[typpilol]

Is fact checker an actual job?

[input_sh]

In serious news organizations, absolutely. Journalists write the stories, fact checkers make sure every claim is backed up by evidence before it gets published.

To describe their job poorly, they're there as a way of reducing odds of a lawsuit. At one of my previous jobs, there was a whole fact-checking team that wrote no stories themselves, but every story had to be run through them as a part of the publishing pipeline.

[nephihaha]

I see errors all the time in mainstream media. Sometimes these appear from some kind of info file that they raid every time they have to look up a subject, so the same information is quoted again and again (even if inaccurate). A lot of things in life are subjective and open to interpretation, especially when it comes to politics and culture.

[kragen]

The people doing that job are not the ones being targeted here.

[lexicality]

Yes, there are many situations where it would be illegal or detrimental to publish falsehoods, so people are implied to check facts.

[pjc50]

Now it's turning into a situation where it's illegal or detrimental to publish the truth.