International Fact-Checking Day Set for April 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 30, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Fact-Checking Network at The Poynter Institute, in partnership with fact-checking organizations around the world, is coordinating International Fact-Checking Day, a global initiative to be held on April 2.

International Fact-Checking Day (http://factcheckingday.com/) is an effort to enlist people around the world in the fact-checking effort at a time of heightened concern about misinformation, especially online. Activities and teaching events will occur throughout the week.

"Since its launch in 2015, IFCN has been at the forefront of promoting excellence in fact-checking as a powerful tool of accountability journalism," said Poynter President Tim Franklin. "International Fact-Checking Day puts more tools in the hands of more people around the world to elevate transparency in government, politics and media."

"International Fact-Checking Day is not a single event but a rallying cry for more facts -- and fact-checking -- in politics, journalism and everyday life," said Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the International Fact-Checking Network at The Poynter Institute.

The website includes a lesson plan for teachers, available in more than 10 languages; a series of "how-to" posts from experts in verification and fact-checking; and a fake news trivia quiz. Follow along at #FactCheckIt on Twitter.

On or around April 2, events from Johannesburg to London, Denver and Istanbul will promote the importance of fact-checking to a global audience. The International Fact-Checking Day website includes a map of these activities around the world.

Partners of International Fact-Checking Day include the American Press Institute, Factcheckers, Chequeado, Google News Lab and PolitiFact.

About the International Fact-Checking Network
The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is a forum for fact-checkers worldwide hosted by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. These organizations fact-check statements by public figures, major institutions and other widely circulated claims of interest to society. Its code of principles is being used by Facebook as a minimum condition for being accepted as a third-party fact-checker on the social network. Poynter's IFCN has received funding from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Duke Reporters' Lab, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Omidyar Network, the Open Society Foundations and the Park Foundation.

About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a global leader in journalism education and a strategy center that stands for uncompromising excellence in journalism, media and 21st century public discourse. Poynter faculty teach seminars and workshops at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and at conferences and organizational sites around the world. Its e-learning division, News University, www.newsu.org, offers the world's largest online journalism curriculum in 7 languages, with more than 400 interactive courses and 330,000 registered users in more than 200 countries. The Institute's website, www.poynter.org, produces 24-hour coverage of news about media, ethics, technology, the business of news and the trends that currently define and redefine journalism news reporting. The world's top journalists and media innovators come to Poynter to learn and teach new generations of reporters, storytellers, media inventors, designers, visual journalists, documentarians and broadcast producers, and to build public awareness about journalism, media, the First Amendment and protected discourse that serves democracy and the public good.

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