The Program: Fact Checking, or CYA 101

Our latest program sessions were on fact checking. We had two: one with Patricia Treble, a reporter/researcher at Maclean’s magazine, and one with the editor of Taddle Creek. I learned so much in these sessions that I could not possibly recount it here. Also, I’m afraid I might make mistakes. Mistakes are everywhere.

Nonetheless, in the spirit of bloggery, I will brazenly select a few imprecisely recollected tidbits to share. I know you won't quote me anyway, since I’m not a primary source. Here goes:

• Fact checkers are responsible for checking the accuracy of all proper names and facts. This involves a lot of phone calls and locating of primary sources.

• Fact checking is mainly a magazine thing. Newspapers generally don’t use fact checkers, not only because of tight timelines, but also because they can just print a correction the next day once they’ve received the flood of angry or mocking E-mails.

• It’s not only for non-fiction. Fiction is checked, too, mainly for consistency, historical accuracy, and the spelling of real-world proper nouns. You can read more about this in a brilliant publication entitled The Taddle Creek Guidebook to Fact-Checking Fiction.

The biggest surprise to come out of this session for me was that fact checkers share much in common with lawyers, most notably: (1) a tendency to question everything, (2) expertise in CYA, (3) a talent for obfuscating when the facts can’t quite be pinned down, and (4) the ability to cross-examine constantly, without appearing to do so.