The Fact Checker's Bible: A Guide to Getting It Right

by Sarah Harrison Smith

  These days fact-checking can seem like a lost art.  The Fact Checker's Bible arrives not a moment too soon: it is the first—and essential—guide to the important but increasingly neglected task of checking facts, whatever their source.

We are all overwhelmed with information that claims to be factual, but even the most punctilious researcher, writer, and journalist can sometimes get it wrong, so checking facts has become a more pressing task.  Now Sarah Harrison Smith, former New Yorker fact checker and currently head of checking for The New York Times Magazine explains exactly how to:

*Reading for accuracy
*Determine what to check
*Research the facts
*Assess sources: people, newspapers and magazines, books, the Internet, etc.
*Check quotations
*Understand the legal liabilities
*Look out for and avoid the dangers of plagiarism

For everyone from students to journalists to editors, the methods and practices outlined in The Fact Checker’s Bible provide both a standard and a working manual for how to get the facts right.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Writing, Journalism, Research

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Elia]

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 It's not because I have a problem with outdated terms, but because it also announces the lack in digital tools to remedy more recent fact checking challenges.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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Useful, daunting, and unfortunately out-of-date.

[Ambur Masen]

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

[lia]

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]

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]

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

[T]

3 1/2 stars.

[Adria]

At times it's quite boring.

[Emily]

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