Trust Index is Graham Media Group’s initiative to combat misinformation and provide viewers and readers fact-checked information to share with others.
Trust Index team goals include:
Recommended Videos
- Identifying manipulated or out-of-context user-generated content
- Detecting fake stories generated for revenue or political motives
- Exposing political ads served algorithmically with little oversight
- Supporting transparency in the newsroom
- Reinforcing journalistic ethics
- Counteracting misinformation with incisive reporting and social posts
- Encouraging people to contact trained fact-checking journalists when they’re confused about something they read or heard
The Trust Index team sets aside any agenda or biases and rely on primary source information, expert interviews and our previous reporting to evaluate claims. All sources are disclosed in a Trust Index story on our website. In order to maintain transparency and trust in our process, readers will be able to recreate fact checks with reported information.
Each Trust Index story receives one of three labels:
The designated label is assigned after a claim of information is reviewed through the Trust Index process established in our newsrooms.
Our Mission:
The Trust Index exists to fight misinformation. Working with viewers and readers, we strive to limit the spread of misinformation and base public discourse on facts and informed conclusions. We do this with transparency, showing our work and empowering our audiences to reach their own conclusions.
Our Process:
All Graham Media Group journalists are trained in fact-checking, and a select team of journalists is part of the Trust Index team, which periodically reviews and updates our processes, continues to train journalists to limit the spread of misinformation and bases public discourse on facts and informed conclusions.
- Identify the claim.
- Confirm that it is fact checkable: Is the claim fact or opinion?
- Consider any personal barriers and biases.
- Use primary sources to confirm or disprove a claim.
- Make preliminary conclusion and status (True, Not True, Be Careful).
- Have other members of the team not involved in the story check the work.
- Confirm that viewers and readers would be able to replicate the fact-checking process as is presented.
- Confirm conclusion and status.
- Broadcast and publish.
Corrections Policy
Major errors of fact are corrected and noted on stories that remain published. If the correction changes a Trust Index rating, we create a new story and, where appropriate, link to an archived version of the original story that was corrected. The new article notes the story has been corrected and updated.
Grammatical errors and typos that do not affect outcome are fixed as soon as they are brought to our attention.
Who is Graham Media Group?
Graham Media Group, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC), operates seven local media hubs – each in a top-70 market and all recognized as news leaders. KPRC-Houston, WDIV-Detroit, WSLS-Roanoke (NBC); KSAT-San Antonio (ABC); WKMG-Orlando (CBS); WJXT-Jacksonville (fully local); and WCWJ-Jacksonville (CW). www.grahammedia.com
How you can reach Trust Index?
You can email the Trust Index team at: trustindex@grahammedia.com.