Then how about a background check? - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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Why Publishers Don't Fact-Check Memoirs

Submitted by Tim Jackson, Mar 5, 2008 10:36

You don't have to fact-check to the extent of The New Yorker to find out if a memoir is completely false. Two or three phone calls to supposed family members and schools attended would have unraveled the whole story quickly. Some minimal fact-checking would not cost too much and would at least see if a person's story adds up. And then the other alternative is a background check. Again, even if you don't delve into the minutia of the story, shouldn't a publisher make some effort to see if a memoirist is who he or she says she is? That he or she is at least telling the truth when it comes to the basics, such as where she lived, who her family is, or where she went to college?

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
More necessary than fact checkers are editors with some smarts. One has to ponder how this absurd story got past... [MORE]	Mona	Mar 6, 2008 11:43
The most unfortunate part of this situation, in my opinion, is that these recent incidents only further undermine the trust... [MORE]	mike	Mar 5, 2008 17:34
I fail to be astonished with stories like these anymore. Apparently it's easier to lie about things that never happened then... [MORE]	Adaora	Mar 5, 2008 14:12
Since the concept of "it takes a village to raise a child" has been the heart of tribal culture (and... [MORE]	Kit Prate	Mar 5, 2008 13:18
You don't have to fact-check to the extent of The New Yorker to find out if a memoir is completely...	Tim Jackson	Mar 5, 2008 10:36
Oh, come on! They pay factcheckers with graduate degrees ten dollars an hour. At that rate how long much would... [MORE]	Nancy Seitz	Mar 5, 2008 10:12
As a former fact checker, I can say that it's rare for a reputable publication to pay $10 an hour.... [MORE]	Mona	Mar 6, 2008 10:38
Every publisher's contract includes a 'liability clause' in which the author takes responsibility for what is on the page. And... [MORE]	Litwit	Mar 6, 2008 18:43
I found this quote very interesting: Most books are already commercial failures, failing to earn back what you pay to acquire,... [MORE]	Kit Prate	Mar 7, 2008 19:21
People have such weird ideas about how publishing works. The many books that don't work commercially, are supported by those... [MORE]	Litwit	Mar 8, 2008 09:29
Thanks for the enlightenment. However, the foreign publishing thing? It happened to me; twice. The first time the issue was... [MORE]	Kit Prate	Mar 9, 2008 18:29