Fact Checking for Journalists

Presented in April 2005 at the Grassroots Media Conference

by Librarians of Radical Referencewww.radicalreference.info

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fact checking 101

Someone other than the reporter filing the story verifies all factual material prior to publication so that:

• The work can’t be dismissed as propaganda or rumor• Legal risks associated with printing inaccuracies can be avoided• An even more interesting story might be discovered• Sources are kept happy• Embarrassment—or worse—can be avoided• Determine and highlight all facts in a story• Go beyond spelling and dates—look for causal links, attributions,

reporter assumptions, facts contained within quotes, and memories• Evaluate sources used by the reporter• Confirm everything, using multiple sources for controversial facts

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before meeting with your fact-checker

• Organize sources used to write the story– Contact info for interviewees– Website addresses– Copies of documentation

• Highlight potential areas of concern

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meeting with the fact-checker

• Discuss sources and potential areas of concern

• Identify which sources were used for which part of the story

• Keep copies of your documentation for yourself

• Quotes—checked or not?

• Remain available to your fact-checker

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post-check

• Discuss the story a final time.

• The fact checker will be concerned with accuracy. Suggestions about reworking the story will relate solely to factual issues.

• Unless the editorial policy dictates otherwise, it's your name on the story, and your final call.

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Critical thinking: evaluating different types of resources

• Books• Serials

– magazines (Newsweek, the Nation, World Press Review)– [scholarly] journals (Third World Journal, American Political Science Review)– trade publications (Library Journal, Pig International) – Newspapers (The New York Times, the Daily News)

• Websites– Advocacy (FAIR, Prison Activist Resource Center) – Business (Monsanto, The New York Times Company)– News (IndyMedia, Fox News)– Informational (American Heritage Dictionary, Critical Mass)– Personal (Makezine, Street Librarian)

• Databases– Subscription

• Commercial (Academic Universe, MasterFILE Premier—Use NYPL for local access nypl.org/databases

• Scholarly (PAIS International, Alternative Press Index)– Free(ish)

• Commercial (New York Times, the Guardian)• Government (American Factfinder, Library of Congress American Memory)

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Integrating fact checking into your production schedule

• While investigating—post research queries to Radical Reference, but try to give us enough time to come up with a quality response. Follow up, if necessary.

• Rout stories to fact checking or "research" during the editorial process.

• Arrange to have one or more librarians in-house or offsite, but dedicated to the project during production.

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evaluation criteria

• Authority (auspices)

• Accuracy

• Objectivity (perspective, bias)

• Currency (time, not money)

• Coverage (scope, mission)

Much of the evaluation section was inspired by or taken directly from Evaluating Web Resources

by Jan Alexander and Marsha Ann Tatewhich can be found at

http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm

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nypl databases

• Commercial subscription databases are freely available and accessible from home to NYPL card holders and at branch and research libraries to anyone who walks in

• Access government and legal information, newspapers and magazine, statistical and business information, and alternative indexes

• www.nypl.org/databases

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accessing the databases

• Arranged alphabetically, by subject, and by document type (e.g., full-text)

• Icons indicate from where databases can be accessed

• Check other area public libraries and their database collections: – www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org – www.queenspublic.org

• Ask a reference librarian

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radical reference

• www.radicalreference.info --Ask a reference question--Links to radical information sources--Search archive of questions

• Handout http://radicalreference.info/grassroots/fact_handout

• Presentation http://radicalreference.info/grassroots/fact_presentation

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contact us

info@radicalreference.info this presentation on the web:

http://radicalreference.info/grassroots/fact_presentation

Look for us in the streets during demonstrations. We’ll be wearing hats with the Radical Reference logo.