1. Fact-checking the Experts
By Jamaal Abdul-Alim, education editor at The Conversation US
Education Writers Association
2019 National Seminar
May 5-8, Baltimore, Maryland

2. expert - noun a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.
synonyms: specialist, authority, pundit, oracle, resource person;

3. Who are experts?
Academics
Analysts
Authors

4. Expert
Knowledgeable
Reliable
Trustworthy

5. Assumptions

7. Experts have a unique way of admitting they were wrong
Apocryphal
Extrapolated
Hyperbole

9. The Essence of Journalism is a Discipline of Verification

10. Principle No. 1 If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out
Same thing applies to experts

11. Reporting vs. Editing

12. Principle No. 2
Treat the experts you quote as if you were their editor

13. You should push back when experts say
The research shows …
The research doesn’t show …
Courts have ruled ….

14. The research shows …
Ask to see the specific study or studies to which they are referring to as the basis for the claim
Ask expert to cite or highlight the specific passage or passages in the referenced research that serves as the basis for the claim

15. The research doesn't show…
Ask the expert: Did you look?
Look on your own (Google scholar or academia.edu)

16. Courts have found …
Ask to see the specific court decisions to which they are referring
Ask them to highlight the specific passage from the decision in question
Is the passage part of the conclusion or the overall discussion?

17. Examples School shooting story (numbers changed)
Claim that someone had invented a particular statistic (a footnote contradicted the claim. Irony: the book was about fact-checking research)
Faulty math