Fact Checking Should Become A Default Response

Listening to one of the guys I was travelling with say, “We have to take off by 5pm because we can’t take off after dark” just didn’t make sense.

We were going a whirlwind trip to a country in Africa and just before boarding, I’d asked “What time will we be back?”. He claimed the pilot said we had to be in the air before sunset as there aren’t lights on the runway.

It’s not uncommon in cities across Africa to have daylight-only flight restrictions. But this wasn’t a small city, it was one of Africa’s largest. Not willing to accept his supposition, I become a fact checker and asked the pilot, who confirmed we could take off after dark.

The confusion was when the travelling companion had asked the question when we were taking off from a different city. Yet, he held that knowledge as truth.

Fact checking is the process of attempting to verify or disprove assertions in an attempt to get to the truth behind the rhetoric. This practice is especially popular with journalists who set out to accuse leaders of inaccuracies. Personally, I think the journalists should fact check themselves.

It was the famed American writer, Mark Twain, who said, “If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.”

Actually, we all need to master fact checking. Misinformation is on a rise, not just in the media, but in the boardroom, corporate hallways and in nearly every discussion.

It may be intentional or simply a matter of lax fact checking or other human errors. Disinformation is a more aggressive version of misinformation, which is intended to deceive.

Most misinformation comes from repeating what someone else has said, without checking the validity of it. Or worse, quoting from the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook.

We’re easily influenced by the statements and deeds of others. You may follow a practice or a tradition not because we like it, or even think it defensible.

But merely because you think that most other people like it. Following the herd is becoming a breeding ground for misinformation.

If everyone in the room accepts a certain proposition or sees things in a certain way, you might conclude that they are probably right. But you shouldn’t. Just because words are spoken or written doesn’t make them accurate.

When you present material as factual, ensure that it is. Failing to do so can result in damage to your and your business reputation and in more extreme cases can result in compliance issues and/or legal action. To ensure that documents and other content are free of misinformation, it’s important to avoid making any unsupported claims in the first place and to provide support for any that are made.

Before disseminating any content, read it carefully, attempt to identify any statements that could be open to question and deal with them appropriately.

I know that you don’t have time to check everything for its reliability. To check that all the facts in a piece of writing, a news article, a conversation, etc., is entirely too time consuming.

But your reputation and consequences are dependent upon you being accurate. Start by asking yourself, “Does what you’re hearing make any sense?”

If not, then fact check. Think about what is being said and compare it to what else you know (not just what you’ve heard) to validate the reliability. If the premise you’re hearing seems misaligned, then fact check.

Finally, ask yourself, “Should I believe this person?”

If in doubt, fact check. I like to ask a related follow-up question whenever I’m uncertain to gauge the believability.

And, I almost always ask, “How do you know what you said? Where did you learn it?” If the response is weak, then I fact check.

Learn from others when actual information can be obtained, but don’t be a follower of fashion. Fact check to ensure that you’re not a propagator of others’ misinformation.

— The writer is a CEO coach and author of “Leadership Dubai Style”. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com.