 2017, President Trump invoked the phrase "fake
news" on more than 400 separate occasions. Virtually
every instance has been in response to critical news
coverage.

11. CHAPTER 2
*

12. 1.MakesyousmarterNyhan,Reifler2014
F O U R T R U T H S
A B O U T F A C T
C H E C K I N G
AssociatedPress

13. 2.Scares politiciansNyhan,Reifler2013
F O U R T R U T H S
A B O U T F A C T
C H E C K I N G
AssociatedPress

14. 3.Thebackfireeffect,
backfired Wood,Porter2016
F O U R T R U T H S
A B O U T F A C T
C H E C K I N G
AssociatedPress

15. 4.WeneedmoreofitMe,justnow
F O U R T R U T H S
A B O U T F A C T
C H E C K I N G
AssociatedPress

16. CHAPTER 3
HOW WE CAN SKIP CHAPTER 1

17. REACH OUT

19. EXPERIMENT

20. VALUE

21. $250
Reporting and writing a fact-check.
10 hours on average at $25 an hour.
MEASURE COSTS OF
EVERYTHING YOU
PRODUCE
$52
Editing a fact-check. 1.5 hours at $35
an hour.
$30
IT costs, legal costs, overhead,
administration. 12 percent.
$332 1 fact-check

22. KNOW THE
COST
Once you know the cost of
your work, you know the
potential value to others.
You can charge, or give your content away,
but keep a balance sheet to see the cost and
the value.

23. HAVE FUN, BE FUN

24. WE CAN BE SERIOUS
WITHOUT TAKING OURSELVES
TOO SERIOUSLY

25. PEOPLE HATE KNOW-IT-ALLS

26. KNOW-IT-ALLS ACTUALLY
DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING

27. L E T ' S K E E P
T A L K I N G
Aaron Sharockman
asharockman@politifact.com
@asharock