# Fact-checking: then and now **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694 "2013-08-20T04:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/1 "2013-08-20T04:20:30Z")
The following post in the _Newsroom_ thread got me thinking about this topic, which I’ve wanted to discuss with an informed group. That’d be you people. > [@The Newsroom is coming back (for more punishment?)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsroom-is-coming-back-for-more-punishment/663171/139): > > It’s fascinating to me since I work with the media often, and have many close friends in the media how close this show has gotten a few things - including that many of the professionals are not fact-checking the way they used to. They just are not following the same journalistic standards that used to be SOP in the industry, I don’t know if it’s the burden of trying to maintain a 24/7 news cycle, or younger, inexperienced journalists, but it’s there, and the people that work in in recognize it. Those of you in the journalism game, print (what’s left of it), radio, TV, web: what fact-checking protocols did you learn in school, what did you learn on the job in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.? With the rush to be the first to break a story in the world of the internet, is fact-checking something the reporting world no longer has time for? What are the rules now? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/2 "2013-08-20T11:34:19Z")
If you worked on a newspaper, you usually had several hours (at least) before the next edition. That gave you a chance to call sources and confirm reports. Even in the early days of TV or radio, you’d only be on the scene of a live event if that event was scheduled, or by happenstance (like the Hindenberg disaster – a radio reporter just happened to be covering the arrival). With a live event, you don’t know much of the story as it happens. That leaves room for bad reports (e.g., Frank Reynolds reporting that Reagan had died). The more time between the event and the report, the better chance to get all the details, but when you have to go on the air _right now_, the standard fact checking just isn’t fast enough. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/3 "2013-08-20T15:47:14Z")
I can see that. So what are the new rules about fact-checking on this short timeline? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/4 "2013-08-20T16:01:31Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I can see that. So what are the new rules about fact-checking on this short timeline? I’m not in the press, but to me the answer seems – practocally none. Rule 1, above all others is – get it on the air FIRST. Rule 2 (a distant second) is - include a disclaimer that the information is not confirmed. Rule two seems to be discarded in short order – as you begin to repeat your “news”, the disclaimer may be included for the first couple of repeats but then gets left out. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/5 "2013-08-20T16:26:38Z")
It does look that way… Surely the accuracy of facts still matters somewhat? Are there some dopers in the news biz who can address this problem? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/6 "2013-08-20T17:00:51Z")
People yell about errors but nothing keeps them from tuning in immediately to the next lurid story and being cranky if their source of news lags one second behind. It’s never about the providers and always about the audience. We get what we demand. We demand immediacy over accuracy. Therefore we get immediacy. It will change only if the audience does. Is that a likely future in your eyes? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/7 "2013-08-20T17:15:56Z")
Well, I’m not one to hold dogfights just because the public wants to see them. I’ve never been (nor had to be) motivated by want an audience wants. Fortunately, I’m not faced with the dilemma of getting accurate news out first ahead of others who have no scruples about accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/8 "2013-08-20T18:25:15Z")
There are and have been for more than a century elite news sources and analyses for people who want more insight with better and deeper facts and are willing to wait for it. They have always had smaller audiences, but you can find them if you wish. There is no such thing as “news”; just a spectrum of types and styles. That’s an entirely different issue, though, from fact-checking on cable and the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/9 "2013-08-20T19:24:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It does look that way… Surely the accuracy of facts still matters somewhat? … How can it matter when there have been so many instances of wrong information from a single source that got onto the air? I suppose they wouldn’t put something outright crazy on the air, like a quote from Biggus Dickus. OTOH, one stationed aired some [completely crazy stuff](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=696385) about the recent crashed landing in San Franscisco, after apparently getting (incorrect) confirmation of the story from the Feds/ ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/10 "2013-08-21T16:45:42Z")
Okay. Nobody cares about fact-checking. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/11 "2013-08-21T17:21:59Z")
Caring is so … 20th Century. It was a one century flash in the pan. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/12 "2013-08-21T18:20:12Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Okay. Nobody cares about fact-checking. Got it. Because that is so totally what I said. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/13 "2013-08-21T20:44:41Z")
My parents were both reporters. (My dad, in fact, was nicknamed “Scoop.”) Mom said more than once that whatever the other reporters did as far as fact-checking, she had to get it right the first time, because she worked in the weddings/engagements section, and people _kept_ that stuff. Related: A friend of mind got married and had her photo in the local paper, with the headline “Jane Doe Married.” Only her name was “Ann”. Unsurprisingly, the following week, the photo with the correct headline appeared. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fact-checking-then-and-now/666694/14 "2013-08-21T20:46:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Because that is so totally what I said. :smack: I was hoping yours was the minority position. Especially in this community. My bad.