Original F-117A explanatory reporting guide. It does not rate any real person's statements. Primary-source websites listed below are research starting points; no fictional claim is presented as a finding.
Fact-checking starts before the first chart. The first job is to preserve what was said, by whom, when, and in which context. A provocative phrase can contain several separate assertions, and some assertions cannot be evaluated with data at all.
01 Preserve the complete statement
A clipped video, an image of a post, or a paraphrased headline is not the same object as the original statement. The author, exact language, time, surrounding discussion, and stable source link need independent attention. If we cannot establish that a person said something, we do not publish it as their quotation.
A deleted post can still be reported when reliable archived evidence establishes its provenance. Its deletion is not proof that the underlying claim was false or that the speaker intended to mislead.
02 Separate the parts that can be tested
Suppose a sentence combines a numerical comparison, a prediction, and a judgment about a rival. Those are three different propositions. The numerical claim may be measurable; a prediction needs a later outcome; and the judgment may be opinion rather than a true-or-false statement.
Our claim registry will preserve one original statement but permit several distinct claims and several different evidence reviews to be linked to it. It will never infer a verdict on the whole statement from a verdict on a single fragment.
03 Ask the inconvenient measurement questions
- What exactly is being counted, and which people or places are included?
- What is the comparison period or baseline?
- Is the measure a total, a rate, a percentage, or a percentage-point change?
- Was the series revised, and is a later version now available?
- What contrary evidence could change the tentative interpretation?
04 Publish reasoning, not a label alone
An evidence finding should explain not just the classification but the documentary trail and its limitations. Source links must lead to the actual relevant records whenever possible; general agency homepages are signposts, not a substitute for a cited table or report.
F-117A separates observed facts, reasoned interpretation, and explicitly labeled editorial opinion. Future production reviews will also have dated corrections, version history, and a place for an official's relevant response.
Sources & Further Reading
These are attributable primary-reference destinations and related F-117A methodology pages. This field guide makes no fact-check determination about an individual.
Challenge the evidence, not the person.
The standard is reproducibility. Corrections and responses will be documented under the F-117A corrections policy.