Fact-Checking Reporter, PolitiFact
PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning politics fact-checking organization, is looking for an energetic fact-checking reporter to help us debunk online misinformation and viral hoaxes.
We’re looking for a reporter who can attack fast-spreading viral claims with tenacity, speed and grit. You will debunk doctored videos and photos, fact-check political claims, and squash conspiracy theories and hoaxes. Typical topics include elections, immigration, climate change, vaccines and the economy. You’ll need to hustle to beat the internet, reaching out to sources, conducting research, and writing with verve and style on a daily deadline.
The primary platform you’ll monitor is Facebook. PolitiFact has a partnership with Facebook that provides us with key insights into false claims that are likely to go viral. There’s plenty to fact-check and never a shortage of story ideas. The expectation will be one fact-check per day and sometimes two.
Candidates must embrace PolitiFact’s core values of accuracy, independence, transparency and fairness. (Read PolitiFact’s “The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter” for more details.) Experience with a news organization that’s a signatory to the International Fact-checking Network is a plus, especially if you have direct experience with Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program (3PFC).
PolitiFact is part of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which aims to create best practices to guide quality journalism around the world. That goal is best served by a multi-generational staff who embody a range of life experiences and viewpoints. Candidates of all cultures and backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
PolitiFact has offices in both St. Petersburg, Florida, and Washington, D.C. We prefer candidates in those locations, but remote work is a possibility. The salary range is between $45,000 and $65,000, based on criteria that include work experience and job location. This is a full-time position that includes a standard benefits package, access to Poynter training and a 2-week winter break.
Please send three reporting/writing samples and a letter explaining why you’d be a good fit to managing editor Katie Sanders at hiring14@poynter.org. We will begin considering candidates as soon as applications are received.
EOE
No phone calls, please.