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Snopes Digest #102: Vice presidential debate, Diddy rumors — and more

Here's what's happening inside the Snopes newsroom

Author

Izz LaMagdeleine
October 01, 2024

Oct. 1, 2024・Issue #102

Table of Contents

1. Behind the Snopes: Tonight's Vice Presidential Debate

Let's talk about what's going on with Snopes: the newsroom, the products, the people, and everything and anything that makes Snopes, Snopes. This week, our Senior Assignments Editor Jessica Lee previews the newsroom's plan for fact-checking tonight's vice presidential debate.

When vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz meet at New York City's CBS Broadcast Center to debate tonight, the Snopes newsroom will be monitoring the event closely — screening the candidates' statements for mistruths in real time.

We have a team of reporters and editors, as well as a web producer, prepared to fact-check claims by Vance and Walz on Snopes' social media accounts (@snopes on X and @snopesdotcom on Instagram) and snopes.com. There, we will be posting notable moments from the debate as it’s happening and resurfacing fact-checks from our archives that aim to contextualize the candidates' debate answers. (We did the same thing during last month's debate between Trump and Harris.)

The 90-minute debate between Walz and Vance is set to begin at 9 p.m. ET, and viewers can watch via CBS, Paramount+ and other streaming platforms. Make Snopes a part of your watch party.

Keep Snopes Debunking

We need your continued support to continue our fact-finding mission.

2. Fact-Checking Highlight: Sean “Diddy” Combs Rumors

From Assignments Editor Nick Hardinges:

Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested on sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges last month. Since then, rumors about the music mogul have circulated on social media, such as whether he attended a party with Vice President Kamala Harris, and whether his name was featured in the lyrics of a Justin Bieber song. Such gossip ranges from truth to complete fabrication. Below is a sample of such rumors, all of which Snopes fact-checked in recent weeks:

3. Overheard at Snopes

We look into a lot of weird stuff at Snopes. We imagine it's very interesting to be a fly on the wall, so we wanted to give you a look at some of the things we have to say when fact-checking.

Overheard: comic sans make it an extra spicy burn

— Chief Revenue Officer Justin Wohl

4. Since We Last Met

From Executive Editor/Managing Editor Doreen Marchionni:

Snopes continues to strengthen its fact-checking muscle in 2024 with key newsroom hires. Please meet our newest writer, Joey Esposito, based in Maine. He’s written for outlets like IGN, MTV, Fandom, GameSpot, ScreenJunkies, the Television Academy, Down East Magazine, and many more in his 17 years of writing and reporting. He’s an avid music listener and video game player and has just started getting super into birds. He also writes comic books, including “The Pedestrian,” “Pawn Shop,” “Batman: Urban Legends,” “Sesame Street” and more. He was selected to be part of the DC Comics Writers Workshop in 2017.

Mental Health Break

Snopes investigates some grim and depressing claims, so we know how important it is to your mental health to see something silly, funny, or just plain heartwarming. Here are some links that made us smile.

5. Snopes-worthy Reads

What Snopes is reading across the web.

— Ryu Spaeth, New York Magazine

— Jake Lahut, Columbia Journalism Review

— Gregory P. Perreault, Nieman Lab

Thanks for reading this edition of the Snopes Digest. We send new issues of the newsletter every month, so please add this email address to your white list and keep an eye out for the next issue.

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