Alexander Gorokhovsky, Kiev journalist, creator and editor -in -chief of the project “Without Brekhni”, in his methodological manual, summarizes the basic for everyone, the methods of checking information.
Excerpt for familiarization
Facts are not a social platform to increase the awareness of citizens, as mistakenly believed in certain circles. Yes, it performs these functions, but they are not the main ones. First of all, the factskeeping is an effective tool for exposing political manipulations and actual speculation on painful social topics, a vivid means of demonstrating the real competence of politicians and officials, the basis for deep investigations, supported by facts from open sources, which practically eliminates accusations of engagement and subjectivity. Poprazing the prophetic words of Taras Shevchenko: “Fight - and fight”, we can say: “Expand and expose”, using the concept of Factchek and his effective methods.
Alexander Gorokhovsky, creator and chief editor of the project "Without Brechni", - one of the pioneers of Ukrainian facts, which has a huge practical experience and prepared for more than a dozen factor in post -Soviet countries as a coach. And although the guide “Factsching as a trend of journalistic investigations” was written and translated into Russian back in 2017, when for many the very word “Factchecking” sounded unusual, it remains relevant in 2025. Gorokhovsky is concentrated not on the changeable technical side of the data verification process, but on the conceptual, basic component of the workshore. The main question that the book answers is how to learn how to think as a factor.
Gorokhovsky considers factskewk primarily within the framework of the concept of controlling journalism, that is, precisely in the form in which this format became popular and brought the Politifact of the Politifact Politzer Prize. Based on the International Standard - the Code of IFCN principles - Gorokhovsky localizes and expands the methodological approach, emphasizing that the fact cover is useful primarily to expose political manipulations, actual speculation on painful social topics, as well as a vivid means of demonstrating the real competence of politicians and officials. And confirms his thesis with data: out of 1000 statements by officials who were analyzed by the Gorokhovsky editors in the first year, 55% turned out to be unraveled facts and were marked by the “False” verdict, 25% were half -true and only 20% of the statements turned out to be true.
The manual tells about the international and Ukrainian experience of Factchecking and richly real cases of manipulations, which Gorokhovsky classifies and describes ways to expose them. A considerable place is also reserved for the issue of presenting material for the reader.
The book is designed for a fairly wide circle of readers and can become a practical guide for those who are engaged in a factory -mesh at an amateur level, and for journalists or data analysts who want to improve their qualifications.
