Tag Archives: fact checking

Five Ways to Avoid Factual Errors

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What is the difference between a 50% off sale and a sale where customers can get UP TO 50% off? That’s correct…one of those is a definite, and one is not. As an editor I find many writers dorking these simple facts up, and while I know that I have a rabidly anal-retentive eye for these little details, ALL freelancers should develop an absolutely unforgiving critical eye to spot potential land mines in their own copy. But why? It’s simple, really… Continue reading Five Ways to Avoid Factual Errors

FactCheck.Org

I am a huge fan of my brand new Dish Network cable service, as it seems to be giving me infinite material for blog posts. Even as I write this, I’m watching a fascinating segment on Anderson Cooper 360 about how blog posts factor in to the race for the White House. According to the segment called The Truth About Sarah Palin, one blogger posted some joke quotes allegedly from Sarah Palin about “Satan lizards” in reference to dinosaurs. Somebody (I missed who) scooped up the quotes in the political frenzy over the Palin/McCain ticket, but failed to properly attribute the quotes or pay attention to the fact that they were completely fabricated.

The Aderson Cooper segment is attention getting all by itself; the site mentioned in the clip, FactCheck.org, is just as intriguing. This site calls both Obama and McCain on fact stretching, and watching the campaign is much more interesting with a daily reference back to FactCheck.org after listening to both sides. No matter who you plan on voting for, watching the candidates get their facts handed back to them with the editor’s red pencil treatment is quite amusing.

What does any of this have to do with freelance writing? Continue reading FactCheck.Org