Once upon a time, there were media outlets that were known for their accuracy. I worked for one once, as an editor. If you misquoted someone, made up even a trivial bit of color in an article, staged a photograph without making it clear it was staged, modified a photograph, or showed a general lack of integrity when it came to reporting, you were fired, often by the founder/president/CEO, whose voice could be heard all over the floor when someone incurred his justified wrath. It was not cheap. Every article was written, then gone over by a copy editor who highlighed every factual statement, quote, or other verifiable item. This was then handed over to the fact checkers, who did just what the title suggested – they would call every source, read every transcript, hike over to the library, whatever it took to verify that what was written was correct. When mistakes were made, the correction was made in just as prominent a position if not more so – usually on the Table Of Contents page, but it the mistake was on the cover, that’s where the correction went in the next issue. What was this bastion of truth and integrity? A lifestyle and puff-piece rag aimed at elite, high-paid lawyers, kept from the hands of lesser folk by a $150/issue price, or $15 if you were a student, or worked pro-bono. Yes, they actually adjusted their price so that it could be accessible. It was The American Lawyer under Steve Brill, and the day he sold it to Time Warner I left the publishing industry to go do network engineering.
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