unSpun_ Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation - Brooks Jackson [68]
Keep in mind that consensus isn’t proof. Galileo demonstrated that in the seventeenth century, when he challenged nearly 2,000 years of Aristotelian thinking about physics and was proved correct. Sometimes the lone dissenter is on to something, and we should always be alert to that possibility. Nevertheless, we can be much more confident that we are getting the facts right when we start with what’s widely accepted by authorities on all sides.
RULE #4: Check Primary Sources
ANYONE WHO HAS PLAYED THE CHILDHOOD GAME OF TELEPHONE knows how messages can be garbled in retelling, just as the Darrow “quote” was transformed from an old preacher’s story to a footnoted quotation in a prestigious law journal. The British tell the story of a military message sent to headquarters: “Send reinforcements, we are going to advance.” After passing from one soldier to another, it supposedly arrived as “Send three and fourpence, we are going to a dance.” That’s no doubt fictional, but miscommunication does happen. It’s always best to check secondhand accounts against the original.
Our courts recognize this principle by generally refusing to accept secondhand accounts, or “hearsay,” as evidence. If Jim says he heard Joe tell about a robbery he saw somebody else commit, Jim’s account isn’t really good evidence. Jim could have heard it wrong, or remembered the story incorrectly, or Joe could have been joking or making it up or just mistaken. For a better idea of what happened, we need to hear Joe tell the story himself, under oath so he has a strong incentive not to lie, and we want to hear him answer questions from both sides to draw out relevant details that might help us weigh what he’s saying, such as how far away he was, whether the light was good or bad, and how good his eyesight is. Even worse than hearsay are news stories based on anonymous sources, who often don’t have firsthand knowledge themselves and are giving the reporter secondhand hearsay. And we the readers have no way of knowing who’s talking, let alone how good their eyesight or hearing is, or whether they might have a motive to shade their story or just lie.
Sometimes checking primary sources is as simple as comparing a newspaper headline with what the news story actually says. Consider a Reuters story of November 16, 2005, that was headlined “Cheney says war critics ‘dishonest, reprehensible.’” Similar headlines appeared in many newspapers, prompting a furious outcry against Vice President Richard Cheney. How dare he call it “dishonest” and “reprehensible” to question the wisdom of a war that was, to put it mildly, not going well? But what Cheney actually said was this: “The suggestion that’s been made by some U.S. Senators that the President of the United States or any member of this administration purposely misled the American people on prewar intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.” Cheney was referring to senators who had suggested he and the president were liars, not to “war critics” in general. There’s a big difference.
Nevertheless, many lashed out at Cheney as though he had accused all who criticize the Iraq War of being dishonest scum, as implied by the Reuters headline. Later Cheney said, “I have