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March 18, 2008

Check the Facts

Zachary Roth has a radical idea: The New York Times should fact-check op-eds. Let's not stop there. All news organizations should fact-check every syndicated columnist, local columnist, and op-ed contributor.

Roth has it (almost) exactly right:

The Times presumably wants to avoid factual errors of any kind on its op-ed pages, but especially on controversial campaign issues. An obvious way to do that is to fact-check these pieces. If anything, op-eds cry out for more rigorous fact-checking than ordinary news stories, not less. As in this case, they often deal with provocative topics, and exert a greater influence over the public debate than news stories, thus exacerbating the damage a factual error can cause. And, unlike some breaking news stories, op-eds tend to have a bit more lead time, making fact-checking more plausible.

I would caution him about implying (intended?) in any way whatsoever that news articles can withstand a bit less, or a bit more lax, fact-checking than op-eds. But he has the right idea all the same.

Care to guess what would happen if news organizations decided to the do the right thing (do their jobs!) and edit opinion journalism? :-) If these things are not edited and fact-checked, then they are not, technically speaking, journalism at all. Un-checked, un-edited opinion is punditry. I would hope punditry is not what America's news organizations intend... OK, stop snickering.



Posted by acline at March 18, 2008 9:41 AM | | Spotlight