Live interview workflow
How to fact-check an interview in real time
Speed matters, but the standard does not change: preserve the words, isolate the claim, trace the evidence and show what remains uncertain.
A live check is a prompt for better reporting, not an automatic final judgement. Candit labels claims as supported, contradicted or unclear, then keeps the sources visible for human review.
The six-step desk routine
From spoken claim to accountable record
Prepare the claims, not the answers
List the figures, dates, policies and recurring talking points most likely to surface. Keep primary documents open before the recording starts, and note what would count as enough evidence.
Capture the exact words
Record the exchange with clear speaker labels and timestamps. Check the quote before checking its truth: a clean, attributable transcript prevents a paraphrase from becoming the claim.
Separate claims from commentary
Prioritise statements that can be tested: numbers, dates, events, scientific findings and direct attributions. Opinions and predictions need context, but they are not true-or-false claims.
Ask for the original source
When a guest cites a report, poll or unnamed authority, ask which one. Trace the statement to the original study, public record or direct witness before relying on a summary of it.
State uncertainty plainly
If the available evidence is incomplete or conflicting, say so. “We cannot verify that yet” is more accurate than forcing a verdict while the interview is still moving.
Correct on the same record
Make the correction easy to find: name the original claim, explain what the evidence shows and update the episode notes, transcript or published report where the audience encountered it.
Worked examples
Three claims, checked while the tape rolls
Illustrative interview lines, written to show the reasoning. Treat the verdicts as the shape of the work, not as findings about any real speaker.
“We have doubled the number of new homes built since 2010.”
Ask which years and which measure — starts, completions or permissions. Two of those series move differently, so the claim cannot be settled on the wording alone.
Candit flags the figure mid-answer with the official housing series beside it, so the follow-up question happens before the topic changes.
“That study was peer-reviewed and published last year.”
Ask for the journal and title on air. A summary, a preprint and a peer-reviewed paper carry different weight, and guests often mean the first two.
The claim is timestamped in the transcript with the guest attached, so a researcher can trace it after the recording without scrubbing audio.
“Nobody has ever been prosecuted under that law.”
Absolutes are the easiest claims to test. One documented case is enough to correct the record, and it should be raised in the same conversation.
Candit returns a contradicting source with a confidence score, and the suggested correction can go straight into the episode notes.
Put the workflow beside the microphone
Facts, while the conversation is still live.
Candit transcribes the conversation, counts spoken words and checks factual claims with confidence, context and sources.