Status Updates From The Fact Checker's Bible: A...

Vehemence tends to be less persuasive than quiet, clear communication.

Any bright girl who really applies herself to the handling of the checking problem can have a very pleasant time with it and fill the week with happy moments and memorable occasions.

As Sara Lippincott, former head of fact-checking New Yorker, “A little skepticism … is much to be desired, but if it is fed over and over again with a diet of misinformation, it eventually becomes cynicism, which is a different thing entirely. Then we are turned off. Then we cease to listen to each other at all, and so the journalist is in danger of becoming extinct–or ignored, which amounts to the same thing.

“Of course you don’t want to cry wolf, but if you don’t feel that the schedule allows you enough time to check a piece thoroughly, tell the head of your department, the editor, and the managing editor, right away. Perhaps the piece can be postponed, or perhaps you can get help from other checkers. Or perhaps, as many checkers have ruefully concluded, you can just work all night.” 🥴

“The most important point to remember in checking is that the writer is your natural enemy.”

Just a few pages in and already coming through with the hits!