“There is no such source of error as the pursuit of
absolute truth."—Samuel Butler, English author 1835-1902, The
Note-books of Samuel Butler, 1912
A lot has been said recently in the media about fact checking—what with the shenanigans being pulled by both sides in this 2008 election year. Many nonprofits, research organizations, action groups, and interested parties spanning the political spectrum have, in part reacting to the “Swift Boat” politics of ’04, taken four years for readiness and now made major marketing and grass-roots drives to reach the mainstream. Suddenly, fact checking is on the radar of Susie Soccer Mom and Joe 6-Pack. But in other industries—like for example publishing—fact checking is hardly the new en vogue. It’s been the centuries-old standard. Some of the most talented editors I know either are or got started as fact checkers. However, not everyone has access to these embodiments of accuracy… or sometimes they’re simply too busy to look over our work. So for our own writing, books and articles, marketing copy and ads, business letters and annual reports, messages, blogs, and any communication where our reputation and brand is on the line (meaning, all)—we need help. The good news is that there are many online resources that make fact checking quicker and easier.
In the art of fact checking, less is not more. A good rule of thumb is to always consult at least two sources, usually three. So for this Friday’s “Fun Finds 4 Business,” I depart from my norm of singling out a favorite resource and instead offering a number:
First, up are those in the political arena, which tend to dominate the online fact checking world. Perhaps the most well known is the widely-used FactCheck.org. Operating for more than decade, FactCheck is a “nonpartisan, nonprofit ‘consumer advocate’ for voters” that monitors the full range of political speeches, ads, debates, interviews, and press releases. They accept no funding from business corporations, unions, political parties, lobbiests or individuals, and instead are supported by the Annenberg Foundation, begun by philanthropist Walter Annenberg. The names and bios of all the site’s researches are online and articles posted include bylines. Being the biggest kid on the block, they are also a target and many people have challenged their findings. (Just yesterday I was reading commentary on a Dallas Morning News blog that admonished: “The first rule of fact-checking is to stay away from FactCheck.org.") However, I like that for one topic, for instance—an ad sponsored by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund that attacked Gov. Palin’s stance on aerial hunting—the researcher posted her findings concerning the ad, and then later posted in it's entirety, "as a service to our readers," a rebuttal letter that was sent her by the DOW. My vote: Props for giving full access to a primary source that challenged your own fact finding.
Two sites with great reputations for veracity focus specifically on government spending: OpenSecrets.org and FedSpending.org. The former is sponsored by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit “research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy." This year the organization celebrates its 25th anniversary. The latter, which went online two years ago and in June logged it’s 10 millionth search by an individual, monitors the activities of the White House Office of Management and Budget to give you "easy ways to see exactly where, and on what, your federal tax dollars are being spent."
Looking more generally at Election 2008, there’s Politifact.com (pronounced puh-lit’-eh-fact), which aims to alleviate people drowning in the flood of campaign rhetoric who “just want the truth.” A joint effort by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly—two respected, independent newsrooms—the site fact-checks each line of our candidates' speeches, TV ads, and interviews to determine the amount of truth in the claims they make. PolitiFact says they are “bolder” than previous journalistic fact-checking efforts because they’re willing to “make a call, declaring whether a claim is True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True or False." They even have a special category for the most ridiculous claims called "Pants on Fire." My verdict: They are by far the most fun and creative site, with their infamous “truth-o-meter” and their new “flip-o-meter” (for flip-floppers on issues).
Moving on to even more general media issues is AIM.org. Accuracy In Media (AIM) is a non-profit, grassroots “citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage.” They claim not to advocate for one side or another and instead desire a fair and objective media--without bias or partisanship. However they are on the watch for media coverage slanted to the left, as they assert that’s the most prevalent bias.
Still more general and decidedly more liberal-leaning (although not by their own assertions) is RadicalReference.info. Less glamorous but global and equally tenacious, this site features… “a collective of volunteer library workers who believe in social justice and equality.” Their goal is to provide reference services to "those looking for answers they don’t readily find in mainstream media and other information sources.” A person can submit a question online for fact checking on behalf of a company or organization or "those just looking for answers from a trusted source.” (I noticed in their resource section they offer a guide to independent bookstores.)
A couple other general sites worth mentioning are RefDesk.com and LibrarySpot.com. Billing itself as the “Fact Checker For the Internet,” RefDesk was founded in 1995 as a free resource that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources for the general public. And the massive LibrarySpot is “a free virtual library resource center for... just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information.” The idea behind LibrarySpot is bring to library and reference sites together with editorial reviews in one user-friendly spot. LibrarySpot hand-selects its sites and their editorial team reviews for the quality, content and utility. I also like Librarian's Internet Index (LII), a publicly funded website & free e-newsletter service that offers “Websites you can trust.” Dozens of high-quality websites are selected weekly, described, and organized by their team of librarians. They claim over 20,000 entries, maintained by their librarians and organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics. I like the site design—it’s easy to browse or search.
So from marketers and publicists at Fortune 500s to independent or simply overly-busy publishers, there’s are a lot more resources available to us these days when it comes to writing, reporting, and discerning the truth. ...No excuse for excuses.
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