Fact-Checking Megan Perras

Full Story:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Alberta+Education+investigates+rumours+exam+cheating/2486975/story.html

After fact-checking this story, as far as I know it is accurate. The story is about an allegation of cheating, and is difficult to prove true or false. Zoe Cooper is the Public Affairs Officer at the Government of Alberta, and she is called the “department spokeswoman” in the article. Cory Sinclair is an Edmonton Public Schools spokesman. Both names are spelt correctly in the article. I could not find a way to verify the exact number of students that wrote the exam. Also, I could not find any news articles that spoke about the 2001 cheating incident in St.Albert.

Accuracy is imperative in journalism, because it creates a trust and respect relationship between the writer and the reader. If a writer uses inappropriate or rudimentary grammar, then they lead the reader to believe that they are inappropriate or rudimentary, not to mention unintelligent. The consequence to that is then the reader no longer respects what they write, no matter how true or worthy their opinion.

Backchecking, Jesse Snyder

http://whitecourtstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2268118

Interview was recorded.

Name seems to be correct.

No insight as to where the numbers from the poll came, only states "according to a poll."

No available links to verify information.

Only one single source throughout interview.

Skinny women. Yes.

Attribution is sound.

Location is unimportant.

FACT CZECHIN' - Devon Bowie

Full Article Here

By Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service January 26, 2010 3:55 PM


This article taken from the Journal's site seems to be accurate and have no glaring errors. Thumbs up.

Accuracy is an important thing. It is, for one thing, central to one's credibility, and thus career. Additionally, to be inaccurate would go against the very ideal of journalism. Thus, you better check yourself, lest truly, you wreck yourself.

Fact Checking, Claire Theobald

After checking an article from the Globe and Mail called "Tim Trow to quit Toronto Humane Society board", I found the article to have no obvious errors. Quotes appear to be attributed properly, the spelling seems fairly consistent, and the facts are credible. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/tim-trow-quits-toronto-humane-society-board/article1445060/

Accuracy is what seperates news from rumour, therefore if a news source is to retain credibility as a news source, it must be fair, balanced, and accurate.

Fact Checking, Pamela Di Pinto

Here is my fact-checking mission as follows:

My article of choice, "Woman, 84, rescued after family hears cries," was published in the Edmonton Journal on January 23, 2010. It is one of the many hopeful survival stories surfacing in the news these days following the fatal earthquake in Haiti. In terms of fact-checking, the article "checked out," so to speak.

• The numbers in reference to the quake are consistent with what has been reported thus far.

• Names, titles, and locations appear to be in order.

• Sources are well attributed.

• Spelling and grammar were up-to-par with what I expected as a reader.

However, despite all of this, there were no external links within the story that allow the reader to physically confirm the above mentioned information. Including such links would have strengthened this story's accuracy and reliability. As well, there was no specific author mentioned. The byline simply read Agence France-Presse. Interesting...

In general, fact-checking is a crucial component to any successful piece of writing, especially in a field such as journalism. Even simple mistakes can set off a frenzy of skepticism in readers: Well, if they made a mistake in this article, have they made mistakes in the past? Will they in the future? The simple truth of the matter remains: No fact-checking=bad reputation=no readers=no career. You follow? Save yourself the trouble, and get your facts straight!

Fact-Checking, Ricki Cundliffe

http://www.columbiavalleypioneer.com/pdf/vol7issue4.pdf

CHECKLIST:
Ask sources to spell name & title: PROBLEM: "Inukshuks" is the English spelling. "Inuksuks" is the proper spelling.
Record or transcribe interviews: ---
Verify claims with reliable sources: CHECK!
Save links and other research: CHECK!
Ask sources what other reports got wrong: No other reports.

Numbers & Math: PROBLEM: The age's of Bruce's children are both under the number 10; therefore, they should be spelled out, according to CP Style.
Names: CHECK!
Titles (people, books etc.): CHECK!
Locations: CHECK!
Compare quotes to notes/recording: CHECK!
Quote Attribution: CHECK!
Definitions: CHECK!
URLs: ---
Spelling & Grammar: PROBLEM: "Inukshuks" is the English spelling. "Inuksuks" is the proper spelling.
Spellchecker Errors: ---

Accuracy and journalism truly go hand-in-hand. Without accuracy, there is no credibility. In turn, without credibility, there is not legitimate news. The biggest problem with inaccuracy is lack of time (and effort) in the proofreading stage. The reason news papers have editors is to preform this very task, and preform it well. There are certainly some things that go unnoticed, typically do to Spellcheck, but then again, editors should be the ones with the final say, NOT the computers.

Note: Image from: http://www.ocanadagear.com/graphics/inukshuk-build1.jpg

Fact-Checking, Jayme

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Record+high+travel+Edmonton+airport/2486203/story.html

This article, written by Dave Cooper, has statistics listed for flights from Canada to the United States. The problem is he does not attribute the source of this data. In order for this information to be able to be fact-checked he would have to list where he is receiving the numbers from. He lists his email, so contacting to ask about this glaring omission is possible, but the average reader will not do this. Unfortunately, he does not attribute any findings throughout the whole article. I would say this story fails the accuracy test simply because I am unsure of where he is getting his information. He also mentions a new non-stop flight to Liberia, which does not make any sense to me. A direct flight from Edmonton to Liberia?

Without accurate referencing a person has to assume the article is not based on fact. It is important to check whether what you are reading is fact without blindly assuming it is correct. The internet has many unreliable writers on it and fact-checking is more important than it has ever been.

Fact-Checking, Jennifer Carbert

The article "Woman receives life sentence for role in brutal slaying of Courtepatte" from the Edmonton Journal January 26, 2010 has been checked for accuracy according to the Detriot Free Press checklist and found to patially pass.

Reporter Checklist

The names and facts of the article are correct and as far as I can tell from someone who did not conduct the interviews the quotes are correct. They may have given voice to the woman convicted if they were legally allowed, or at least attempted to get a quote from her. Since the woman has always been tried as an adult there should be an explanation of why her name is never used. Is it because of family issues, or is there some other reason her name is not used.

Assigning Editor Checklist

Many of the checks done are the same as those for the reporter and seem to have been done correctly. The names, numbers, and facts seem to be correct in the story and only a comment from the convicted woman might have added context.

Copy Editor Checklist

The headline is very well rounded and represntative of the story. Again they could have used a comment from the convicted woman to add balance to the story. In the lead there is a question of how she was automatically handed a life sentence when the murder happened a couple of years ago.

Conclusion

The facts in this story is pretty acurate there is just some unexplained anomolies in the information of the story. Could they get a quote from the woman? Could they use her name? Accuacy is very important in journalsim because newspapers give news to different people and are expected to be accurate. When Journalists mess-up they can defame someone or misrepresent an issue by not showing both sides, this could result in people losing jobs, and journalists being filed with a law suit.

Image from: http://s4.hubimg.com/u/865467_f260.jpg