Fact Checking Advice
Posted on Sunday, July 29, 2018 at 1:56 PM
If fact-checking is required, take nothing for granted.
By
Howard Rauch
For many editors, especially those with B2B
publications, fact-checking has been a do-it-yourself affair. Staffers
do their own verification because hiring full-time accuracy monitors is
beyond most budgets. At the same time, the array of misinformation has
exploded online. Plus, growing demand for content now means more
frequent deadlines, often resulting in hasty editing.
Meanwhile,
mounting workloads have increased reliance on outsourced material to
meet content demands. In too many cases, editors fill space with
unedited PR announcements. And unfortunately, there are times when
breaking news sections include promotional material that amounts to an
editorial embarrassment.
All those challenges -- and many more --
create the perfect opportunity for accuracy to take a hit. In this
environment, editors who eagerly pick up material from secondary sources
cannot assume that the content is error-free. This article offers a
glimpse at red flags that should be addressed in any fact-management
policy.
Three Red Flags
1. Verify Research.
Instructive
in this respect -- and many others -- is the sourcing section of
BuzzFeed's Editorial Standards and Ethics Guide. Here is an excerpt from
its recommendation for verifying polls and other studies:
When
considering reporting on a study or poll, ask these questions:
--Have
the authors included a detailed methodology?
--How many people
did they study? (For most studies, be skeptical of anything below 100;
for polls, anything below 1,000.)
--Do the authors have any
conflicts of interest?
--For medical studies: Was the study
performed on humans or other animals? (Drugs, for example, that work in
mice might fail in humans.)
--For polls: How, precisely, were the
questions worded?
--Never take information directly from a press
release. Instead, ask the authors for a copy of the actual study or poll.
2.
Use Accuracy Checklists.
Two media accuracy authorities,
Poynter's Regret the Error's Craig Silverman and the late Steve Buttry,
who was a Louisiana State University scholar, strongly recommend the
creation of written guidelines for fact-gathering situations.
Recently,
I asked two dozen freelance writers serving B2B clients if they used a
checklist. Only one responded in the affirmative. All brands can benefit
from Silverman and Buttry's accuracy-checklist approach.
The accuracy-checklist .
3. Confirm the Validity of
Claims.
In my days as vice president/editorial director of a
B2B multi-publisher, I took a rigid position on content claiming alleged
competitive superiority. Editors could either confirm the claim with the
source or delete the claim if source verification proved too hazardous.
The risk in question could materialize if an accuracy check led to
rejection of information provided by a resentful source.
Editors
also were instructed to delete endorsement language suggesting that the
publication staff was partial to the source. Examples of endorsement
violation would be not editing out adjectives such as "excellent,"
"efficient," "very useful," or other such wording appearing in the
source document. If the information is inaccurate in any way, offended
parties often will assume the content publisher was aware of the
inaccuracy but took no steps to correct it.
Additional Sources
In
the absence of formal guidelines, inaction is the likely course. So as
you formalize and tailor your brand's own fact-checking program, here
are some additional resources (many reference articles from the American
Society of Business Press Editors' Ethics News Updates
newsletter):
How
to make fact-checking work even with a small staff: This
appraisal by former CFO Publishing executive vice president Julia Homer
addresses how to make fact-checking a workable proposition. Included: a
five-step action plan that even thinly staffed operations can activate.
API's
fact-checking program establishes red flags: American Press
Institute launched an ambitious how-to-do-it fact-checking program. In
this article, former American Press Institute senior research manager
Jane Elizabeth provides details. Included: the importance of
establishing red flags to facilitate accuracy checks.
PR
Newswire fact-checking program establishes red flags: For
editors seeking to improve fact-checking procedures the PR Newswire for
Journalists has posted a four-part series: Faster Fact-Checking for
Journalists. Coverage addresses available tools including how to detect
graphics manipulation, making sense of social media, crisis and public
safety reporting, and verification, says former media relations manager
Amanda Hicken.
