About Fact Check

ABC Fact Check determines the accuracy of claims by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in the public debate.

We do not check the work of journalists, from the ABC or elsewhere.

We aim to be available to all audiences by operating across multiple platforms, including television, radio and online.

All verdicts fall into three colour-based categories: In The Red, In The Green or In Between - red being a negative ruling, and green being a positive.

Our focus will be on statements likely to influence the public debate, rather than minor errors or gotcha moments involving trivial gaffes.

Opinions and exaggerated rhetoric will be avoided.

Fact check suggestions from the audience are welcomed and can be submitted via the Contact page, or via our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Audience comment and feedback is encouraged.

In the interests of transparency, all sources relevant to the verdicts will be published online.

Our aim is to be 100 per cent accurate. But if a mistake is made, the item in question will be corrected and the verdict revised.

Statements can be both right and wrong, depending on when they were said. Determinations are therefore based on evidence available at the time.

The editor: Russell Skelton

Russell Skelton is the editor of ABC Fact Check.

Prior to his current role, Skelton was a contributing editor, deputy editor, foreign editor and foreign correspondent to The Age newspaper and Fairfax media.

He has also held senior editorial positions at News Limited.

He was the executive producer of the ABC's 7.30 Report Victoria in the early 1990s.

In 2011, Skelton won the Walkley award for best book for King Brown Country - The Betrayal Of Papunya.

He has received the prestigious Grant Hattam Quill award for investigative journalism and won United Nations Association Peace awards for his reports on Aboriginal disadvantage.

A graduate of Monash University, he was a Fulbright scholar and Professional Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.

The presenter: John Barron

John Barron is the presenter of ABC Fact Check.

He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist and broadcaster and has written for publications including The Washington Post.

Barron has hosted news and current affairs programs Planet America, The Drum, The Future Forum, and The Party of Reagan on ABC News24.

He has presented the national Breakfast and Drive programs on ABC News Radio, written a book about American politics, and is a Research Associate at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

He previously worked as a presenter and journalist at Sydney radio station 2GB, SBS and Grundy Television.

Advisory panels

We have advisory panels on climate change, the law and all aspects of the economy and federal finances.

Panel members' opinions and analysis are sought prior to publication.

Verdicts are solely determined by ABC Fact Check and do not necessarily reflect the views of the panel.