Fact-Checking Explainers

Overview

An explainer's authority comes from being right. A reader who catches one confident, wrong claim stops trusting the rest of the piece, figures and all. This skill makes claim verification enforceable by tying every checkable claim to evidence you can point to, correcting it, or cutting it. It is not a proofreading pass and not advisory: it is the gate an explainer passes before it is delivered.

The Iron Law

NO EXPLAINER SHIPS WITH AN UNVERIFIED FACTUAL CLAIM.

Every checkable claim either traces to a source that supports it, gets corrected to match the source, or gets cut.

Apply the same resolution loop to every factual claim:

• Support it with an actual source passage you can point to.
• Correct it until it matches the source.
• Cut it when no source supports it.