The Facts about Fact Checking: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #2

We're off to fact-checking school. This time, John Green is teaching you how to fact-check like the pros. We're going to walk through the steps that professionals follow, including figuring out who is behind the information we read, why they're sharing that information, and what kind of evidence exists to back up the claim. We'll also talk about the difference between skepticism and cynicism.
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[@MatthewStinar]

"We need to make a habit of quickly checking out whatever…makes us emotional." This was my biggest takeaway.

[@andrewzaborowski3832]

@potato psoas Most of these types of topics are disproportionately emotional due to the very problem of many competing groups using questionable tactics in information. Yes, the issue is contentious and strikes at some concepts most people find emotionally significant, but there are plenty of similar topics that don't get the same blowback because fewer people are making a fight of it. How often do people get as upset over the use of torture as they do abortion? Yes, they are different issues, but torture also has very few publicly vocal proponents by comparison.

[@waerlogauk]

Remember, this applies to the things you agree with as much if not more than those you disagree with.

[@NicLizD12]

“Smirking MAGA hat boy” anyone?

[@pingukutepro]

It's almost impossible

[@michaelpisciarino5348]

0:08 Lots of things can happen on The Internet 0:47 Better Information 1:13 Team up with Media Wise. Fact Checking 1:38 Fact Checkers. What they do and how they do what they do. 2:20 Stanford Website Study: ACP vs AAP 3:51, *3 Fact-Checking Questions* 4:14 (1) Who is behind the information? 5:23 (2) What is the evidence for their claims? 6:43 (3) What do other sources say about this claim? 7:10 Applying the 3 questions to an example 8:57 Steve Real Data can better lead to Real Solutions. 9:49 It feels absurd. But you have to take things with grains of salt and sharp eyes. 10:28 Skepticism/Cynicism 11:20 Internal struggle with information/misinformation/emotion. 12:15 Make a habit of checking validity of claims 12:50 End credits

[@totallynotjeff7748]

Thanks for the useful guide! However I'm going to need to see your sources.

[@jeronimotamayolopera4834]

SET THE MARKETS FREE.

[@BIONICLECLAYPOKEMON]

Thank you!

[@pan_bacchanal]

++

[@jesusosegueda422]

up

[@SHUTAKADA]

Thank you for using my yoyo performance !

[@prod.eenigma]

Yoyos for the win

[@rusca8]

Wait ahahahaha this was awesomely unexpected

[@StevePlegge]

Hey, I'm a young Steve! 63 next week.

[@joryjones6808]

Steve Plegge you’re only 1 year and 3 months old?

[@StevePlegge]

@@joryjones6808?

[@joryjones6808]

Oh sorry my dyslexia I though you said you were 63 weeks old and thought you were making an ironic statement about how this statistic is impossible but still seems valid. But actually it is that you are a ‘young’ 63 which would seem old for someone who wasn’t already 101 years old. Guess John still needs to teach me to read everything twice.

[@Prakhar_Sri]

@@joryjones6808 hahahaha

[@greensteve9307]

I'm a young Steve! Just 35.

[@thomasr.jackson2940]

I don’t think fact checking a single tweet is excessive. For me, it depends on a) do I care about the information, and b) if I am going to take on the information as my own, i.e. am I going to give it to others, use it in my own conversations, etc.. If either of these are true, then I -should- (and often do) try and fact check. E.g. I probably won’t fact check a claim about soccer because, well, it is soccer. Don’t care and won’t bring it up.

[@slimshadyx9298]

Lmao soccer be like

[@Noonycurt]

This course is very interesting so far. The only problem is that the people who would benefit the most from watching it won't bother to watch it.

[@JoshuaHillerup]

This is pretty good for secondary sources, including researchers. Primary sources seem harder to verify though, because if there's no info about them that you can easily Google or find in sources you know about that doesn't necessarily mean you should dismiss them.

[@DaPenguin]

I don't like all this anti-Steve sentiment. Sincerely, Steve :)

[@jaiminbhatporia8769]

How old are you?