Online
News Association fact-checking code to be approved soon:
Allowing a source to preview an article that includes quotes offered
during a prior interview is a logical procedure -- at least two times is
one recommendation considered in developing the Online News
Association's ethics code. Access to the work in progress was provided
to Ethics News Updates by Tom Kent, former Associated Press
standards editor and ONA project leader.
How
one editor is developing a fact-checking course: B2B publishers
should provide a fact-checking orientation course, says Gerri Berendzen
of the American Copy Editors Society. Assigned to develop such a course,
Berendzen describes her progress during this exclusive interview.
RTDNA
calls for adding context and indicating what's left out: "A
journalist's obligation is to be accurate," says Scott Libin who oversaw
the ethics code revision by the Radio Television Digital News
Association. "Journalism requires verification, context, and an
indication of what your coverage omitted." The draft of the code section
devoted to truth and accuracy is instructive.
Vet
the research before publishing it: Effective verification of
data remains a critical ethical obligation for most B2B editors. In part
I of his analysis, editorial and design consultant Robin Sherman points
out that too many editors publish only what's handed to them.
"Journalists publish many stories based on bad data," he says. "Poor
methodology yields bad data."
Don't
publish research unless it meets minimal methodological standards:
Six fundamental research measures must be considered during the research
vetting process, says Robin Sherman in Part II of his analysis written
for Ethics News Updates. Editors must always publish the proper
information about these statistical measures, and if the stats don't
measure up, don't publish the data. Here's how to determine whether
research meets minimal methodological standards.
BBC
requires extensive photo verification: The extent required to
verify quality of photos and videos is detailed in a report issued by
the BBC World Service organization. Most impressive is the depth offered
by four accuracy checklists. For instance, BBC editors are prepared to
take nine steps to verify illustrations.
Fact-checking
challenges examined: Former ASBPE Ethics Committee chairman
Howard Rauch offers excerpts from interviews he conducted that address
fact-checking challenges. Included are comments by Sid Holt, chief
executive, American Society of Magazine Editors; Liz Johnstone, former
managing editor, D magazine; and Randy B. Hecht, president, Aphra
Communications.
Red
flags that might require verification: Gerri Berendzen of ACES
cites 10 examples of red flags that might require verification. This is
the first of two reports based on fact-checking workshops presented
during the 2015 American Copy Editors Society annual conference.
NPR
has a 12-point checklist: Former American Press Institute senior
research manager Jane Elizabeth recommends NPR's 12-point accuracy
checklist during a fact-checking session at the 2015 American Copy
Editors Society annual conference.
Process
analyzes whether more fact-checking increases pressure on editors' time:
Concern that more fact-checking hikes time pressure on editors cannot be
confirmed unless a performance analysis is applied. A six-point process
to facilitate such analysis was described during ASBPE's May 2015
virtual roundtable focusing on ethical issues.
Concern
yourself more with accuracy than with rushing your work, says editorial
service provider: Aphra Communications president Randy Hecht
urges freelancers and editors to value one another "less for velocity in
a rush through editorial review and more mutual protection against
errors, omissions, or lesser lapses in our work before it's published
instead of negotiating which way the fingers will point after the fact."
30
resources you can use to verify social media posts: Tin Eye,
FourMatch, Google, and a program that automatically identifies fake
images on Twitter are among the 30 resources available to help editors
verify social media posts. Find out more about these and other tools in
this review of the Verification Junkie and Journalist's Resource
websites.
Steve
Buttry's fact-checking tips and resource list still timely:
Posted by noted ethicist Steve Buttry in 2013, this document is just as
timely now. Packed with timely tips plus a huge section of reference
material, this information is worth adding to your present how-to
fact-checking file.
Howard Rauch is a past ethics committee
chairman of the American Society of Business Publication Editors and a
recipient of the group's Lifetime Achievement Award. He also is
president of Editorial Solutions, Inc., a B2B consulting firm
established in 1989.
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your comment.
Comment:
"I also find snopes.com very useful in checking information that friends, family and even colleagues share or post as fact." --Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, freelance writer/editor
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