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Checklists: They help surgeons, journalists and Van Halen prevent errors
I’ve been pleased with the response to my accuracy checklist. I want to call your attention to two follow-ups by Craig Silverman and Stephen Colbert: Craig, who inspired my checklist, responded with a...
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A false choice — and an excuse — for journalists: Better to be first or right?
An editor asks by email a question I hear often as journalists address the challenges of digital journalism: “Is it better to be first, or be right?” Three times recently, the editor said, his staff...
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Resources to help journalists with accuracy and verification
I will be leading a workshop on accuracy and verification today with Craig Silverman for Georgetown University. My slides and Craig’s are below. Some resources Craig and I (and others) have developed...
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‘He said, she said’ stories fail to seek the truth and report it
I wish I had seen Jay Rosen’s latest critique of “he said, she said” reporting before Saturday’s accuracy workshop at Georgetown University. Jay provides an excellent example of reporting that is...
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Advanced Twitter techniques for journalists
I’m leading an advanced Twitter workshop for journalists at the New Haven Register today. I’ll be trying to help journalists who are using Twitter some, perhaps to tweet links to their stories, but...
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Craig Silverman compiles resources to help with social media verification
Craig Silverman has assembled eight “must reads” on how to verify information gathered through social media. I don’t have time to elaborate on them (and I would mostly just repeat what Craig and the...
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Expanding on my aggregation points
Response to my post about aggregation merits a follow-up post on three points: verification, a comment I made about the Associated Press and the timing of blog posts. Verification Someone asked about...
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From 2006: Advance review: To show or not to show?
This was a handout I developed in 2006 for a series of ethics seminars for the American Press Institute. It appeared online originally at No Train, No Gain, but has not been available online for the...
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Sharing stories with sources before publication is risky, but can improve...
On more than one occasion, reporters have screwed up facts when writing about me. At least once I knew I was misquoted. So I have some empathy for Washington Post reporter Daniel de Vise, who is being...
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‘Alleged victim’: a phrase journalists should stop using
When it comes to language choices, I try to decide matters based on accuracy. This is why I want to call on all journalists and news organizations to stop using the term “alleged victim,” especially in...
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Linking and checklists could have prevented journalists from Manti Te’o...
Last year I blogged about four reasons linking is good journalism. Make it five. Journalists who practice thorough linking to provide context and attribution for their stories (two of the four reasons...
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Confessions of a teenage fact checker
This is a guest post by Jeff Edelstein, columnist at the Trentonian (who’s appeared in this blog before), prompted by these tweets and an email exchange following my blog post about linking and the...
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Nearly everyone gets an obituary; if not, journalists can and should still...
For a reporter seeking information about someone who died, the lack of an obituary, or even a death notice, should be a red flag. But sometimes (clearly a small percentage of deaths) the red flag...
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Verification doesn’t threaten narrative journalism
Narrative journalism will survive the Manti Te’o hoax. In fact, the sports stories that spouted and perpetuated the lies of the hoax were not narrative journalism. They were shallow journalism. Sports...
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Verification tips, examples, case studies compiled by Josh Stearns
Verification of information gathered through social media is one of the most pressing matters in journalism today. Josh Stearns has done the most comprehensive job I have seen of compiling links to...
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Advice for editors: Stand for accuracy and accountability
This continues a series on advice for new top editors in Digital First Media newsrooms. The Digital First editor needs to lead the staff in mastering the art of reporting the unfolding story...
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Verification Handbook to be published in January
I’m pleased to be involved in the Verification Handbook, a new project to help journalists and aid providers sort fact from fake. The handbook is a project of the European Journalism Centre and is...
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John Kroll: Ask the 5 W’s in fact-checking
John Kroll, photo linked from johnkrolldigital.com John Kroll advises journalists to fact-check by asking the 5 W’s when we’re reporting on statistics that sources cite. The truth is that many...
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How to verify information from tweets: Check it out
Journalists should treat information we gather on social media the same way we treat information gathered any other way, or an assurance from Mom that she loves you: Check it out. My #twutorial series...
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The Verification Handbook is now available
I was honored to have been involved in the writing of The Verification Handbook, which is available now as an ebook. I’ll blog more about it later after I read the other chapters (I wrote one chapter)....
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