How Fiction Travels in True Stories
Years ago, I used to sit in church and scribble comments along the edges of a paper bulletin, a way of quietly responding to and criticizing the sermon in real time. Hardly a Sunday would go by that I didn’t hear something from the pulpit that I found to be contradictory or misleading. But the modern church was never really designed for that, not in most cases, with members of the congregation fact-checking the pastor from their seats. Church is more of a sing, listen, go home scenario. I never much fit in.
Still, what I brought with me, in my departure from that world, was a belief in the value of criticism. And by that, I don’t mean criticizing every message of every person in a cycle of mistrust, as if everyone had ulterior motives and malicious intent. Rather, that in our complicated search for truth, it is possible to recognize rumors, conspiracies, and speculations within larger statements, to set aside foolishness and find clarity of understanding, to the best of our ability, individually and collectively.
Case in point. Since May 25, the news of George Floyd’s death has come in waves of public conversation, as varied in truth as they have been in fiction. It started with a picture. Black man on the ground. White officer grinning, knee on his neck. Murder. No question. Or, wait, did someone say Floyd had a counterfeit bill, and cocaine in his car? Where did I read that? Doesn’t matter. Still murder. But if he did, he should have known better. No cocaine? Just the counterfeit? Did he mean to have it? Well, it’s still not right. It’s wrong. It’s unjust. Except for that time I heard Floyd pointed a gun at a pregnant woman. He shouldn’t have done that. Unless. Oh. Someone made that part up? You mean, he got arrested more than a decade ago for something kind of like that, but not exactly, served his time, and was actually making a positive difference in his community? Hell, I don’t know what to believe anymore.
People say that a lot these days. About not knowing what to believe, about anything. As if the truth were really so hidden. But rather than dispel every rumor, or lose time regurgitating the shadows of a Reddit post that somehow made its way onto a few half-baked websites you can find on Google, I want to offer three simple reasons why this article from the Houston Chronicle is a prime example of credibility, why this honest and thorough account of George Floyd is the among the best, most trustworthy versions you will read on the Web, and should be measured as a benchmark for the kinds of sources we ought to give our attention, on any issue.
NUMBER OF AUTHORS. This report was written by four journalists, combining their years of experience, each one checking the account of the other, making sure their information isn’t contradictory, that it lines up without misstating or falsifying notes in the final draft, the one they published together. Errors happen, of course, but those who get paid to write for local and nationwide papers have no incentive to fabricate their information or risk the reputation of the paper.
PROXIMITY OF THE REPORT. Floyd was originally from Houston, allowing those at the Chronicle to get much closer to his family and his original story than anyone else, including any of a dozen well-respected papers outside of Houston. Obviously quotes and accounts can be biased, but that doesn’t negate the credibility of direct, gathered information by those close to it.
DATE OF THE ARTICLE. Getting to the truth of a matter takes time, it takes patience, it takes waiting, despite our collective temptation to want answers in a hurry, especially for someone whose story simply cannot be told five minutes after we find out who he is. This piece of writing was roughly 10 days in the making, and rightly so.
Unfortunately, it’s the waiting that leaves room for shadows, for a million of us to turn our heads at the flicker of a comment, something we heard, something we read in passing, then never checked, never asked, never clarified. And there it sits, bunched up in a lexicon of bits and pieces we try and string together as a single story for someone else.
Getting to the truth takes time, it takes accountability, it takes a calm and honest conversation. And it starts with the work of good journalism, from people like Gabrielle Banks, Julian Gill, John Tedesco, and Jordan Rubio.
