What qualities would I want in a fact-checker?
There are so many fact-checkers out there in the world, that it can be challenging to know how to pick just one. Whether you are looking to hire a checker yourself, or to hire Factual to do the matchmaking, I urge you to consider the following qualities for a checker. (And know that if you choose the latter, Factual has already vetted every single checker who is in our system for the qualities below!)
Kindness: See, I’m not even leading with the hard skills necessary to be a good fact-checker, because fact-checking oftentimes needs to be a very gentle process. The authors, podcasters, and filmmakers that are getting fact-checked have likely spent months, if not years, of their life producing that work of narrative nonfiction. In some ways, it’s like their baby. Early in my fact-checking career, I used to joke that I was paid to be petty. That’s true, but only to an extent — if I was proposing changes for accuracy, or flagging something as inaccurate, I’d still want to express it as directly, firmly, and kindly as possible. I don’t want my role to come off as combative.
A collaborative spirit: The best fact-checkers out there are going to see themselves as one of many players in the editorial process. They’ll see themselves as a team member, not just an independent consultant.
Skepticism: Self-explanatory! A fact-checker is a professional skeptic and will put your facts up to the test.
Subject matter expertise: Fact-checkers do not necessarily need to be an expert in a particular subject matter, because we are trained to dive deep into any topic when armed with the appropriate sourcing material. The skills associated with fact-checking are widely applicable across all subject matters.
Of course, it could help for a checker to have subject matter expertise because they naturally know more. On the other hand, if a checker has deep subject matter expertise, they may not be as critical to the information presented. It’s hard to say! Nevertheless, Factual’s checkers have a wide range of expertise in culture, investigations, science, and beyond.
Language skills: It’s possible that your primary sourcing may require a fact-checker to understand, read, or speak a different language. Factual’s checkers have language capabilities in Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Urdu, and more. We’re always excited to welcome excellent checkers with a broad range of language skills!