My editor wants me to find out if a viral 'historical' photo is actually from a B-movie set. How is this my job? What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever had to verify for a story?

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That example, verifying a viral photo, sounds like it could be a fun one. Years ago I was working as a freelance magazine fact checker and I'd get called in on all kinds of assignments. One I remember just because it was odd and fun was that I had to find out the weight of one M&M candy. I called the corporate HQ for Mars and tracked down a guy who was said to know everything about M&Ms. I got the answer (he knew how many were in a one-pound bag and we did the math). He also gave me some other cool factoids, including a ratio they had for the various colors that went into a typical bag. That was for a feature which wound up being killed, but I got paid and had an amusing time of it.

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I had to chase down whether a UFO sighting video was authentic. Turns out it was a drone with Christmas lights, flown by a high schooler.

Trying to hunt down teenage fans on the internet to see if tey actually saw a celeb or if they made it up for clicks. Research for me is just seeing if people are engagement hungry on social media or genuine (and guess which one it normally is?)

Welcome to journalism: one minute it’s politics, the next it’s Scooby-Doo detective work.

That sounds equal parts funny and stressful! You’re clearly trusted to handle tricky details, though — that says a lot about your reliability and curiosity.

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