2026 census: Fact-checking losses continue amid funding pressure, but most projects persist (opens in new tab)

For the first time in the Duke Reporters’ Lab count, three-times as many fact-checkers closed their doors as opened them last year. Our tally shows 10 new fact-checking projects in 2025, compared with more than 30 that stopped posting. And that trend has continued into the first half of this year, with the overall count of fact-checking projects dropping from 441 at the end of 2025 to 437 as of June 1.