Oh my! The headline in The Guardian reads:
BBC sets up team to debunk fake news
And The Guardian goes on to say:
The BBC is to assemble a team to fact check and debunk deliberately misleading and false stories masquerading as real news.
Amid growing concern among politicians and news organisations about the impact of false information online, news chief James Harding told staff on Thursday that the BBC would be “weighing in on the battle over lies, distortions and exaggerations”.
The plans will see the corporation’s Reality Check series become permanent, backed by a dedicated team targeting false stories or facts being shared widely on social media.
“The BBC can’t edit the internet, but we won’t stand aside either,” Harding said. “We will fact check the most popular outliers on Facebook, Instagram and other social media.
Astonishingly, this isn't fake news. I've not made it up. That's a genuine report in the Guardian and the BBC really are going to expand their Reality Check team to monitor social media and debunk 'fake news' stories.
A couple of tweets from the Spectator's Ed West reflect my take on this:
The BBC has already failed to keep its Reality Check coverage impartial and, as Ed West says, this will surely make impartiality even harder to maintain. And if any media organisation can be accused of regular bias by omission it's the BBC.
The BBC's Reality Check output will have to be monitored even more closely from now on.
