VERIFY is the fact-checking brand of TEGNA Inc., the American broadcast company that owns local television stations across the country. Created in 2015 and expanded into a national brand in 2021, VERIFY was built around a simple premise: viewers submit claims they encounter online or on air, and journalists research them, publishing verdicts with full sourcing. Its national operation, based in the Washington, D.C., area, was shut down in February 2025, with TEGNA saying fact-checking work would continue at its local stations.
Origins at TEGNA Stations
VERIFY was conceived at a 2015 TEGNA innovation summit as a response to eroding public trust in media — the "fake news" phenomenon and the proliferation of dubious stories circulating on social media. The concept was community-driven fact-checking: local television viewers would submit assertions they saw on social media, and stations would investigate the claims and air short segments reporting verified facts, posting source material online alongside the videos.
KHOU, TEGNA's CBS affiliate in Houston, piloted the practice. Journalists at participating stations received training from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the professional organization for investigative journalism. The segments typically ran one to three minutes, aired two or three times a week, and were posted online with their sources. KHOU was soon airing at least one VERIFY-inspired story per day, and the station reported receiving roughly 50 viewer requests each week.
Rapid Growth and Audience Response
VERIFY had rapid impact on TEGNA stations' engagement. A month after the May 2017 rollout to stations in 38 markets, VERIFY platforms had drawn 4.4 million visitors and 5.8 million page views across the group, with videos played 665,000 times. TEGNA executives said the initiative was giving audiences information they wanted while building trust in local news. Many viewer requests grew into full news stories, and a popular extension, the VERIFY Roadshow, took the viewer who asked the question along to help report the answer.
In 2020, traffic to VERIFY content on TEGNA station websites increased 423 percent, according to Google Analytics figures cited by the company. VERIFY videos on Snapchat's Discover platform drew more than 8 million unique visitors, reaching a young audience primarily composed of adults ages 18 to 24 — a demographic local television news has historically struggled to reach.
Expansion Into a National Brand
In January 2021, TEGNA announced it was expanding VERIFY into a standalone national brand to help combat disinformation. The expansion included dedicated digital products — a national website at verifythis.com, an email newsletter, and expanded social media presences on platforms including Snapchat, YouTube, and others — alongside continued locally produced VERIFY segments at TEGNA stations. The company named Jonathan Forsythe as managing editor to lead VERIFY's editorial growth across all platforms, overseeing daily content production for television, web articles, and social content, and recruiting a team of journalists, producers, and audience-engagement specialists.
Consumers could text a dedicated line to submit claims for verification, and the national team tracked the spread of stories or claims needing verification, publishing transparent, source-documented verdicts. TEGNA's chief digital officer at the time said the priority was building the brand and audience rather than immediate monetization, though the company sold pre-roll and display advertising against VERIFY content on station sites and had a revenue-sharing partnership with Snapchat.
Methodology and Standards
VERIFY's methodology centered on transparency: its sources were always provided, allowing audiences to see exactly how the team reached its verdicts. Journalists researched claims through primary documents, official records, expert interviews, and direct outreach to the subjects of claims. Each published fact-check documented its evidence trail, and corrections were issued when new information emerged.
The brand's framing was deliberately nonpartisan — it presented itself as answering viewers' questions rather than taking editorial positions, and its verdicts addressed claims from across the political spectrum. TEGNA described the work as part of its "trustworthy, impactful journalism" mandate: "We believe that in addition to seeking the truth, journalists must also stop the spread of misinformation and disinformation that has become so pervasive in our national discourse, especially on social media."
Platforms and Formats
At its peak, VERIFY operated across television, a dedicated website, social media, and streaming. Its content appeared as segments within TEGNA stations' newscasts, as articles and videos on station websites and verifythis.com, as social-native video on Snapchat Discover, YouTube, and other platforms, and in an email newsletter. The multi-platform approach was designed to meet audiences — particularly younger ones — where they already consumed information, rather than requiring them to seek out fact-checks.
Notable Coverage Areas
VERIFY's fact-checks clustered around the claims its audience encountered most: viral social media rumors, health misinformation, and election-related claims. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team published extensively sourced explainers on vaccines, masks, and treatments, answering viewer questions such as whether vaccines contained microchips or altered DNA — claims it rated false with detailed scientific sourcing. During election cycles, it addressed viral claims about voting procedures, ballot counting, and candidate statements.
The brand also tackled everyday curiosities and consumer claims — from whether the "secret sister gift exchange" posts on Facebook were a scam (they were) to the meaning of labels on food packaging — reflecting its viewer-driven model. Because every verdict linked its sources, the archive doubled as a public reference library for contested claims, and other journalists frequently cited VERIFY's sourcing in their own reporting.
Shutdown of the National Operation
In February 2025, TEGNA shut down VERIFY's national fact-checking operation, laying off around 18 to 20 journalists, producers, researchers, and other staff. A statement on the VERIFY website said the work would be handled by fact-checking efforts at local stations: "Our purpose is to help local communities, and our thousands of journalists across 48 newsrooms are committed to delivering trustworthy, accurate information, including impactful VERIFY work to help our audiences be better-informed news consumers."
A TEGNA spokesperson said the company had learned that the most impactful VERIFY work was happening at its local stations, and that continuing that local work was the top priority. The shutdown followed other organizational changes at TEGNA, including restructuring of its marketing group, and came amid political pressure on fact-checking operations — including criticism from Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, who had signaled scrutiny of fact-checking efforts.
Legacy and Continuing Local Work
VERIFY's decade-long run left a mark on local television journalism: it demonstrated that audiences would actively engage with fact-checking when it was framed as a service answering their own questions, and its Snapchat success showed legacy broadcasters a path to younger audiences. The viewer-submission model — soliciting claims via social media hashtags, email, and text — was widely imitated by other station groups.
TEGNA's 48 local newsrooms continue to produce VERIFY-branded fact-checking segments and articles, and the company's stations direct audiences to their local station websites, streaming, and mobile apps for the latest VERIFY work. The national website's archive remains a record of thousands of fact-checks published between 2021 and 2025.
About TEGNA
TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA), headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area, is one of the largest owners of local television stations in the United States, with stations in 48 markets reaching a substantial share of American television households. The company was created in 2015 when the Gannett Company split its broadcast and publishing businesses. VERIFY was one of several innovation initiatives — alongside projects in audience engagement and digital product development — that TEGNA pursued to differentiate its local journalism.
Contact and Access
VERIFY was headquartered in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (McLean, Virginia). Its national website was verifythis.com, with social presences including @VerifyThis on major platforms. Following the 2025 shutdown of the national team, audiences seeking VERIFY fact-checks are directed to their local TEGNA station's website, streaming apps, and newscasts.
