1. 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
and Free Government Information
Fact checking is the process of using a third-party to verify all factual material in a story prior to publication. This is a collaborative process between you and the fact checker. You’ll be working together to produce an article of unassailable accuracy and unimpeachable sourcing, answering potential critics before you go to press. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process.

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.
It’s easy to dismiss independent reporting as ‘propaganda’; it happens all the time. Fact checking gives journalists a good answer to that attack. Ex. Fahrenheit 9/11 and the endless discussion of the fact that it was ‘fact checked.’
Libel and slander charges rely on the fact that reported details are not true. Fact checking can cover your ass.
Sometimes facts that make a good story can make an even better story when amplified.
Even the best reporters misrepresent and mishear information, and misquoting a source can make him less likely to help you in the future. E.g. a Columbia J school student that misquoted me about Matthew's arrest.
Even the best reporters make mistakes with facts. Sometimes a fact is so seductive, and, if true, would make everything in a story fall together perfectly. If it’s not true, you can end up the New York Times with the Iraq War on your hands. Example, WMD reporting
Find someone who was there
--memory into fact
Let the reporter write, keep his or her style (GWB hates New Yorkers article): A.K. Gupta. "The Fear Factor." The Indypendent. July 21-August 10, p. 1. "The Republicans hate everything about us. To them, New York City is Sodom and Gomorrah. They hate queers, immigrants, intellectuals, artists, bohemians, Democrats, Blacks, Jews, Muslims, women and, well, New Yorkers."

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
If a fact is particularly controversial, or you are concerned that your sources might be shaky, let your fact checker know. Ideally, she will check every fact in the story regardless of what you tell her. Giving her a heads-up will ensure she pays special attention to potential trouble spots.

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
Checking quotes can be a good way to make sure you haven’t misheard or misinterpreted anything a source has told you. If a quote has been very difficult to get, or is adversarial, you might want to take responsibility for accuracy yourself.
As the fact checker moves through your story, she will likely run into facts that are difficult to check. It’s important to the process to respond to your fact checker with additional questions about sourcing.

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.
You are ultimately responsible for the article, so be ready for some back and forth about problem areas. As the reporter, you will ultimately make the call about fact checking changes. How do you feel about the changes suggested by your fact checker? Are you comfortable with your own reporting of controversial aspects the fact checker can’t confirm? When you are comfortable with the article and any changes that have been made, you’re ready to go to press.

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)
What's a book? (not fact checked?)
OED:
3. gen. A written or printed treatise or series of treatises, occupying several sheets of paper or other substance fastened together so as to compose a material whole.     c. A literary composition such as would occupy one or more volumes, without regard to the material form or forms in which it actually exists; ‘an intellectual composition, in prose or verse, at least of sufficient extent to make one volume’ (Littré s.v. livre). In this sense Carlyle described himself as ‘a writer of books’.   …No absolute definition of a ‘book’ in this sense can be given: in general, a short literary composition (especially if ephemeral in character, and therefore also in form) receives some other name, as tract, pamphlet, sketch, essay, etc. Does the definition also include e-books?
Serials:
Audience
Ads/appearance
Notes
Peer review!!!
Newspapers: currency over accuracy.
Websites
An Advocacy Web Page is one sponsored by an organization attempting to influence public opinion (that is, one trying to sell ideas).
A Business/Marketing Web Page is one sponsored by a commercial enterprise (usually it is a page trying to promote or sell products).
A News Web Page is one whose primary purpose is to provide extremely current information.
An Informational Web Page is one whose purpose is to present factual information. The URL Address frequently ends in .edu or .gov, as many of these pages are sponsored by educational institutions or government agencies.
A Personal Web Page is one published by an individual who may or may not be affiliated with a larger institution.
Databases
A collection of information organized and presented to serve a specific purpose. (A telephone book is a common database.) A computerized database is an updated, organized file of machine readable information that is rapidly searched and retrieved by computer.
(Use define:database to show contradictions from web resources.)
Sub vs. free dbs (google, medline, others???)
ERIC: search <underground>

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
3 levels of access
Home: Academic Search Premier, Encyclopedia Americana
Branch: Alternatve Press Index, Access UN
Research: Left Index, NY State Legislative Retrieval System, PAIS International (public policy), State Capital Index (full text state bills and laws), Statistical Universe
Collective library card.

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)
Authority
Who published the resource? Is there information about the author or organization available?
Can you verify the authenticity and/or stability of the publisher?
Can you verify that the work is published by the person or organization that claims it?
Is it the work of a subsidiary or chapter of the main organization?
If you're evaluating an online resource, is there a print companion?
Is there a copyright statement?
Accuracy
Can you verify factual information presented?
Are there notes?
A list of sources?
Are there grammatical and/or typographical errors?
Is there an editorial team monitoring the accuracy of statements made? Is this editorial team independent from corporate or business interests? Who is ultimately responsible for the resource?
How does the source obtain information? Are the reporters ‘live’ on the action? Are they respected within their activist community?
Objectivity
What is the purpose of the publication?
Is there advertising?
If there is advertising, is it easily differentiated from the content?
Are the creator's biases clearly stated?
Are editorials and opinion pieces identified as such?
What is the publisher's motivation for including each item?
Currency
Do you know when the piece was published? When it was written? If it was revised? What edition it is?
Can you tell if the information is kept up to date?
Even if the resource is current, is the data utilized recent, as well?
Coverage
Is the purpose of the publication clear?
For what audience was the publication created?
Has the resource addressed the full range of discussions on its subject matter?
Is the level of detail consistent for each topic?
If this is an online resource, is there a print equivalent, and is it truly equivalent?
Does content vary by region or daily edition?
Much of the evaluation section was inspired by or taken directly from Evaluating Web Resources by Jan Alexander and Marsha Ann Tate which can be found at

11. radical reference www.radicalreference.info --Ask a reference question
--Links to radical information sources
--Search archive of questions
Handout
Presentation
Started to support RNC protests, but a long range goal is to provide news librarianship support for independent journalists.

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