Tim Harford: evaluation

Transcript context

…Fact-checking — overrated or underrated? I think misunderstood. Good fact checkers understand the limits of what they do. If we take an example from the referendum, there was a tremendous effort to fact-check a particular lie on this bus. The leave campaign had lied about how much the UK could gain from leaving the EU. And in constantly trying to rebut that lie, the entire conversation about the referendum was derailed. A good fact checker knows their limits. You pick up the lie or the untruth, whatever. You correct it, you set the record straight, you show evidence of your working, you provide people with links to find out more, and then you move on. The problem is that we often don’t move on. And now, we see lies that are designed to be caught out. Previously, politicians would lie and hope that no one called them on it. Now, they will lie, and the whole point is to be called on it because you want to have an argument about that rather than arguments about something else. Fact checkers can try to avoid those pitfalls but it’s just intrinsic to the profession. There’s a limit to what you can do. What’s the best Brian Eno album?…

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