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How fact briefs turn up the truth — and more in-depth stories [1]

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Date: 2024-04-29 16:00:00+00:00

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I’ve written more than 200 fact briefs for Wisconsin Watch since I began contributing in January 2023.

Searching for statements to fact-check in our 150-word briefs, we’ve discovered, can lead to in-depth stories.

I’ve focused a lot on what’s been said by, or about, members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation. My thinking is that those statements are more likely to be on topics that affect more people.

That approach has produced fact briefs on hot-button national issues such as immigration and inflation — as well as on how many voters would be influenced by who Taylor Swift endorses.

The most-read brief, posted in July, asked whether the federal debt increased by $7.8 trillion during Donald Trump’s presidency. (Yes.)

Our fact briefs aim to be a quick way to settle questions that can be answered yes or no. But the work also has proved to be a way to dive deeper into contentious issues.

It was a claim about a hyper-local issue — on whether a court overturned an election result in tiny Presque Isle, Wisconsin — that produced a longer article: “A Wisconsin redo election signals growing ballot scrutiny in US.”

Rather than write a fact-check, we set out to learn what happened in Presque Isle and whether there were any national implications. It turns out there were.

A Vilas County judge ordered a redo election for town chair in Presque Isle because of voting irregularities. It was one of at least four cases in 2023 in which courts around the U.S. ordered a redo.

What we heard from experts is something to keep in mind as the 2024 election season unfolds: After a recount in a close election, the losing candidate is less likely to concede and more likely to challenge the result in court — potentially delaying the final result for months.

We’ll keep plugging away at our fact briefs. If occasionally they lead to bigger stories, all the better.

If you see something we should fact-check, let us know. Please include a link.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

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Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles for free using the following ground rules. Credit should be given, in this format: “By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch”

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If we send you a request to change or remove Wisconsin Watch content from your site, you must agree to do so immediately. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles forusing the following ground rules. For questions regarding republishing rules please contact Jeff Bauer, digital editor and producer, at [email protected] How fact briefs turn up the truth — and more in-depth stories <h1>How fact briefs turn up the truth — and more in-depth stories</h1> by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch April 29, 2024 I’ve written more than <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/author/tkertscher/">200</a> fact briefs for Wisconsin Watch since I began contributing in January 2023. Searching for statements to fact-check in our 150-word briefs, we’ve discovered, can lead to in-depth stories. I’ve focused a lot on what’s been said by, or about, members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation. My thinking is that those statements are more likely to be on topics that affect more people. That approach has produced fact briefs on hot-button national issues such as <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/tag/immigration/">immigration</a> and <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/tag/inflation/">inflation</a> — as well as on how many voters would be influenced by who Taylor Swift <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/02/taylor-swift-elections-voters-candidate-poll-fact-brief/">endorses</a>. The most-read brief, posted in July, asked whether the federal debt increased by $7.8 trillion during Donald Trump’s presidency. (<a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2023/07/did-the-us-debt-increase-by-7-8-trillion-during-donald-trumps-presidency/">Yes</a>.) Our fact briefs aim to be a quick way to settle questions that can be answered yes or no. But the work also has proved to be a way to dive deeper into contentious issues. It was a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ted.libson/posts/pfbid0ztcH2aynUXvq95X6ooTjnLBBs4uJ4SrX7GgnpvmZ6HAYnm2WNRoh2Q6BFUaptqMZl">claim</a> about a hyper-local issue — on whether a court overturned an election result in tiny Presque Isle, Wisconsin — that produced a longer <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/01/wisconsin-election-presque-isle-ballot-voting-vilas-county/">article</a>: “A Wisconsin redo election signals growing ballot scrutiny in US.” Rather than write a fact-check, we set out to learn what happened in Presque Isle and whether there were any national implications. It turns out there were. A Vilas County judge ordered a redo election for town chair in Presque Isle because of voting irregularities. It was one of at least four cases in 2023 in which courts around the U.S. ordered a redo. What we heard from experts is something to keep in mind as the 2024 election season unfolds: After a recount in a close election, the losing candidate is less likely to concede and more likely to challenge the result in court — potentially delaying the final result for months. We’ll keep plugging away at our fact briefs. If occasionally they lead to bigger stories, all the better. If you see something we should fact-check, <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVFUneJksYgCOzAMMb9VPGkPBeIESynvUTNP3fFzYHSUqa9A/viewform">let us know</a>. Please include a link. This <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/04/wisconsin-watch-fact-brief-check-truth-election-stories/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://wisconsinwatch.org">Wisconsin Watch</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&quality=100&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1289756&ga4=G-D2S69Y9TDB" style="width:1px;height:1px;"> Copy to Clipboard

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