Transcript fact-checking & FOIA workshop for january 2007 why fact check? – The work can’t be dismissed as propaganda or rumor – Legal risks associated.

fact-checking & FOIA
workshop for
january 2007
why fact check?
– The work can’t be dismissed as propaganda or rumor
– Legal risks associated with printing inaccuracies can be avoided
– An even more interesting story might be discovered
– Sources are kept happy
– Embarrassment—or worse—can be avoided
– Determine and highlight all facts in a story
– Can tighten writing
– Go beyond spelling and dates—look for causal links, attributions,
reporter assumptions, facts contained within quotes, and memories
– Evaluate sources used by the reporter
Confirm everything, using multiple sources for controversial facts!
Much of this information can be found in an easy to read book,
The Fact Checker's Bible, by Sarah Harrison Smith.
fact tracking
• Organize sources used to write the story
– Contact info for interviewees
– Website addresses
– Database, journal and book names
– Copies of documentation
• Confirm quotes
a practical how to
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With video, as much of this as possible should be done before the work gets
shot
Read the copy/view the piece through once
Go at copy with a highlighter pen on the second pass, with video take notes
and note time stamp
Organize into types of sources required for verifying
– Telephone Free411, InfoSpace, SuperPages
– Databases
• http://www.state.hi.us/libraries/hsl/databases.html
• Internet (Librarians Internet Index, Clusty, Advanced Google)
– Reference sources
• encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas–could be print or online
• Wikipedia—yea or nay?
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– Other
Aside: sources for images and data
– Archive.org, Wikimedia Commons, Yahoo Creative Commons search
– RSS feeds
ask the feds
• FOIA: Freedom of Information Act
• State versions of the same, e.g. UIPA in
Hawaii
• Government Documents – depository
libraries (most of the big ones, academic
and public) have to let you in to use them.
timeline
• July 4, 1966: FOIA signed into law.
• October 2, 1996: Electronic Freedom of
Information Act Amendments.
• October 12, 2001: new FOIA
memorandum
• 2002: more amendments
What is FOIA?
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Freedom of Information Act (1966) mandates federal government
agencies to comply with public solicitation of information.
Nine exemptions specified and the President has unlimited power in
declaring something off-limits.
The FOIA does not apply to Congress or the courts, nor does it apply to
records of state or local governments.
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Nearly all state governments have their own FOIA-type statutes.
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Department of Justice Frequently Requested Records
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What about petitioning the FBI or CIA?
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How to file a FOIA request from CIA
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FBI FOIA website
notes
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Pdfs preferable to html docs
.edu, .gov sites
Reputation of sources
Evaluating web resources guide
Radical Reference http://radicalreference.info
This presentation online
http://radicalreference.info/olelo/fact_up
• Contact me [email protected]