Posts in January 8, 2016

Obituaries in modern United States newspapers are rarely fact-checked. Typically they are used by the newspaper as submitted, with the exception of formatting and other minor editing concerns. Biographical facts, dates, survivors are not usually fact-checked by the newspaper at all. The only ones that are are death notices for local notables or individuals who are known nationally. Chances are that Grandma’s obituary from 1980 was pretty much printed as submitted to the newspaper.