Your Enormous Responsibility to Readers

And why it's so important to bring context and nuance to your writing

Google’s search engine algorithms aim to determine if stories are accurate, as opposed to just being full of words. In this effort, they place more responsibility for accuracy and context in stories about certain critical topics and subject matter, including personal finance and health, because the former can sink you and the latter can kill you.

That’s what I call an indicator. In this case, it’s indicative of the enormous responsibility of writers and publications, especially in certain verticals. Writers of any story that affect lives should pay serious attention to nuance and context—more so than, say, sports or fashion writers.

That should sound obvious, but it’s not just about getting it right. It’s about helping readers understand fact, supposition and potential balderdash. Sometimes that means overtly calling out bullshit. Other times it may mean a more subtle approach. Whether you state your skepticism outright over some dubious fact or questionable quote, or you coyly imply it, or let someone else’s quote do the dirty work, the takeaway is that you’ve got to communicate your doubts somehow.

Which means, of course, you first need to make sure you understand the veracity of the facts you present. Just because something has been claimed or stated—by a trustworthy official or an oft-cited study or a well-meaning resource site—does not mean it’s true. Duh. So yeah, check your facts. Now that you know if they’re supported or not…

Let readers know when you are wary of a fact, datapoint, study finding or quote. Help the reader view it in context so they can raise their own eyebrows. Some writes think they have to have all the answers. Worse, some writers think they do. When you admit you admit uncertainty, when you get on the reader’s side and talk with them, not at them, maybe with a little wink and a nod, you build your credibility.

Let’s consider how to think about the writer’s responsibility, what you can do to improve on this front, and look at a specific example pulled from a recent editing experience.

• Related: Writers Often Mislead Readers on Vital Statistics

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