‘Is that really true?’ You might find yourself asking this a lot in the next 87 days.
How to check the best quality evidence:
Websites such as FullFact and the Channel 4 FactCheck Blog have been intentionally created to verify claims made by politicians, and to hold them accountable in the UK.
They check whether claims made by politicians are backed up by truthful evidence, or not, and then spread the word online.
The upcoming launch of The Conversation and Alliance for Useful Evidence Manifesto Factchecking will be another online tool that will make political parties think again about their claims:
“We will scrutinise the claims and promises made by the major political parties because informed voters make better elections.”
As revolutionary as the internet is, with its ability to communicate and exchange vast amounts of information and reveal breaking news instantly, there can be downfalls.
The occurrence of heavily spread misinformation is astounding, notably with the substantial regular use of social networking sites, websites and email.
Usually such exchanging of misinformation includes subject matter concerning politics, scams and government policies, especially with the upcoming elections.
As said by Glenn Newey, reader in politics at the University of Strathclyde: “Politicians need to be more honest about lying.”
Check with the specialists:
Depending on the topic of the claim, whether that is to do with a specific specialist field or the requirement of in-depth knowledge of a certain subject matter, it is always best to run it by a number of experts – ensuring that their analysis is impartial – to allow solid confirmation and validity.
For example, home secretary, Theresa May, ‘has defended her plan to expel international students from Britain after graduation’, claiming that it’ll be more beneficial for the UK to send international students back to their home countries post-graduation.
Studies by the Universities UK blog show that this would be far from beneficial, as international students contribute to the UK economy.
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As backed up by inventor and business leader James Dyson, who said: “our borders must remain open to the world’s best.”
Where is the evidence?
Some political issues and claims seem to always recur. Patrick Worrall, manager of Channel 4’s FactCheck Blog, says: “So many claims by politicians are repeats of claims that come up again and again.”
Take for example the claim, often repeated by senior pro-European politicians, that three million jobs will be lost if the UK drops out of the EU.
The evidence for this is somewhat mixed, and with the original researchers of this statistic distancing themselves from it, which doesn’t clearly reveal what the UK potentially gains or loses.
At times there is a good reason why an official might reject revealing evidence behind a claim made. Perhaps to protect a source.
However, evidence is still needed for credibility, and if little or none is provided then maybe that is because the evidence is biased or weak, or the source might not be a reliable one.
And so, quite possibly there is a problem with the claim.
Is the evidence verified?
Earlier this year, an American terrorism commentator claimed that Birmingham was a “Muslim-only city” where non-Muslims simply “don’t go” during a Fox News interview.
Birmingham City Council revealed some interesting data from Census 2011 that shows nearly half of Birmingham’s population consists of Christians, while only just under half of that consists of Muslims.
With the remaining population consisting of all different kinds of religious backgrounds.
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Whenever a claim is made by a public figure or politician that hasn’t been backed up with the necessary correct evidence, it is useful to seek out official statistics and data via government papers, scientific studies and company records, to prove this right or wrong.
This is the latest in a series of #BrumVote articles on Birmingham Eastside. You can follow future updates on our Twitter account.
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