For Fact's Sake

Misogyny has existed throughout history, but in recent years a newly-packaged form has taken hold online, promoted by influencers and online communities with thousands of young, male followers including in Scotland. The Ferret hosted a panel discussion to discuss the issues, chaired by equality campaigner and researcher  Talat Yaqoob , which we recorded for a special live For Fact's Sake podc...

There's only a week to go until the election, and things are hotting up! On this Election Cast, Ali and Paul delve into: The Scottish Labour manifesto Nigel Farage's promise to leave the World Economic Forum (spoiler: we aren't a member). Why Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile are being linked online Thanks everyone for listening! Credits: Written and presented by Ali Brian and Paul Dobson Produced by...

For this week's election cast, Ali and Paul are looking into the claims which are impacting the campaign over the last seven days. Did the Scottish Government underspend its EU funding? Are there more people arriving in the UK than ever? How are Scottish chickens being caught up in the culture war? The answers to these questions lie within. Credits: Written and presented by Ali Brian and Paul Dobs...

The For Fact's Sake Election Cast is here! It's our special weekly election podcast, looking at the misinformation, conspiracies and culture war flashpoints that are impacting the campaign. For the first episode, Ali and Paul are looking at why the SNP were accused of misinformation for a claim about North Sea jobs. We also tackle the conspiracy theories that have been connected to protests agains...

The election is upon us, and the For Fact's Sake podcast is back! Starting tomorrow, Ali and Paul will be hosting a weekly show until the election comes, covering fact checks, investigations and everything The Ferret is doing over the election period. We’ll be explaining the conspiracies and culture war wedge issues that are impacting the political conversation, and revealing who is using their mo...

It's the final episode of our three-part For Fact's Sake series on elections. This week, we are looking at the biggest vote taking place in this election year: India. Ali and Paul spoke to Jency Jacob, the managing editor of BOOM, a fact checking organisation based in India and also covering Myanmar and Bangladesh. He explained the difficulties of fact-checking in an election that covers a billion...

It's part two of our mini series on the election year. In this episode we spoke to Tori Marland, from Logically Facts, about the potential trends in disinformation that we will likely see in the election campaign in the UK. And in our new 'Truth Tracker' segment, we discuss what is really known about Kate Middleton amid the controversy around her health and whereabouts.

For Fact's Sake is back for a brand new series, kicking off with a special three-part look at the impact of misinformation on the upcoming elections this year. In the first episode, we spoke to Polly Curtis from think tank Demos about how AI could affect the general election, and democracy more widely. Demos has recently produced a report on the potential of AI to alter democracy. We also launched...

It's the final For Fact's Sake podcast of the year, and we're focusing on the conflict in Gaza, where among the thousands of civilian deaths, scores of journalists have been killed. We speak to Fiona O'Brien from Reporters Without Borders about why so many journalists have been part of the tragic human toll of the Israeli attack on Gaza, and whether journalists in the area are being targeted by th...

On for Fact's Sake this week we're taking a look back to some historical misinformation - Scotland's witch trials. Ali and Paul speak to Dr Zoe Venditozzi , a writer and teacher who presents the Witches of Scotland podcast. She campaigns for posthumous pardons for those prosecuted for witchcraft in Scotland. We spoke about Scotland's witch trials, how the persecution was led from the top, and the...

On this week's edition of the For Fact's Sake podcast, Ali and Paul talk to Dr Ian Cawood from the University of Stirling about the long history of political sleaze in the UK. Ian explains the parallels between corruption in the early 19th century and today, how the Covid-19 pandemic sharpened the focus on scandal, and whether there is a higher bar for politicians losing their jobs than before. El...

Populist leaders are gaining prominence across the globe, and Argentina is no different. Javier Milei, a self-described "anarcho-capitalist" who gained fame as a staple on Argentinian TV, is set to face-off against Peronist candidate Sergio Massa on November 19. He is an avowed admirer of Donald Trump, has been supported by Brazilian former president Jair Bolsonaro, and has used misinformation and...

