"Everything is a big secret." A fact checker's quest to ensure remarkable reporting stands on solid ground
Amid a feature about Haiti's resilience and ruin, Jameson Francisque's resolve to verify key details shows why fact checking is vital in journalism.
In September, Long Lead published Jacob Kushner’s “An Unnatural Disaster,” a feature charting the birth, life, and gradual destruction of Canaan — a city that rose from the rubble of Haiti’s catastrophic 2010 earthquake. Through intimate portraits of residents, Kushner chronicles how 250,000 people built a functioning city without government support, only to see it fall prey to the gang violence that has consumed much of Haiti following President Jovenel Moïse’s 2021 assassination. Reported across nearly a decade and bolstered by Allison Shelley’s photography, the Pulitzer Center-supported piece stands as both a testament to Haitians’ remarkable resilience and a sobering examination of how the collapse of state institutions can unravel even the most determined community-building efforts.
Behind this sweeping narrative stands the meticulous work of fact-checker Jameson Francisque. A 32-year-old former journalist living in Canada who left Haiti in 2023 amid escalating violence, Francisque brought both journalistic rigor and deep cultural understanding to the task of verifying the story's complex details. His work, while invisible to readers, was essential to maintaining the piece's authority and accuracy — particularly challenging given Canaan's limited official documentation and the complex political dynamics at play. In an era of increasing misinformation, fact-checkers like Francisque serve as journalism's vital but often unseen safeguards.
The challenges of fact-checking a story of this scope were considerable, especially from abroad. “It was complicated at first just to reach people,” Francisque tells Long Lead via WhatsApp. “Some sources were easier to contact than others, and with internet problems in Haiti, some days I couldn’t connect with anyone at all.”
The story’s decade-long timeline brought its own hurdles. “Sometimes people don’t remember exactly what they said six or seven years ago,” Francisque explains. “And unlike other countries, you don’t have actual laws or regulations in Haiti that guarantee access to information. Everything is a big secret, and you have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone to get anything.”
Haiti’s deteriorating security further complicated matters: “When Jacob was reporting, you could actually go to Canaan without security concerns, Francisque notes. “But now things have changed. I had one source who was initially afraid to talk because she’s still there.”
Fact-checking such a complex story demanded a methodical approach. “I printed out the whole story and first verified everything I could without talking to anyone — dates, events, anything I could find online,” Francisque said. His process included watching graphic footage of a lynching to confirm details of the incident. “That was very painful; I had to view images that are hard to process.” Only after researching every verifiable element did he begin the time-consuming task of interviewing sources. “I spoke with people for two or three hours each, because they had to explain a lot. But since I’d already checked the events and other parts of the story, it was easier to confirm what I already knew.”
Fact-checking a story about Haiti required more of Francisque than simply tracking down sources and verifying events. Even basic online research was fraught. With internet access expanding rapidly in the country, the line between legitimate news and misinformation has blurred — a trend that’s being felt around the world. “People in Haiti are discovering the internet, so they end up consuming everything — both good information and bad.” Francisque relied heavily on a small number of reputable outlets in fact-checking “An Unnatural Disaster.” “If I couldn’t find information from one of these reliable sources, I noted in the fact-checking process that certain sources might not be as trustworthy,” he says. “But sometimes, that’s all we have.”
Kushner emphasized the value of Francisque's work. “For a writer, there’s nothing more comforting than working with a stellar fact-checker, because you can rest assured that by the time the piece runs, everything is correct,” he says. Having a Creole-speaking fact-checker was crucial to reviewing everything from WhatsApp messages to voice notes with sources, Kushner adds. “Jameson was incredibly diligent. I love it when fact-checkers don’t just flag a problem but also offer a solution or do their own research to find supporting evidence, which he did repeatedly.” Along with editor Pooja Bhatia, Francisque helped transform Kushner’s years of reporting into a polished final piece. “I’m incredibly grateful to Long Lead for hiring both an incredible editor, Pooja Bhatia, and a stellar fact-checker, Jameson, specifically to turn this piece into what it became,” Kushner says.
In an age of social media and understaffed newsrooms, dedicated fact-checking has become something of a lost art. Some publications have scaled back their fact-checking departments, while others rely on writers to vet their own work. The rise of “citizen journalism” and the pressure to publish quickly have further eroded this vital layer of editorial oversight. Publications that still invest in rigorous fact-checking — especially for long-form narrative journalism — are increasingly rare. Yet as “An Unnatural Disaster” demonstrates, this painstaking process remains essential to producing journalism with lasting impact and authority.
The devaluation of fact-checking was highlighted again this month when Meta announced plans to end its fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The company’s decision to remove fact-checker oversight of potentially false claims is a blow to information integrity online. Stories like “An Unnatural Disaster” show why this trend is alarming. Without meticulous verification, complex narratives involving multiple timelines, contested events, and scant documentation become nearly impossible to tell with confidence. The work of fact-checkers like Francisque doesn’t just catch errors, it fosters trust among readers and sources alike.
Canaan’s story underscores the resilience of a community rising from disaster as well as the vital role of rigorous fact-checking in journalism. Without the painstaking work of fact-checkers like Jameson Francisque — who navigated both digital misinformation and real-world security concerns — an account of this complexity would collapse under the weight of unchecked rumor and incomplete records. As newsrooms face pressure to cut costs and publish quickly, “An Unnatural Disaster” reminds us that investing in factual accuracy isn’t optional; it’s the bedrock of journalism that aspires to inform and illuminate rather than merely persuade. By committing to the thorough, and often arduous, verification process, publications can preserve readers’ trust and ensure that the stories they tell truly stand the test of time.
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