It Matters Who Writes What

Fact-checking matters!

Yesterday, Robert Reich, professor, writer, and former Secretary of Labor, sent out a Substack titled A Remarkable Message, attributing it as a text from Liz Cheney. It is a remarkable piece of passionate writing—a call to action for Democrats—but it was written by a woman on Facebook named Dr. Pru Lee; Facebook name: Pru Pru. She is a powerful writer, and the fact that Reich, who would know better than most of us whether her references were sound, got fooled into thinking it was by Cheney actually makes me feel better. When I first read it on Facebook, I had no idea whether some of her suggestions are valid, even though they sound great. There is no information online about Dr. Lee. No credentials. I don’t know what her doctorate is in. Her bio says she’s a published author, but I can find no publications attributed to her. I know from a video she made on her way to her first demonstration that she identifies as “brown”—the reason she was reluctant to go to demonstrations before her first one recently. I know she lives in Atlanta, GA. Other than that, zip. Perhaps she is a therapist who wants to keep a low profile so clients can find her. Or maybe there’s another reason why she would not list credentials. She has 12,000 followers and is listed as a public figure, and she is a terrific writer who apparently knows her stuff, but how come? I don’t know.

Nevertheless, it matters who we listen to because not everybody is an expert.

What is an expert? Who is a professional?

I am a published novelist, journalist, and former managing editor of Spirituality & Health magazine. I never went to journalism school, but I learned on the job. I learned to check credentials because it is mind-boggling how many people with none think they are qualified to tell other people what to do or write articles suggesting a medical treatment that turns out to be anecdotal stuff from a friend who said something worked for her PMS.

For writers: If you are writing nonfiction and presenting yourself as an expert, you should be an expert. That means you’ve published on the topic, you work professionally (are paid) in your area or you teach the topic, you have academic credentials in the topic, you have undergone training where you were evaluated by knowledgeable people in the field and you have been tested and substantiated as an expert.

For readers: Before you take some Facebook post or a meme as gospel, ask who wrote it. Because this stuff is passed around, often without source attribution, like a message in the game of Telephone, you may have to do some digging. But often the answer can come from one click on Snopes.

A meme attributed to a Native American medicine person actually originates as a “channeled message” from some psychic.

A post written as original research by a political analyst with zero credentials other than the title he’s given himself is actually cobbled together from reputable news sources that do firsthand reporting and have fact-checked their story.

If you can find a reputable source for the material and it’s good, pass it on with that source in an attribution.

If you can’t find a reputable source and the attributed writer has no credentials, don’t pass it on. You are not helping anybody by spreading possibly false information.

How do you know what’s reputable information or opinion?

Easy peasy: the writer gives sources! The sources are good.

Yes, people can fake sources. Check footnotes. In the case of one bestselling book, I’m told that they all loop back to the author’s website which does not have reputable sources.

We are in an information house of funny mirrors.

My advice, as a former managing editor who had to investigate this stuff, is to err on the side of skepticism. Do not pass on information until you’ve done some checking.

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Betsy Robinson is an editor, fiction writer, journalist, and playwright. She has written about books for Publishers Weekly, Lithub, Oh Reader, and many other publications. Her novels Cats on a Pole and The Spectators were published by Kano Press in 2024. She writes funny stories about flawed people and examines our herd culture. www.BetsyRobinson-writer.com.