I’ve wanted to post for some time now on the topic of fact-checking. When I watch television or listen to the radio, I frequently hear the traditional press deride bloggers as not checking their facts properly. I would argue that the fact-checking on the blogosphere is far more robust than the traditional system. Comments, trackbacks and counter-posts make up one the best feedback systems possible.
You put something flawed out there, you’ll get swarmed and your credibility will be affected. It’s a self-regulating system that works. Compare that to the “closed” model we saw with A Million Little Pieces as detailed in today’s Wall Street Journal article Publishers Say Fact-Checking Is Too Costly. Here are a few relevant quotes from the piece:
“Editors and publishers say the profit-margins in publishing don’t allow for hiring fact-checkers.”
“They rely on authors to be honest, and on their legal staffs to avoid libels suits.”
“An author brings a manuscript saying it represents the truth, and that relationship is one of trust.”
Hmmm. What if the author blogged much of a book before it was published? Scoble and Israel put chapters of Naked Conversations up on their blog for review by the blogosphere, and according to them readers “did a vigilant and superior job” of finding areas that needed correcting. And it cost nothing.
If publisher Nan Talese had posted chapters of the book prior to printing, it’s likely some or all of the inaccuracies would have been caught early. Also, it’s possible that this “Pre-Publishing” could have minimized their legal liability.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
steven streight who is vaspers the grate Enemy of MSM and Pseudo Bloggery 01.29.06 at 11:03 pm
I also blame the freaking lazy, cheap-ass publishers for not fact checking. That is their job, like it or not. They used to hire college interns and such to do it. This is Psycho Capitalism, Super Mediocrity striking again.
I read some excerpts from that Million Pieces book. I’ve lived in the East Village, NYC, played in punk bands, been a hippie, been a bohemian, etc….and nobody in their right mind would believe this stupid, exaggerated, hyperbolic book.
“I wanted to smoke a mountain of crack, drink an ocean of whiskey, smoke 50 million cigarettes in one hour…” stuff like that.
“I awoke on the airplane in a pool of blood and vomit” etc.
Silly junk from a little twerpy fool. Look at him. He did all that stuff? No freaking way, man.
Rumor going thru the blogs is that the author tried to shop it to publishers as a *novel* first. I have to check this “fact” first, so please don’t quote me. ha ha ha.
Morons, all.
-b- 01.30.06 at 6:37 am
That’s a bit bombastic Steve. I mean, what facts are to be checked in a blog book? A company says yes or no that we blog and it was on this date we started and we sold 10M widgets because of it? Does anyone fact check when Scoble and Shel say that MS is the most naked corporation in the world? That’s an opinion not a fact.
steven streight the mind design guy vaspers the grate 01.30.06 at 10:33 am
Many large corporations have a cynical attitude toward the lowly “consumer”. Many think we are easy to influence, and we will buy anything if it is hyped hard enough.
Until recently, they may have been correct. But now, with the Information Explosion and Blog Revolution, the tables are turned.
Why can’t I dance a Irish jig on the grave of corporate idiocy?
I’m a blogger. Bloggers are known to be sharp tongued. Corporations are known to be arrogant. Thus, it takes strong speech and forceful attitude to get through.
When people say bloggers are harsh, I laugh.
How harsh are corporations? Some top executives raid the pension fund, exploit Third World countries, hire illegal immigrants, operate sweat shops, offshore outsource sensitive data work, etc.
And we are to pussyfoot around them? Not me, baby.
Frank 01.30.06 at 12:43 pm
That puts a different light on O’Reilly’s new Rough Cuts product, as well.
I had only looked at it from the “value to readers” perspective, but this points out the “value to publishers” half of the equation: pre-publication help with fact-checking, code-testing, etc.
-b- 01.30.06 at 8:48 pm
Frank,
Thanks for sending Rough Cuts. I hadn’t seen that. Our book is being published by Peachpit, they’re not doing anything like Rough Cuts that I know about. And I’ll assure them that we didn’t lie about anything in our book.
steven streight = vaspers the grate 01.30.06 at 10:15 pm
I’m using this comment box as an alt email app.
I just got 27 “info” emails from you. Why?
-b- 01.31.06 at 5:23 am
There’s a post coming on that! I wish I knew!
steven edward streight = vaspers the grate 01.31.06 at 5:50 am
Thanks, good job responding.
The O’Reilly “rough cuts” program is interesting, and seems like a good idea.
You buy the rough cut of a book, then email corrections to O’Reilly. I wonder if this will work out well for them.
I think it is innovative and I commend O’Reilly for taking this step. I predict it will be a success and set an example for other publishers.