They explained in the movie that the facts were only checked against the writer's own notes. They didn't make any effort to independently verify the facts.
Sorry but what kind of fact checking is this? What can it
ever accomplish?
"Hey, Bob, your piece about you seeing Santa at Walmart last Tuesday night having... mmh... oral intercourse with a... uh... stuffed deer, that sounds highly dubious, can i see your notes on it? Thanks. Gee, i see here written in your notes in black and white and plain english ""Saw Santa", "Walmart", "00:02am", "Prancer", "Mouth", and "Micropenis""... Huh. Ok, ok, ok, your story checks out once again... But, but what about this piece where you claim that in a strip-club, the next day, you met this... hmm... "Zor... Zorgon, creator of the alpha and the omega, master of the Underworld for divorced women, overlord of the third hell for non-baptized babies, first cousin of Jesus through the virgin Mary and half-brother to Poseidon"? And apparently, he plans to, uh, "take over the world" and, uh, "release the Kraken"? That... that can't be true, ri... Oh you got notes on this too? I see. Huh. How about
that? Ok I will run it personally first thing tomorrow. People need to know about this. CALL ME THE PRESIDENT NOW. Great job Bob, as always. It's like the 17th time you save the solar system
this week, and it's only Monday! Must be some kind of record... And all that for 6 bucks an hour? You really
are the best. And so pure. **Interphone beeps** Sir, i have the president on line 2 // Thank you Linda, i will take it in the conference room **muffled** Mr. President, the situation is critical... **door closes**"
I'm actually wondering if i should become a fact checker or a journalist. I could really revolutionize both fields i think.
People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs
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TimmyAnn
8 years ago
>>Sorry but what kind of fact checking is this?
Lousy, obviously.
>>What can it ever accomplish?
Nothing, if the writer is lying. The idea was that they were checking to make sure the writer hadn't made any mistakes and accidentally misspelled a name or used an incorrect numeric figure, etc. They never thought they had to check for flat out deliberate lying. They were wrong.
I do not have attention deficit disor...Ooh, look at the bunny!
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Druff (1844)
2 years ago
I think it's kind of natural that in professional journalistic circles they would be more stringent when fact checking outsiders who are unknown vs. someone close to them who they know and trust and believed had strong integrity. They trusted Glass and they learned a tough lesson because of that.
But yeah, now we have to assume all journalists are sociopathic lying scumbags. And even when they aren't, if they're reporting facts that you don't like because they're contra to your personal beliefs and biases, you get to say they're just lying anyway.
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