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- The tools of the trade
The mistakes journalists make that actually bother us—as distinct from the “mistakes” that incite readers to curse our names and demand our heads—are simple things: a faulty statistic, a date a year off, a name misspelled. A false fact, in short. Everything needs to be checked.
What the Democracy Fund has in mind is research into ways journalists can identify false facts originating from without, not within. “Helping citizens know what is true and what is not is at the core of journalism’s purpose. Almost everything in public life flows from this foundation—understanding, common ground and a working political system,” said API’s executive director, Tom Rosenstiel, who’d given me the head’s up about the grant. The Democracy Fund’s Tom Glaisyer added, “Fact-checking of statements made by politicians and pundits is emerging as a growing, and we believe, essential practice in political reporting. The American Press Institute will use its extensive networks within the news media, along with its credibility as a research group, to advance, refine, and defend this vital journalistic practice.”
