Article
I chose O’Rourke’s article “The war in Ukraine isn’t ‘fake,’ and these photos don’t prove that it is” to evaluate.
Description
As the information that was fact-checked, O’Rourke’s (2023) claim about the statement calling to debunk the fake about the Russia-Ukraine war was considered. In the article, the author cited the position of one of the radio hosts, who had previously published a tweet that military operations in the Eastern European region were fake (O’Rourke’s, 2023).
As confirmation, the radio host provided a photo of one of the Ukrainian buildings, which, according to him, had already been destroyed before the war. This tweet caused controversy and became the reason for the investigation into the adequacy of such a judgment about the current war.
Debunking the Claim
To debunk this claim, O’Rourke (2023) analyzed the submitted photograph and its provenance. According to available data, this image appeared on Instagram with a note about trying to prevent fake news from reaching the masses. After a careful evaluation of the data, it was determined that the cruise missile air attacks had indeed taken place, as evidenced by both local eyewitness accounts and reputable news channels providing video proof (The Telegraph, 2023). In addition, a site assessment was carried out to determine the authenticity of the photo being analyzed.
According to O’Rourke (2023), the missile attack that hit the said house took place at the very beginning of the war. Despite the attempts of the radio host to attract public attention with his statement, the assertion that the war was fake was an absolute lie. This piece of information received the rating of fake itself, and due to numerous photo and video evidence, it was not difficult to debunk it.
Fact-Checking Process
While evaluating the fast-checking process performed by O’Rourke (2023), I can confidently state that the platform where such investigations are conducted is a credible, reliable, and responsible fact-checker. In the context of such a sensitive topic as war, any evidence often requires verification because fake facts can be used as a propaganda tool by either side. However, having enough information from various authoritative sources, I can say that, in this case, it is impossible to call the Russia-Ukraine war a fake.
Numerous damage to civilian infrastructure took place during the first year of the conflict, and Russian government officials themselves confirmed regular bombings (Sullivan et al., 2023). It did not take long to verify the proposed fact, largely due to the fact that numerous photo and video evidence of the attacks were filmed by both amateurs and reputable news outlets. Therefore, the considered instance of fact-checking may be regarded as a credible platform.
Even before I started investigating this topic, I had a clear conviction that the war in the Eastern European region was absolutely real and bloody. I had already read about the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the regular blackouts, and other negative consequences of Russian aggression (Tsagkaris et al., 2023). Due to this, I carefully approached the assessment of the fact-checking process in question. It is possible that my initial views could be interpreted as a partial evaluative bias and unwillingness to put up with the opposite position.
At the same time, despite my lack of neutrality, the evidence collected was unequivocally objective. Thus, having found confirmation of my ideas, I became convinced of their correctness and confirmed my views that the war was cruel, bloody, and completely unnecessary to Ukrainians.
References
O’Rourke, C. (2023). The war in Ukraine isn’t ‘fake,’ and these photos don’t prove that it is. Poynter. Web.
Sullivan, H., Belam, M., & Chao-Fong, L. (2023). Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: What we know on day 387 of the invasion. The Guardian. Web.
The Telegraph. (2023). Ukraine war: CCTV captures Russian missile strike on Kyiv in New Year’s Eve attacks [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Tsagkaris, C., Ozturk, N., & Matiashova, L. (2023). Missile attacks in Ukraine are torpedoing global health. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 116(2), 149-149.