[@SteveHameister]

As a Steve in my 30's, I too oppose this scurrilous libel.

[@sjwimmel]

Completely off topic. But my mind is very briefly blown every time the cursor disappears *behind* the screen in the animation. (example: 9:43)

[@eniayoayoola1442]

Never noticed that. I agree, it's pretty cool!

[@BlackfeatherTanfur]

I didn't notice that, as that happens for me sometimes. But when several windows were closed with one window's close button, that jarred me.

[@smartereveryday]

You have an excellent face John.

[@IgorNaverniouk]

"Better information leads to better decision making, which leads to a better world." [citation needed]

[@aspiringice1871]

I’m JUST realizing you’re the same John Green that wrote The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns, two of my personal favorite pieces of contemporary fiction. I must’ve been living under a rock

[@DanieldeLima8]

Complaint and suggestion: Once I was trying to find a study mentioned in a Crash Course Psychology but I just coudn't find it. I suggest to include links to the articles, or at least name the sources. It would help us to dig deeper.

[@GrimmerPl]

Well, in this video they put them in CC. I hope they'll start linking sources in descriptions of their videos.

[@DanieldeLima8]

@@GrimmerPl Thanks! I wouldn't notice that by myself.

[@TheQuinch]

So, here's a question - while it's always a good idea to check what other sources think about the source you're investigating, search bubbles {tendency of search engines and news aggregators alike to give you content you're interested in and therefore likely to agree with} can bias that pool of secondary sources, essentially creating a poisoned, if sweet-tasting well. How does one defend against that?

[@Rithmy]

Use different search engines. Its the same es using different sources. (but tbh imo its enough to use a unbiased search engine yoiu can trust)

[@waerlogauk]

Google learns the results you like so can create your own personal biased search. Try referenceing that result against Duckduckgo for a second 'opinion '.

[@fisharepeopletoo9653]

Google different stuff. Check your wording as well. You gotta learn to play the algorithm. If I start getting swamped with liberal stuff, I go check out my more conservative hangout spots for awhile, and vice-versa. This helps keep the algorithm in check. Knowing that we get these echo chambers is all you really need to get out of them. Think you're stuck in an echo chamber? Try saying something different.

[@CamelDance]

Duckduckgo

[@mattlyons5515]

This is why I like the Brave internet browser. It blunts the efforts of sites to harvest information from you while you are online that will impact your search results.

[@Mystik3eb]

I am...so happy John is doing these. John and Hank are the most relaxed and willing to improvise of all the hosts, which is a huge part of what makes watching them so engaging and fun.

[@mattlyons5515]

Very good points about "what must be true because it seems to go along with what I already think" and "we can't check every single thing on our social media feed because we just don't have time."

[@SpookyGhostIsHere]

The world needs this... seriously. This should be taught everywhere, like on the internet or something! Good job guys! Keep it up!

[@janehates]

Maybe this is a little pedantic but I would like to point out that “reading is a good skill to have” isn’t a fact, it’s still an opinion. An almost unanimous opinion today, but it still makes a value judgment, which automatically makes it OPINION and not fact. A FACT would be something like “People who are literate are more likely to have XYZ positive outcome than people who aren’t.” This says something similar, but is falsifiable (which ALL facts need to be, can be demonstrated by hard objective data, and hopefully makes explicit the metric by which we judge reading to be a useful skill. The problem with John Green’s example is that it subtly and I’m sure unintentionally conflates consensus with factuality.

[@JosephDavies]

This kinda hits around something I was mildly disappointed was missed in the video. There's an implicit step 1.5 which I feel should be made explicit: "Identify the claim or claims being made". It sounds simple, but often can be a bit more complicated than it may seem at first glance. Even the example of Steve's tweet, as short as it is, would have worked to demonstrate this.

[@tuxino]

And his own example of an opinion statement was actually a factual statement.

