Get it Right!

While working on the staff of a Chicago Alderman, a local newspaper reporter asked me for the street address of a problem business that neighbors had complained about.

I told him I didn't know it off the top of my head and I'd have to look it up to get it right.

"You don't have to do that," he said. "We're not known for our accuracy." And he was one of their best reporters.

People receive a lot of incorrect information from sources that are expected to be correct. Those sources are not distributing "fake news." They're just making mistakes.

A Pulitzer Prize winning author identified former Congressman Clarence Diggs as being from Chicago, but he was from Detroit.

A respected newspaper referred to former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.'s northwest side Chicago district. But Jackson represented parts of the south side and south suburbs.

A well-regarded publication stated that a Congressman had once worked for a city department that did not exist.

A book itemizing Illinois "facts" stated that Pope County was located in the northeastern part of the state. But it is at the southern tip of the state.

A book written by a former elected official incorrectly stated a colleague's dates of service.

A resolution passed by a legislative body incorrectly stated dates and facts about the tenure of a previous member.

A book about neighborhood events listed an incorrect date for the election of a Chicago Alderman (the one on whose staff I served).

Unfortunately, once a credible source publishes an incorrect fact, it will be cited by countless others for years and years.

So, when you write something, check it out thoroughly. Examine primary sources, if you can, and several other sources, not just one, if you can't.

And don't rely on your memory. It may be wrong.