Publishers Say 'Fact-Checking Too Costly'

Mr. Ghost writes "Members of the book publishing industry say that profit margins are too small to fact check "non-fiction" books. Instead they rely on the "honesty" of the authors submitting the book. This has come to a head with the revelation from the author of "Million Little Pieces" that he lied about the accounts in his memoirs."

Comments

Wait a minute, this is Slashdot

[pHatidic]

Shouldn't the headline read Publishers Admit Wikipedia is More Accurate Than Books?

Re:Wait a minute, this is Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

This comment is funny, but unfortunately true. I have nothing against Wikipedia, but being a college student, I find myself going to Wikipedia to get information over my textbooks. Does it make sense to find my $200(USD) textbooks less informative and less accurate than a free website which is more like an informative graffiti board?

I mean, come on, publishers. What are you doing with my $200 dollars? Last term alone I paid over $600 to book publishers, and you're telling me you can't guarantee their accuracy with this? That's sadly pathetic. I could hire someone to read the text for accuracy myself after a few terms making this kind of money.

Too costly

[ewg]

I didn't even have time to fact-check this reply!

A million little pieces of shit

[Henry V .009]

The only people who believed Frey wanted to be fooled: Glory to Dr. Dolan, as they say.

Publishers aren't perfect.

[pahoran]

I don't know about yours, but my mother taught me not to believe everything I read / hear / see on TV.

Well hell...

[east coast]

I can't expect honesty from my nightly news let alone a biographical book.

Before anyone worries about the standards of Oprah's latest gem we should have something in place to hold "news" publicists/broadcasters responsible for their tripe.

Re:AI people have a job to do....

[Repton]

Already exists --- we just have to ask google.

For example: "Global warming is true" --- 774 results. "Global warming is false" --- 352 results. Case closed!

(in other controversial results, evolution wins by 76,000 to 21,000 and Santa Claus is clearly real.)

Re:No incentive

[TubeSteak]

In this particular case, there's the possibility that the publisher lady already knew that Frey's book was BS.

This article here http://www.slate.com/id/2135069/ refers to a 2003 article http://www.startribune.com/389/v-print/story/20927 9.html entitled

Memoir writers walk a wavy line between reality and invention: What author James Frey and others said in 2003 about challenges to the truthfulness of his bestselling nonfiction memoir.

Oprah's Book Club should have stuck to the classics.

Re:Who really gives a fuck?

[pilkul]

It matters because the book was billed as an honest account of a serious addiction and how to get out of it. If people's view of addiction is twisted by misinformation, that can lead to misunderstandings and inappropriate methods of coping for addicts and their close ones.

Re:Why isn't Oprah being scrutinized?

[karmaflux]

The mayor of the fucking city has more than a slight responsibility to figure out what is going on in his city before he goes to hang out with Oprah and spread bullshit. If some wild-eyed nutjob hobo claims murder in the Superdome, it can be safely ignored. When the primary governmental authority in New Orleans claims murder in the Superdome, he had damn well better be sure it happened. That's called "responsibility," and it comes with the job. This isn't some international crime ring. It doesn't require James Bond. Either there was murder in the Superdome or there wasn't, and if Ray Nagin can't be bothered to find out which it is before he shoots his mouth off on national syndication, then he's not doing his job.

Re:AI people have a job to do....

[Athenais]

Or to make it a single result with a nifty flash anim, GoogleFight. :)