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Fact Checker: About NAWLS, About Weight Loss Surgery, and About Katie Jay nawls.com | Chemo Facts | www.Chemo-Facts.com | Facts on Drugs Used in Chemotherapy chemo-facts.com |
A fact checker is the person who checks factual assertions in non-fictional text, usually intended for publication in a periodical, to determine their veracity and correctness. The job requires general knowledge, but more important it requires the ability to conduct quick and accurate research. The resources and time needed for fact-checking mean that this work is not done at most newspapers, where reporters' timely ability to correct and verify their own data and information is chief among their qualifications. Publications issued on weekly, monthly, or infrequent bases are more likely to employ fact-checkers. Fact-checking, known as "research" at many publications, is most critical for those publishing material written by authors who are not trained reporters — such writers being more likely to make professional, ethical, or mere factual mistakes. Fact-checking methods vary; some publications have neither the staff nor the budget needed for verifying every claim in a given article. Others will attempt just that, going so far as communicating with the authors' sources to review the content of quotations. Also, fact-checking is distinctive to American publications. British and European magazines and newspapers may have editors for correcting spelling and performing superficial verification, but do not employ fact-checkers as such. Typically, fact-checking is an entry-level publishing job at major magazines; fact-checker jobs at The New Yorker are considered prestigious and can lead to higher-level positions, usually at other magazines. Among the benefits of printing only checked copy is that it averts serious, sometimes costly, problems, i.e. lawsuits and discreditation. Fact checkers are primarily useful in catching accidental mistakes; they are not guaranteed safeguards against those who wish to commit journalistic frauds, such as Stephen Glass (who began his journalism career as a fact-checker). The fact checkers at The New Republic and other weeklies never flagged the numerous fictions in Glass's reportage. Michael Kelly, who edited some of Glass's concocted stories, blamed himself, rather than the fact-checkers:
[edit] See also[edit] External links[edit] Prominent former fact-checkers
[edit] References
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