Libération is one of the most popular daily newspapers in France, and the first to introduce a service dedicated to fact-checking in a newsroom.For the 2017 presidential election in France, Libération asked us to provide a digital campaign to reclaim the importance of fact-checked-based journalism. The purpose being to counter the proliferation of fake news on the internet in the run up to the French election, when the French were faced with a choice between a liberal and a populist. We decided to create checknews.fr: a new kind of search engine not powered by algorithms but by humans. From the second debate of the French presidential election up until the last day before the vote, French people could ask questions on checknews.fr and journalists investigated their queries before coming back to them a few hours later with answers backed up by real, not alternative, facts.Making checknews.fr probably the slowest search engine on earth. But also the most reliable.
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In a world of fake news, who can you trust? Checknews.fr was a new kind of search engine powered not by algorithms, but by humans. Journalists at the newspaper Libération, to be exact. During the French presidential election, people could ask questions on checknews.fr and journalists investigated their queries before coming back with answers backed up by real, not alternative, facts. Making checknews.fr probably the slowest search engine on earth. But also the most reliable. This alternative to conventional search engines deployed real journalists from Libération to answer queries from the public about the French elections. The results took a while to come through, but they were supported by real and not "alternative" facts. Suggesting that traditional news media are still the most trustworthy sources of information. When it comes to news, quality is better than quantity. That’s the idea behind The Right Search, the slowest search engine on earth. When the 2017 French presidential election campaign became engulfed in “fake news,” the daily paper, Liberation, decided that enough was enough. Classic search engines provide more than 4 million results in a fraction of a second…but how much is reliable? Instead, Liberation powered its search engine with real journalists who researched queries and sent back real facts a few hours later. When the 2017 French presidential election campaign became engulfed in “fake news,” the daily paper, Liberation, decided that enough was enough. Classic search engines turn out more than 4 million results in a fraction of a second…but are they reliable? Instead, Liberation powered The Right Search, the slowest search engine on earth, with real journalists who researched queries and sent back real facts a few hours later.