On For Fact's Sake this week, we are looking at the role of fact-checking in the Israel-Gaza conflict. Ali spoke to Lucy Swinnen, who is an editor at Bellingcat, which is using publicly available videos, images and data to tackle some of the propaganda and disinformation swirling around since October's escalation. But with so many people online now using publicly available footage to attempt to de...

On episode 19 of For Fact’s Sake, Paul talked to freelance journalist Sian Norris about her work exposing disinformation around abortion and reproductive rights.  Sian explained the growing threat to abortion rights around the world, how anti-abortion rhetoric can act as a ‘gateway drug’ into far-right and conspiracy views, and the pipeline that carries fringe views about reproductive rights...

On this week’s edition of For Fact’s Sake, Ali and Paul talked to Daniel Jolley from the University of Nottingham about how experiencing workplace bullying can make people more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. Daniel explained what psychologists consider conspiracy beliefs, the psychological impacts of bullying that can make people more prone to them, and why conspiracy theories are damag...

On this week's podcast we are talking online scams. Things have moved on from the generous Nigerian Prince offering to share his fortune with you, now there are lots of different ways that scammers can separate you from your money. Ali spoke to Professor Oli Buckley, cyber security expert at the University of East Anglia, about the state of scams today, and how artificial intelligence is used by s...

An independent film released in the UK this week has taken the US box office by storm, but has run into controversy. Sound of Freedom is the story of anti-child trafficking campaigner Tim Ballard, who founded charity Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). But the credibility of the claims made by Ballard and the organisation he once led have been called into question, and troubling links have been...

As the World Cup reaches its climax, For Fact's Sake podcast looks at the abuse that some women footballers face online. We spoke to Dr Beth Fielding-Lloyd from Sheffield Hallam University, an expert on women's sport and its representations in media. She explained how abuse suffered by women footballers differs from men, how certain 'trigger' events can lead to misogynistic pile-ons, and why myths...

After our fact-checking series, Scotland and the Climate Crisis, came to an end, Ali and Paul spoke to climate systems expert Professor Gabi Hegerl from the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. She explained how the climate is already being impacted by human-caused climate change, and how we can tell that the current impacts on the world are directly attributable to gree...

This week, The Ferret has been separating fact from fiction around climate change in our series,  Scotland and the Climate Crisis . But false narratives are being pushed on social and more traditional media everyday, with hashtags like #ClimateScam being used on thousands of posts promoting climate denial and junk science. With the consequences of climate chage becoming more apparent, why is...

Images and videos of the unrest in France have dominated international news in recent weeks. But many of the claims shared on social media about the protest have been false and deliberately misleading. Ali and Paul spoke to Sam Doak, fact checker at Logically Facts, about how and why this disinformation is being spread by far-right activists in the UK. Elsewhere on the For Fact's Sake podcast, Ali...

Episode 11 of For Fact's Sake is all about how journalists and fact-checkers are often stifled by legal action. We spoke to Nik Williams from Index on Censorship (and The Ferret's co-chair) about strategic litigation against public participation, more commonly known as SLAPPs. A SLAPP is a legal threat that is often aimed at stopping an accurate piece of information from entering the public domain...

On this week's podcast, we take a look at social media platform Twitter and the impact of Elon Musk's controversial takeover. Ali and Paul talk to Vice disinformation reporter David Gilbert about how Musk's stewardship has led to increasing far right and anti-semitic presence on the platform, where Twitter's content moderation has failed, and whether Musk enables far right and conspiracy theories...

On episode 9 of the For Fact’s Sake podcast, Ali spoke to Sophie Maddocks, a researcher and digital rights advocate from the University of Pennsylvania, about the rise of so-called ‘deepfake’ pornography. Sophie explained the technology behind deepfake porn, how accessible it is, why politicians have not tackled the issue, and the harms caused by image based sexual abuse. Also on this week’s pod,...

Dieting and fitness advice is rife on social media, but listening to the wrong information can be devastating to people's health and wellbeing. Ali and Paul spoke to Kirsty Pavey from eating disorder charity Beat about the dangers of bad diet advice that can encourage disordered eating and affect people's mental health. Elsewhere in the podcast, we take on a claim by the home secretary Suella Brav...