[@blackassboy]

He said reading is a "useful" skill to have. Thats not an opinion.

[@Rithmy]

“People who are literate are more likely to have XYZ positive outcome than people who aren’t.” That is the definition of usefullness. (Ofcourse only if we assume that positve outcomes are usefull!) So yea it was a fact. But nice try. (this sounds kinda mocking but it rly is better to have someone doubt it and beeing wrong than trusting it and beeing wrong.

[@lppunto]

He was making no claim that reading is a useful skill to have. He called it a "factual claim," as in a statement with a defined truth value, not "fact." I agree that the claim was not a great example, since "useful" is not easily and universally defined, but it's not an opinion (and certainly not a value judgement - usefulness and value are distinct).

[@junesept234]

I love this episode. well presented. I kinda like you, John Green, because you now speak slower than before.

[@martijndekok]

"An old guy in his late 20s" and here I am considering anyone below 25 to not be a full adult yet.

[@ashtree144]

I always see John as young because he is so young at heart. I appreciate him.

[@josephrittenhouse5839]

I am surprised you didn't mention logical fallacies, or just logical structure or soundness of premises. That is what usually rips off my inner skeptic, although that would likely be a course in itself.

[@Tfin]

It's a series.

[@pgoeds7420]

In Alabama the Tuscaloosa.

[@jorgemarcos3771]

I don't know if a video on cognitive biases is coming, but I think it would be a wonderful addition to this series. It is very much in line with the concept of fact-checking claims you agree with just as much as those you disagree with.

[@retrograde889]

This video came out at a perfect time

[@sirnate9065]

well i think like 3-4 years ago would have been a more perfect time.

[@drzzsz1439]

Well done. This is actually how I was told to check sources back in school, nearly twenty years ago (though googling is so much easier nowadays!). Interested where this will go :)

[@f1guremeout]

Great series! This is exactly what an aging internet boom baby needs to survive out here in the social media wars. Thank you John!

[@joannemarkov]

Love this! As I sit here making guided notes and study questions for my 9th graders, I find myself wondering whatever happened to the. Crash Course curricular materials. Weren’t there PDFs for teachers and students for history a while back, with the promise of more to come? I’m sure those of us educators who use Crash Course regularly would love to collaborate on creating them, if you don’t have the budget for it.

[@RD-eg1df]

I'm totally gonna buy The Fault in Our Stars. I heard it makes your life better, clears your skin and improves your wardrobe. That is so awesome!

[@kRis-rn6so]

This is an excellent course. It gives me, an internet 3rd grader, insight and encouragement to travel safely on a highway that can be very dangerous. Thank you.

[@apersonlikeanyother6895]

That last bits about checking things we agree with and the difference between cynicism and skepticism are really important.

[@shannonmichel8673]

I am teaching current events this semester and will be showing this entire series with my students. This is great stuff! Thanks so much!

[@bana2s]

This series is great so far! Keep it up!

[@rbarnes4076]

Good video.. a couple of extra criteria: Even reputable news organizations are subject to subjectivity. If you are truly interested in accurate news, there are a few things you can do. 1) read multiple sources that have known different leanings and compare the FACTS in the stories vs. the conclusions. Too many stories present extra conclusions that may not be supported or are thinly supported by the facts. So the only way you can tell what is really going on is to look for multiple news stories and try to see all the facts rather than just those thought to be important by the specific journalist. I skim headlines for interest, and for something I'm interested in, I use google to look for stories from other news sources. 2) understand political hot button issues will create a huge noise factor that you must fight through. I'm learned to be very suspect of any information found online about things like Climate Change, Trump, Obama, Vaxxing, Gluten, dietary supplements, etc., etc., etc. This doesn't mean the truth doesn't exist, but it does mean there are a lot of people that are very motivated to make their points absent real proof. So using google to figure out facts first can really help discriminate between those that are making good arguments, vs. conspiracy type sources that use theories only to support their arguments. 3) understand your own assumptions and theories. If you are truly being fair, you have to understand what you don't know, what you don't understand, and where your thinking is based on theories rather than facts. Most of these theories probably came from something you read, but I've found some people make up their own theories that fit how they think. This will keep you from accepting sources that agree with you, but aren't supported by real facts. You've probably heard the term 'confirmation bias'... what I'm talking about is what leads to that. If you don't know what in your thinking is based on real facts vs. just theories, then you don't really know if your conclusions are accurate. We must all every day use these types of assumptions just to get through life.. but at the same time they are blind spots that can lead to further error. Whenever I'm reading any story where I'm unsure of the truth, I try to start with what I know to be facts, and then verify the stuff I might tend to agree with, but should be supported by real evidence.

