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FactCheck.org

FactCheck.org

FactCheck.org is an American non-profit “fact-checking” project based at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. It has been described as "the granddaddy" of fact-checkers.[1] It is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)'s CoronaVirusFacts Alliance.[2]

History

In 2003, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, recruited Brooks Jackson to found FactCheck.org. The website launched by the end of the year, in the early stages of the 2004 United States presidential election cycle.[1:1]

Organization

FactCheck.org is listed in the Countering Disinformation Guide's “Database of Informational Interventions”.[3] It has collaborated with the Duke Reporters' Lab.[4]

Personnel

FactCheck.org's leadership and staff are listed on its website.[5]

Name Position Notes
Kathleen Hall Jamieson Co-Founder[6] PopShift, Center for Public Integrity
Brooks Jackson Co-Founder and Director Emeritus[1:2] Annenberg Public Policy Center, CNN, Associated Press (AP), Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
Lori Robertson Director American Journalism Review, Journalism Center on Children & Families
Eugene Kiely Former Director USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Record
Robert Farley Deputy Director St. Petersburg Times, PolitiFact, Harrisburg Patriot-News, The Intelligencer, Ambler Gazette
Jessica McDonald Science Editor Science Friday, SciShow
D'Angelo Gore Staff Writer Annenberg Public Policy Center, Philadelphia Daily News, Washington Informer
Saranac Hale Spencer Staff Writer -
Catalina Jaramillo Staff Writer Fulbright Program, WHYY, El Diario La Prensa, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism
Kate Yandell Staff Writer OBR Oncology, Patient Power, Cancer Today
Josh Diehl Social Media Manager Delaware Public Media (DPM)
Aous Abbas Website Developer (2006-2017) Annenberg Public Policy Center, Richard J. Fox School of Business and Management
Justin Bank Staff Writer (2005-2010) New York Post, Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), Washington Post
Matthew Barge Researcher (March-November 2005) National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Clark for President
Jennifer Ernst Staff Writer (2004-2005) Chuck Hagel, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), NGO Voice, Colorado General Assembly
James Ficaro Researcher (2005-2006) George Mason University
Angelo Fichera Staff Writer (2018-2021) Philadelphia Inquirer
Ben Finley Staff Writer (2012-2013) Bucks County Courier Times, Knight Ridder, Washington Center for Politics and Journalism
Jess Henig Staff Writer (2007-2011) National Academies Press (NAP), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Grist
Brea Jones Staff Writer (2021-2023) National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Facebook Journalism Project
Emi Kolawole Staff Writer (2005-2009) Congressional Quarterly (CQ), Now with Bill Moyers
Dave Levitan Science Writer (January-November 2015) Scientific American, Yale Environment 360, Grist
Jen McCleary Graphics Designer (2006-2013) Annenberg Public Policy Center
Joe Miller Staff Writer (2007-2009) Mack Crounse Group, United States Military Academy, University of North Carolina at Pembrooke, Callaghan Centre for Conflict Studies
Viveca Novak Deputy Director (2006-2011) Robert Lenhard, OpenSecrets, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
Rem Reider Senior Writer/Editor-at-Large (February-November 2020) USA Today, American Journalism Review, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Milwaukee Journal, States News Service, Trenton Times, Philadelphia Bulletin, Philadelphia Inquirer, Widener University, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Vanessa Schipani Science Writer (2016-2018) American Scholar, The Scientist, EuroScientist, BioScience

Funding

Prior to 2010, the website was funded by the Annenberg Foundation, Annenberg Public Policy Center and Flora Family Foundation.[7] In April 2010, donations from the public started being solicited. In 2015, Inside Philanthropy praised the website's disclosure policy for “exemplifying nonprofit transparency.”

Facebook and Google have both funded FactCheck.org. Facebook “provides funding as part of Facebook’s initiative to debunk viral deceptions” while Google “provided a one-time grant to support [FactCheck.org's] COVID-19 coverage in 2020.”

Donations are managed for the website by the University of Pennsylvania.

Additional funding comes from:[8]

  • Annenberg Foundation
  • Bessie Rattner Foundation
  • Blue Bell Foundation
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York
  • David Spector
  • Donald McGee
  • Facebook
  • First Dollar Foundation
  • George Zimmerman
  • Google
  • Google News Initiative
  • Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
  • Johnson and Louise H. Clark Charitable Foundation
  • LKM Charitable Fund
  • Meta Platforms
  • Mo and Cher Willems Foundation
  • National Association of Black Journalists
  • National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Newman's Own Foundation
  • Pechet Foundation
  • Pew Charitable Trusts
  • Philadelphia Foundation
  • Richard Heller
  • Robert Steinberg
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • Schwab Charitable Fund
  • Seattle Foundation
  • Silicon Valley Community Foundation
  • Stanton Foundation
  • Sweetland of Freedom Foundation
  • Vanguard Charitable
  • Warner-Murchie-Farquhar Family Fund
  • YouTube

  1. Lucas, B. J. (2017, March 10). Dishonest Fact-Checkers. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/dishonest-fact-checkers/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. CoronaVirusFacts Alliance. Poynter. Retrieved September 30, 2021, from http://archive.today/2021.09.30-202800/https://www.poynter.org/coronavirusfactsalliance/ ↩︎

  3. Database of Informational Interventions. Countering Disinformation. Retrieved December 8, 2024, from https://counteringdisinformation.org/interventions ↩︎

  4. About the Lab. Duke Reporters’ Lab. Retrieved January 24, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20240124211906/https://reporterslab.org/about-the-lab/ ↩︎

  5. Our Staff. FactCheck.org. Retrieved June 30, 2025, from http://archive.today/2025.06.30-192742/https://www.factcheck.org/our-staff/ ↩︎

  6. EXPERTS_Disinformation. PopShift (by Pathos Labs). Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230311002242/https://popshift.org/experts_disinformation/ ↩︎

  7. Our Funding. FactCheck.org. Retrieved January 28, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230128094729/https://www.factcheck.org/our-funding/ ↩︎

  8. Our Funding. FactCheck.org. Retrieved July 16, 2025, from https://web.archive.org/web/20250716223400/https://www.factcheck.org/our-funding/ ↩︎