The Refs Are Working Us.

This article explores the rise of political fact-checking as a global industry and its role in policing public discourse. It discusses the shift in journalistic practices from ensuring their own credibility to concern about the public's credulousness, which has invited accusations of bias and hindered journalism's role in democratic debate. The article suggests that journalists should focus on restoring their credibility by reflecting on what made them culturally authoritative in the first place. It argues that external fact-checking undermines the traditional functions of journalism and provides examples from the Covid-19 pandemic to illustrate how fact-checking can be influenced by political considerations. The article proposes that journalists should adopt a more adversarial posture towards expert authorities and prioritize providing accurate information to the public over policing discourse. [Extracted from the article]