[@emeraldshine9873]

I'm applying this to everything I can now. I knew about these points already, however it's always great to have another reminder, and to have it all summed up. Thank you so much!

[@circusmonkey28]

This show is a new entry to my favorite series list!

[@coda3223]

Do "trusted news organizations" even exist anymore?

[@bsabruzzo]

I can't wait for the episode on "dog whistles" and if they are real or if the person who claims their opponent uses them is the one who is imagining things.

[@ShankarSivarajan]

From the Washington Post today: "FACT CHECK: At two inches each, a thousand burgers would not reach one mile high."

[@alexbolster7765]

Doing the Lord's work BLESS

[@francaellerman2276]

2:02 "I just don't think I like my face" When it's painfully true

[@khandarwilliam5439]

Is there some kind of study notes for each kind of lectures? Written notes would be very useful for going back to recall the lessons

[@estrellacasias]

I'm so glad this video came out before work in an hour cause I can watch it the day it came out this was a crash course that us absolutely a necessity and I really appreciate that yall made it

[@TheChemicalMuffin]

As a public librarian this series makes me very happy!

[@barbarahorn6051]

f greene i really appreciate the work you’ve done over the years and i’m happy to know your still on the air

[@rhyswells8725]

good idea for a series , actually it is needed now the most

[@hannahscottp4389]

Happy birthday!! It's the 24th, Green!

[@Vezitos]

Steve may not have gotten the numbers right, but I love my metal straw and support his cause!!

[@Rithmy]

I dont use straws at all and support that even more.

[@1991zaw]

After about a year of watching crash course I have finally caught up and seen all for your videos!!! 😁

[@shelbot]

I really like this series, and I feel like what I’ve learned has already made me more mindful of how I consume information.

[@SirlonMata]

Very good serie! I wonder if this kind of information could/should be teached in a science class....

[@RuviGaPo]

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!!👏👏👏 I feel this very strongly. Especially the criticism/synicism dynamic. You explained that way better than i tried to XD

[@stedwards311]

9:18 Back in '02, when I was in 8th grade, I was one of 5 Steves in my algebra class, and the teacher would call for answers to the homework equations from "Steve" and expect to get 5 of the same answer (she often didn't). When I was in 3rd grade, in a different school system, I was in a class with not only another Steve, but one who shared my exact initials as well. I have never been the only Steve in my peer group. I received graded assignments in other Steves' handwriting, and then had to track down the other Steve and swap papers, for pretty much my whole academic career. Is my name now as lost as Generation Y, the generation with which I most identify?

[@pgoeds7420]

Did you also rob Christopher Plummer's bank?

[@meganpennington343]

How do I teach my mother to be better at using the internet ( actually reading the news she shares, deciding if a site is trustworthy, etc) so that she can teach her class how to be better internet users?

[@marco.nascimento]

An awesome start for the series!!

[@livertiahaywood9917]

This old lady in her 30's love your videos. Thanks. Enjoy your day.

[@hargeongreen435]

Two sentences I like to keep in mind when trying to fact check are: 'What does this organization/person stand to gain from doing/informing people/me of this?' and 'History is written by the winners.'

[@Lucindaperson]

I recently read The Fault In Our Stars, I loved it, and it did clear up my skin and improve my wardrobe. I give it five turtles.

