Fact checker
Summary
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.
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That's not a factcheck!
What, exactly, is a "serious" plan to resolve the budget impasse in Congress? It's not clear how to define adjectives like this, but that didn't stop Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post's Fact Checker, from weighing in with a column on Monday arguing that President Obama's budget is "not really a plan" because Obama hasn't offered "a sustained presidential commitment".
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I've Got the Sequestration Blues
The market shrugged off the sequester, will you? The impact of the sequester hit our circle of friends, many of whom work in aviation, immediately. read more.
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Publisher Pulls a 2nd Book by Lehrer, ‘How We Decide’
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which published all three of Mr. Lehrer’s books, confirmed after fact-checking the book that it would no longer offer it for sale.
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Can you automate political fact-checking in real time? Truth Teller is going to try
Funded in part by the Knight Foundation for Journalism, the Washington Post has just launched a new project called “Truth Teller,” which is designed to fact-check political speeches and comments in real time. It’s an ambitious effort that is based on an idea the Post‘s political editor had in 2011, and makes use of speech-to-text technology and a number of other tools.
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Washington Post unveils fact-checking Truth Teller prototype
The application, which checks facts delivered in video and audio, was developed using a $50,000 grant from the Knight Foundation's Prototype Fund.
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Washington Post gets closer to real-time fact checking with new Truth Teller prototype
Journalists try to point out those lies, but usually at some later time and in a different medium. That gap in time and distance is just enough to let the original lie take … Read more.
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The Lede Blog: Live Updates on Armstrong's Oprah Interview
The Lede is rounding up online reaction to Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday night in real-time, with additional fact-checking and context provided by Juliet Macur and Sarah Lyall.
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Plagiarism, fabrication and hoaxes marked this year in ‘Regret the Error’
We’ve published the year’s most notable errors and corrections and a month-by-month accounting of plagiarism and fabrication. Now it’s time to highlight the three accuracy-related trends from this year.
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Media Missteps in Connecticut Shooting Coverage
With a national tragedy on the scale of today's mass shooting in Newton, Conn. , the public has come to expect a constant flow of information about the who, what and why of the day’s events. Unfortunately, the frantic pace often comes at the expense of fact checking.
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Media Decoder Blog: Political media dropped enormous time and resources into fact checking the candidates to very little effect
The lying game: Fact checking, as it turns out, is more of a cottage industry than a civic corrective.
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