How we fact-check accurately & without bias

An explainer on the process the entire 6 News team goes through to ensure our fact-checks are correct.

One of the most important things 6 News does is fact-check - whether that's politicians, the media, companies or even just random strangers on social media.

It's clear trust in the media - especially traditional mainstream media - has dropped amongst all sides of politics, and fact-checking sites have also faced some pushback over alleged funding & biases.

Here at 6 News, we're funded by YOU - just $4 a month on Patreon, giving you exclusive benefits & plenty more - that's cheaper than subscriptions to major newspapers & streaming services - and we're also an unbiased news outlet.

This is how our team fact-checks accurately & without bias:

Find the original source

On social media, false claims can be shared hundreds of times in the space of a minute - but often, they've originated long before.

Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest parts - when it comes to images & graphics it's not easy to find the original, and with so many social media sites it's a tough job.

If we do manage to find the original - or the earliest known source - we'll be show to include it in our report.

Be blunt

It's simple - when we see something that's false, misleading or missing context, we'll say that.

Misinformation is a massive problem & it needs to be called out - by us & by you.

If we're told by someone that they didn't make the original claim, we'll try to find the original - just like what we said above.

Link our sources

It's easy to tell someone "that's false" - but you've got to show evidence.

We'll do our best to use neutral sources & as many as possible, and include them in our articles.

Government sources will be used for certain stories, but their political views will be tossed aside.

Be precise

Fact-checking isn't just saying "this is true" and "this is false" - there's a lot more to it.

We'll make sure we're precise in our reports by labelling a claim as one of the following:

• True

• Mostly True

• Missing Context

• Mostly False

• False

• Unproven

• Satire/Humour

If we need to go more in-depth or use a different label, we'll do so, but those are those are the main ones - find out more about our rating system here.

Correct the record

Reporters are human - and sometimes we make mistakes.

As outlined in our editorial policies, we encourage you to DM us on social media or email contact@6newsau.com if you believe we've made a mistake or have further evidence to present to us.

Minor issues like typos, misspellings or grammatical mistakes will be corrected but not acknowledged.

Quotes included as part of the fact-checking process will remain as they were.

RELATED ARTICLE: How our fact-checking rating system works