[@redflags6583]

This needs more shock pens. Othen than that, the series is pretty good. Pretty pretty prettyyyyy good.

[@CoffeeandNuance]

Fact checking is not always what it seems. I've made a video series on my channel that examines fact checkers and their bias. Snopes, FactCheck, and others do not always follow the methods described by John. I post these videos on Fact Check Friday. Cheers.

[@CNaz-rq6kc]

I'm but a poor student, so I am conflicted and saddened not able to support this beautiful, intellectual, and interesting channel on Patreon. I especially love this recent content~ I promise when I have enough wiggle room on my savings, I will join the Patreon of this channel. 🤓

[@wesleykriz148]

The whole claim-evidence framework is so important to master

[@philipptrevisan8473]

I like how you are talking slowlier than usually and how you give more time between the sentences to think about those. But I still have to skip back a lot to comprehend everything.✌

[@phasingout]

I really enjoy fact checking. It feels like a puzzle. And i dont bother sharing my finds, people will believe what they want. Which brings me to the hardest part of fact checking, asking yourself if youre being bias in your fact checking. Its difficult to understand something properly if your interpretations are off.

[@marianalgara6162]

I love your videos. But I can not share them, because of the lack of subtitules in spanish. Will you considered adding them?

[@jnb22019]

Just shared this video on my Facebook without fact checking it first.

[@maccracksbak1155]

That moment when you realize that this guy wrote "A Fault in Our s Stars."

[@ScareSans]

Hm, yes, A Fault in Our s Stars.

[@jiangciyang3860]

john green is secretly a communist because 'oUr sTars'

[@sonohrina2012]

I automatically knew which one to trust more just by the name the word college doesn’t have much value in its title

[@2LazySnake]

Would like to know how to insert this fact-checking habit into my life. Also, great video, thank you very much.

[@camiloiribarren1450]

Hey! It’s important to check our facts and make sure that everything is correct. Thanks, John

[@andenp8233]

What I am curious about is the amplification of lacunae through lack of representation in search engines. The internet and search engines are not objective fact gatherers either, and as was said earlier in the show, not everyone is participating on the internet, which makes me wonder how to learn about things that aren't easily found by my search engine (if at all). Do you have any tips for how to balance the fact that not everything that is true or real is on Google and the very real difficulty of trying to navigate the internet without depending on search engines?

[@jasminnyack1724]

I never realized how old I am, at 29, but John Green told me so it must be true.

[@user-ut9vt8gq9s]

again, i love this series, but at the end of the video the music should be lower (at 13:03)

[@meehleibfamily3070]

You may not like your face ... but your voice, your humor, what you say and how you say it ... Top Notch! John, please do more crash course and anthropecene review podcast. Please please please???

[@dmknight08]

I can’t believe anyone needs a tutorial for this. But I’m glad someone is trying to fix all the ignorance!

[@PhysicsGuy1000]

*There should be more than 150,000 views for this.*

[@viralengine908]

I don't know much about this steelseller002 but I like his initiative.

[@rexdaneal6497]

Question- when is Crash Course Lit S6 airing, and will AART be included?

[@GermanConquistador08]

"My kids doctor is a member" - That's a rather important interest you have in defending the group then Mr. Green. Whether it affects the reliability of your video, might require some more research :) Joking aside, I hope you do a video in this series about Corporate media. You showed news publications like the Washington Post and others, but those Corporations and the Journalists they employ have interests which need to be examined just as thoroughly as we examine individuals. Really been enjoying this series so far :)

[@mustardsfire22]

The subtle meme inserted in the script got me.

[@aniamirza]

Isn't the factual claim they shared actually an opinion claim? (And vice versa)? 5:38

[@rdvqc]

I am not sure how it applies in the US but in Canada the expression "Clinically Proven" is often used in ads and other forms to imply proven efficacy. It really means nothing beyond "we have some folks some samples and they say it helped". The other "red herring" comes with the statement "This is Mediknowledge for " which implies reliable facts. Mediknowledge (not the real name but close) is actually a drug marketing firm being paid by the manufacturers.

