The Fact Checker's Bible: A Guide to Getting It Right by Sarah Harrison Smith

by Sarah Harrison Smith

The first book of its kind, The Fact Checker’s Bible is the essential guide to the important but often neglected task of checking facts, whatever their source.Today, everyone is overwhelmed with information that claims to be factual. But even the most punctilious researcher, writer, student or journalist--not to mention the lazy or deliberately mendacious ones--can sometimes get it wrong. So checking facts has become a more pressing task. But how to go about it?The Fact Checker’s Bible for accuracy*Determining what to check*Researching the facts*Assessing people, newspapers and magazines, books, the Internet, etc. *Checking quotations*Understanding the legal liabilities of getting it wrong*Looking out for and avoiding the dangers of plagiarismFor everyone from students to editors to journalists, the methods and practices outlined in The Fact Checker’s Bible provides both a standard and a working manual for how to get the facts right.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Journalism, Writing, Research

Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Elia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a shame that newer editions of this book are not available. The methodology and detail driven approach are very appreciated, but references to rolodex and "the web" undeniably make you want to skip entire paragraphs. It's not because I have a problem with outdated terms, but because it also announces the lack in digital tools to remedy more recent fact checking challenges.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim volume from an author who has lots of experience as a fact checker provides a useful insight into the little-appreciated and little-undertaken world of fact-checking particularly for news magazines.

A scary line was right at the very end: "It is ironic that many of the best resources for fact checkers are not fact-checked to the standard to which checkers aspire".

Even as an editor myself, I found it hard to believe that anything is thoroughly fact-checked using the processes described in this book, although it should be. The message seemed to be don't trust what you read, and don't assume everything has been fact-checked to a high standard.

Some of the tasks, particularly checking of non-text material such as photos, maps and artwork, would be done by an editor - where editors are still part of the publishing process.

The book has a very basic layout - just paragraphs of text in a light font. No checklists or steps, no break-out boxes and very few bullet points.

[Holli · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good information in this book, but it is written specifically with journalism in mind. And since it was published in 2004, is outdated for the digital age. A second edition, to include a more broad sense of the field of fact checking (to extend beyond journalists) and advice on how to navigate the field within the internet would be most appreciated.

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A perfectly good account of the process and how to begin fact checking oneself, useful to anyone who wants to raise the standards of their writing. Much of this advice will never go out of date, nor will its argument for the importance of fact checking.

The primary drawback is that this was written in 2004, and, as other reviewers have noted, references to the rolodex and to fax machines reveal that the list of resources gathered at the end of the book may no longer be a very accurate representation of where best to find the information required.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly useful, although it would be nice to have an updated version that accounts for that much larger role the internet plays in journalism — and the much tighter budgets most publications now have.

[BookBec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful, daunting, and unfortunately out-of-date.

[Ambur Masen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good advice albeit a bit dated at this point (in 2004 the internet was a lot different)

[lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really liked this book--the three stars is because it is YEARS old--much to old to not have a revised edition concerning changes in this field. For example, e books, the internet & the fact that 'fact checkers' in newspapers and magazines and actually throughout the business world are fast disappearing. So, my note to the author: second edition please, because you are awesome!

[Tim Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the issues involved in properly fact checking any writing including journalism and even fiction. A little bit dry to read, and I thought the combination of font choice and paper color made it a bit hard to read in the paperback edition - but maybe that's just my old eyes.

Chapter 9 has an excellent reference list of good sources to go to when fact checking various topics.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading it for a class. But it's not too bad. Very interesting, actually.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars.

[Adria · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times it's quite boring.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to learn more about the fact checker field. Great resource!