The common problem with fact-checking is a misplaced reverence for “expertise” as a substitute for hard-nosed reporting and independent evaluation. So here are a few friendly suggestions for better fact-checking: Reporters do not represent the establishment, they should be suspicious of it; politicians who seem reasonable may not be; politicians who depart from the Washington [...]
I came across two notable articles that both offer guidance on how journalists should handle (and debunk) misinformation provided by sources. Both cited a recent ad from the Mitt Romney campaign that included a falsehood. So, as the story from Nieman Watchdog Project asks, “When candidates lie, what’s a political reporter to do?” From Dan [...]
Paul Bradshaw’s Online Journalism Blog is a good read, particularly for tips and information about data journalism. Earlier today he pointed to a very good post on the Neurobonkers blog, “The worst piece of drugs reporting I have ever read”. It completely rips apart a very lazy and inaccurate story originally published by the Hull [...]
I’m in New York today participating in an event about fact checking at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. I kicked things off with a (very) quick look at the history of fact checking and what its future might look like. Below are my slides. You can follow along today on Twitter with the #FactFest [...]
Patrick B. Pexton, the Washington Post’s new ombudsman, hasn’t been on the job long but he’s already written about an incident of plagiarism at the paper. Here’s the editor’s note that was added to the offending piece: This article in the April 17 Travel section included material that was taken without attribution from a documentary [...]
I never thought I’d hear a grown man say he was “comfortable that ‘pants on fire’ was the right call.” But that’s what PolitiFact editor and St. Petersburg Times Washington bureau chief Bill Adair told me today. We were discussing a controversial ruling his site issued on a political ad put out by the Democratic [...]
Lawrence Wright’s cover story in the current edition of The New Yorker reports on the Church of Scientology … Wright tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross about the detailed fact-checking process his article went through — The New Yorker assigned five fact checkers to the story and sent the Church of Scientology 971 fact-checking queries before [...]
Want to correct a mistake made by the Onion News Network? Be prepared for them to invade your life: 'FactZone' Viewer Has Sad, Pathetic Life Thanks, Daniel! *Correction January 30: The headline of this post originally and incorrectly used the word "views" instead of viewers. Thanks, Steve! Report an error
This post is part of the Carnival of Journalism, a project that gathers together a diverse group of bloggers to tackle a specific topic. Here’s the current topic: The changing role of Universities for the information needs of a community: One of the Knight Commission‘s recommendations is to “Increase the role of higher education…..as hubs [...]
The fact-checking explosion may have begun in 2004 after the media's initially flat-footed response to the attacks on Sen. John Kerry by the group that called itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (see Campaign Trail Veterans for Truth," December 2004/January 2005). But the just-completed 2010 election featured fact-checking on steroids. A bitterly divided electorate and [...]
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation airs a regular program called Media Watch. I’ve highlighted the show’s work in the past — this was a particularly notable report — and a recent opinion piece by the show’s host is of interest. (Also see this related piece from the show.) Among other details, it offers information about how [...]
The Canadian Magazines blog took note of the editor’s letter in a recent issue of Reader’s Digest Canada. That’s because editor-in-chief Robert Goyette took time to lay out some numbers that communicate the value of the magazine’s fact checking department: “In this issue, for example, they checked approximately 9,000 facts, consulting 458 sources (including experts [...]
Few things in the world of magazines are the subject of as much lore as the New Yorker’s fact checking department. Many marvel over the magazine’s pedantic process for checking the facts in every article, caption, cartoon, poem and work of fiction. I dedicated a chapter of my book to fact checking, and recounted many [...]
If you were to indulge in a bit of stereotyping and imagine the country most likely to host a conference about the pedantic discipline of fact checking, you’d probably arrive on one likely location: Germany. And so it was that I spent the last weekend of March in Hamburg in the offices of the famous [...]
Columbia Journalism Review today released a major report about magazine websites. (Disclosure: I write a weekly column for CJR, but had no involvement in this report.) You can read a brief intro and download the full PDF here. The report includes some interesting information about fact checking, copy editing and corrections. The results are mixed, [...]
Who knew magazine fact checking could be so funny? Check this video from Funny Or Die — it includes Bill Murray: Bill Murray in FCU: Fact Checkers Unit Thanks, Kim! *Correction: I somehow managed to misspell the word "checkers" in the headline. It has been corrected, and I also smacked myself in the head. Thanks, [...]
YouTube recently unveiled its Reporters’ Center, a library of videos offering advice about a variety of aspects of journalism. "The YouTube Reporters’ Center is a new resource to help you learn more about how to report the news," according to the site. "It features some of the nation’s top journalists and news organizations sharing instructional [...]
You’d expect a magazine to exercise extra caution when publishing an article about a “vending machine for crows.†It’s a strange idea, not to mention one that was developed for a master’s thesis in a “Interactive Telecommunications Program.” Because the story doesn’t fall into the category of common knowledge, it requires particularly careful editing and [...]
Allan Britnell, a Canadian freelance writer and fact-checker, has written an article suggesting that magazines should make a point of telling readers about their dedication to fact checking. Writing for Masthead Online, a website that reports on the Canadian magazine industry, Britnell proposes “an industry-wide campaign to promote fact checking” to readers: One of the [...]
After releasing my free Regret the Error Accuracy Checklist earlier this week (download your copy here), I devoted my latest CJR online column to the subject of checklists. This column offers background on why checklists have proven useful in so many different industries and professions. I examine why they work for journalists, and why we [...]
This week marks the release of the US paperback edition of the Regret the Error book. Order your copy here. In addition to a lower price, the paperback includes a new introduction by me and the best corrections and apologies of 2007-08. We also corrected the errors identified in the hardcover. (Read and subscribe to [...]
In an Oct. 15 story fact-checking the presidential candidates’ debate, The Associated Press incorrectly reported that presidential candidate Barack Obama overstated the proportion of American households that would see tax cuts under his economic plan. The Democrat specified that he was talking about “working Americans,” and the figure he cited – 95 percent – is [...]
A passage from Jesse Froehling’s story (spotted by Romenesko) in the Sept. 17 edition of Seattle Weekly brought back memories: Mark Powell finds mistakes everywhere he looks. National monuments, scholarly texts, museums, The Washington Post, The New York Times: All have drawn the attention of Powell’s rabid, error-spotting eye. Powell will leave you seven-minute voicemails [...]
From journalism.co.uk: The sourcing and fact checking process for stories on the BBC News website must be addressed by management, the BBC trust Editorial Standards Committee has recommended. The committee made the suggestions as part of its response to a complaint about an article on the site, which pointed to inaccuracies in the report on [...]