[@madelinefieldshalva3121]

You can be cynical and everyone can still be out to get you. I just like this quote.

[@Tfin]

"In the past 25 years?" Either graph it, or stick to this year. I don't even know if UMFC existed a year ago, which means the source may have needed to inflate your team's stats massively to create the illusion that you're wrong. Since this is hypothetical, I can't actually check those stats.

[@Peaceluvr18]

I wish you had done a more detailed example with the ACP and AAP -- e.g. looked at where the information was coming from and shown that the ACP was not as reputable

[@darkphilosopher8726]

I really appreciate this series.

[@OsirisMalkovich]

Got that Flight of the Conchords reference in there. Hmph. Steve.

[@grndragon7777777]

Omg is John Green back on CC? We have missed you.

[@JaneMarieGray]

May I ask How You edit your videos? What software do you use?

[@KriLL325783]

A big problem with finding corroborating evidence today though is that dubious sources are pretty easy to find, while good ones like academia are really difficult if not impossible to find on google.

[@harrison6082]

4:04 - #3 generally makes sense unless big entities have a financial interest in discrediting that info.

[@renatanovato9460]

On one hand it's better nowadays that it is easier to check, and that there is not one source of information. Before the internet we took al this for granted as we blindly trusted the very few sources of information. On the other hand, we couldn't share information with so many people and so fast as now.

[@Rithmy]

Not everyone blindly trusted the sources... There are many people who did travel alot. Also there are librarys who did provide different sources just like internet search engines. Thats why reading is usefull.

[@nebulon82]

This is a great video in a massively useful series from an organisation I have enormous respect for. Well done for that. Can't help but wonder about two things though. John mentions in the video that proper fact checking is an enormous amount of work, even for something as simple as a tweet. No one could possibly function if they thoroughly fact-checked every piece of information they came across, they'd just never get anything done. At some point, you have to delegate trust to someone. In the old media system this responsibility largely fell to editors and publishers, some of whom very much abused their role, but by and large they managed to keep the lid on most of the crazy. In the current environment I fear that the best most of us can do is rely on broad rules of thumb. The second point is a little more worrying. The organisations (mostly profit driven) that currently deliver information to us don't seem to be taking any responsibility for the content they are making available. Barring some take downs of obviously irresponsible posts, you're pretty much free to be as racist or anti-vax as you like online. So after saturating the public sphere with (often lousy) information, these same companies are now advocating that we all need greater media literacy. I'm not saying that greater media literacy is a bad thing, just its a bit rich that companies like Google (who paid for this video) are now suggesting the problem is with the consumers, not the content they're serving up. They broke it and now they're telling us the onus is on us (including your racist technophobic gran) to fix it.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Not sure that was the best example of fact/opinion. That reading is useful is an opinion statement - utility is a question of value and therefore opinion. That reading is required for many job opportunities in modern society is a fact - whether that’s useful or not is secondary, the statement is either right or wrong. That reading is used to eat apples is a statement of fact (one that is wrong, but it is still not an opinion).

[@hamsterbobo1234]

Oof, frame of black at 12:49. And the focus issue hurts my eyes. This is series is tremendously important right now though, so please keep it up

[@Lorethals]

Is the cadance of John's speech intentional choice or something?

[@ArturoStojanoff]

How do you decide what sources are reputable and trustworthy?

[@theraptor6973]

Good to have back John Green;)

[@bmin78]

Now I'm actually curious about the penalty kick record

[@Nerdcoresteve1]

My name is Steve and I'm 43. Is Steve an old person name now? Do I have the modern name equivalent to Ethel or Eustace?

[@zakleclaire1858]

"An old guy in his late 20's" As a 25 year old, I felt that on a spiritual level

[@rafaeltorovip]

Awesome video 👍👍👍 thanks.