The Park Library - Fact Checkers

AGENDA
    Welcome, Announcements, Introductory Remarks
    Handouts, Books, and Reserved Materials
    Quotes:

"In journalism there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right. "

Ellen Goodman, columnist, 1993
(Others have said or written similar phrases.)

"There is no such
source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth."

Samuel Butler, English author 1835-1902.
The note-books of
Samuel Butler, 1912

"[News"] is a first rough draft of history that can never be completed in a world we can never really understand."

Philip L. Graham,
Washington Post

The Lore and Legend of Fact Checkers
        Fact Checkers I've Known (real & reel):
                   Cynthia Cotts (Vanity Fair research editor, 1991)
                    Liz Donovan (Washington Post Researcher)
                    Info Pros: Super Searchers in the News: Online Secrets
                        Journalists and News Researchers (2000 book)
                    Michael J. Fox (actor playing a magazine fact checker in
                        Bright Lights Big City, 1988)
                    Katharine Hepburn (actor playing a television news researcher in
                        Desk Set, 1957)

Reliable, Credible, Imperfect Reference Resources -- Electronic: (Be alert to incomplete, incorrect, & out-of-date data)

Reliable, Credible, Imperfect Reference Resources --
Print: (Acquire your personal print reference collection, but be
alert to incomplete, incorrect & out-of-date data)

Reliable, Credible, Imperfect Reference Resources --
Human: (Note: it's hard to distinguish the trustworthy.)

Facts are hard to define and harder to recognize. Experience and training help.

Fact checking, while admirable, is not a growth industry. For the most part it is a "do-it-yourself" activity. Still, don't neglect help from other qualified folks. Actively seek help.

Reliable fact checking skills require continuous training. Take time to learn the unique attributes of new print and online sources; also, find time to review your older favorites.

Effective fact checking is as much about attitude as it is about techniques and tools. A willingness to be surprised is an indication of an open mind.

When you are certain that you are absolutely right about a fact, check further.

Errors are easy to make and difficult to correct. They rarely look different from verifiable facts. Further, in the high-speed digital age, they have the half life of a radioactive isotope. They are nearly impossible to purge from electronic resources. Database quality suffers. [Note: The NYT Blair case's impact on "poisoning the archival well."]

Avoid making beta errors correcting alpha mistakes.

No book, journal, database, newspaper, magazine, Web site, reference book is without error. The same is true for so-called experts and even veteran fact checkers. A copy editor's best approach is a polite skepticism and eternal vigilance.

In fact checking, there is rarely enough time, money or expertise to do the perfect job. While true, this observation is no excuse for not making a good-faith effort in pursuing accuracy.

In journalism, many people care about accuracy: copy editors, reporters, photographers, graphic artists, news librarians, and readers. Work together to get the job done well.

* A worthy aim, but not realistic in deadline driven world of newspaper copy editing. There is another critical factor: finding information is not the same as knowing how to use it correctly.

Orange County Register news researcher Sharon Ostman Clairemont:

"Our responsibilities are to discover, nurture,
cultivate information, harvest it, keep it clean,
store it, protect it, and share it."

Procedures

o All correction requests made of The Chronicle and The Gate will be reported to a section editor or department head and, when possible and practical, to the employee involved, along with a copy to the Readers� Representative. The request will be recorded by the section editor or department head in the corrections database using the form on the Chronweb home page. Any action taken as a result of the request will likewise be recorded.

o Correction and retraction demands, whether made orally, by letter or by email, that could lead to legal action must be forwarded immediately by a section editor or department head to our lawyers and to the executive editor.

o Section or department heads will personally review corrections prior to publication and take responsibility for ensuring that all errors are set straight. Copies of proposed text will be forwarded to the Readers� Representative for review.

o Corrections in the print editions will run on page A-2. Exceptions can be made for legal reasons and for the convenience of readers. Errors in Sunday editions and other non-daily editions will be corrected as soon as possible and again in the subsequent non-daily edition.

o Corrections to stories in the library and online archives, including The Gate, will be flagged in the header with the words �This story has material that has been corrected.� The text of the correction will be appended to the top of the story before the headline, following the word CORRECTION. Spelling errors and less significant mistakes can be corrected without preserving the original text.

o The Gate will call attention to corrections in two places on the home page: On the left side of the home page under �resources� there will be a �Corrections� link, and also at the bottom of the home page next to �Privacy Policy� there will be a link to �Corrections Policy.�

o The Gate will post corrections for seven days on its corrections page, which will be available from the home page. Corrections to Chronicle stories will also be available from a corrections link on The Chronicle page. Corrections will remain on any story in The Gate archive.

o We avoid repeating errors in corrections unless repeating the error will make the correction easier to understand.

o We avoid assigning blame in corrections. A reporter who believes his or her credibility is damaged due to someone else�s mistake can ask his or her editor to contact the source and exonerate the reporter of `responsibility.

o As a general rule, corrections should not be made exclusively in follow-up stories, nor should readers who discern inaccuracies be told to set the record straight by writing letters to the editor. (Corrections made in this manner cannot be ensured of finding their way into the archive or Web site.) While it may be appropriate in the proper circumstances to correct errors in columns and in follow-up stories, these �corrections� must be in addition to another correction that will go on Page A2.

o If necessary for clarity, photographs that carried incorrect captions and graphics that contained incorrect information will be rerun as part of the correction.