Fact checking is the process of verifying all information that is happening in the public both offline and online. By doing fact checking you will be able to know if the information is fake or true.

The ‘5 W’ technique is the best way to use when verifying any information before sharing it to your media channel. These compose basic questions that you have to ask yourself about the information that you see online or offline.

Ask yourself the following questions

1. What?

During the process of fact checking the information that you are passing through, you must ask yourself what is the information all about. Paying attention to the information will give you more space to check key issues which will make you interested to know more about the piece of information.

2. Who?

By asking a ‘who' question will help you to identify the source of the information that you are reading or watching it. This question gives you insight to know if the source is credible or not. The more you keep asking questions, the more you will likely get the facts.

3. Where?

Knowing the channel where the information has been published will help you to track where the source of the information is which you might also want to share to other social media. Therefore, before sharing you have to verify where it came from. 

4.Why?

You have to fact check the purpose or intention of the information, you have to ask yourself why is the disinformation published and what is the intention of it. These important questions will continue to help you to understand the content that has been produced.

5. When?

You have to understand the time and day and year that the content or the piece of disinformation was published. Tracking the time is basic when you do fact checking because sometimes people tend to reuse the content from the past or create a new content and spread it.