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Fact Checking for Journalists and how to make a FOIA request Presented in June 2005 at the

Fact Checking for Journalists and how to make a FOIA request Presented in June 2005 at the Allied Media Conference by Librarians of Radical Reference www.radicalreference.info and Free Government Information. fact checking 101*.

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Fact Checking for Journalists and how to make a FOIA request Presented in June 2005 at the

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  1. Fact Checking for Journalists and how to make a FOIA request Presented in June 2005at the Allied Media Conference by Librarians of Radical Reference www.radicalreference.info and Free Government Information

  2. fact checking 101* Someone other than the reporter filing the story verifies all factual material prior to publication so that: • The work can’t be dismissed as propaganda or rumor • Legal risks associated with printing inaccuracies can be avoided • An even more interesting story might be discovered • Sources are kept happy • Embarrassment—or worse—can be avoided • Determine and highlight all facts in a story • Go beyond spelling and dates—look for causal links, attributions, reporter assumptions, facts contained within quotes, and memories • Evaluate sources used by the reporter • Confirm everything, using multiple sources for controversial facts *Much of this information can be found in an easy to read book, The Fact Checker's Bible, by Sarah Harrison Smith. Random House 2004.

  3. before meeting with your fact-checker • Organize sources used to write the story • Contact info for interviewees • Website addresses • Copies of documentation • Highlight potential areas of concern

  4. meeting with the fact-checker • Discuss sources and potential areas of concern • Identify which sources were used for which part of the story • Keep copies of your documentation for yourself • Quotes—checked or not? • Remain available to your fact-checker

  5. post-check • Discuss the story a final time. • The fact checker will be concerned with accuracy. Suggestions about reworking the story will relate solely to factual issues. • Unless the editorial policy dictates otherwise, it's your name on the story, and your final call.

  6. research tips • Use the telephone • Search engine tips & tricks: advanced search. Google isn't the only one out there: • Librarians Internet Index • Dogpile • Amazon • Yahoo (the results will differ from Google's) • Teoma (the results will differ from Google's) • Websites • Advocacy (FAIR, Prison Activist Resource Center) • Business (Monsanto, The New York Times Company) • News (IndyMedia, Fox News) • Informational (American Heritage Dictionary, Critical Mass) • Personal (Makezine, Street Librarian) • Databases • Subscription • Commercial (Academic Universe, MasterFILE Premier) Lots available from your local public library. • Scholarly (PAIS International, Alternative Press Index) • Free(ish) • Commercial (New York Times, the Guardian) • Government (American Factfinder, Library of Congress American Memory)

  7. bonus: how to make a FOIA request

  8. free expensive databases from your public library • Commercial subscription databases are freely available and accessible from home to NYPL card holders and at branch and research libraries to anyone who walks in • Access government and legal information, newspapers and magazine, statistical and business information, and alternative indexes • www.nypl.org/databases

  9. accessing the databases • Arranged alphabetically, by subject, and by document type (e.g., full-text) • Icons indicate from where databases can be accessed • Check other area libraries and their database collections: • Ask a reference librarian

  10. evaluation criteria • Authority (auspices) • Accuracy • Objectivity (perspective, bias) • Currency (time, not money) • Coverage (scope, mission) Much of the evaluation section was inspired by or taken directly from Evaluating Web Resourcesby Jan Alexander and Marsha Ann Tatewhich can be found at http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm

  11. radical reference • www.radicalreference.info --Ask a reference question --Links to radical information sources --Search archive of questions • Handout http://radicalreference.info/amc/fact_handout • Presentation http://radicalreference.info/amc/fact_presentation

  12. contact us info@radicalreference.info this presentation on the web: http://radicalreference.info/amc/fact_presentation http://radicalreference.info/amc/fact_handout Look for us in the streets during demonstrations. We’ll be wearing stuff with the Radical Reference logo.

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