The second Test match between New Zealand and England at the Basin Reserve turned into a dramatic theater of sportsmanship and technical scrutiny, centered squarely on the composure of Glenn Phillips. During a pivotal moment in the middle of the innings, Tom Blundell found himself at the mercy of a frantic appeal from the English side. As England’s wicketkeeper lunged for a ball that had seemingly kissed the edge of the bat, the sudden roar of the fielders convinced the umpire to raise his finger. The atmosphere in the stadium shifted instantly; the crowd caught their breath, sensing that a…

At the recent GlobalFact conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Peter Erdelyi, a media strategist based in Budapest, delivered a sobering wake-up call to the fact-checking community: the traditional safety net of philanthropic grants and government backing is fraying. For years, organizations dedicated to information integrity have operated under the assumption that their work is a “public good”—a noble, essential service that society has a moral obligation to fund. However, Erdelyi argues that this idealism ignores the shifting political winds, particularly in the United States, where the very act of checking facts is increasingly being reframed by critics as a tool for…