Fact-Checking Fact Checking

Fact-checking has become a cri de coeur of late. In Anand Giridharadas' savage review of Upheaval by Jason Diamond, he mentions the many errors in the book, and writes:

Others have been similarly vocal; many have taken to twitter to discuss how imperative it is for publishers to hire fact-checkers, and underwrite the expense. They receive a zillion RTs and plenty of "right on!" replies.

Let me set forth here, before I take what is clearly the less-popular opinion here in the spring of 2019, that I believe books should contain correct information and only "real" facts. Also, I agree the errors found in Naomi Wolf's book, as well as Jill Abramson, Jason Diamond, and others that have bubbled up on the my twitter feed, are pretty scandalous. (I will add here that all three mentioned here were published by the Big Five and received high advances.) Also, I firmly believe all books should be fastidiously copy-edited and proofread, during which facts will be checked, as I wrote about last…