I’ll never forget seeing my first GFE in print. For journalists, few things are more humiliating. A GFE is a mistake—a misspelled name, the wrong number of attendees at a city hall meeting, a misreported batting average. But in journalism, we don’t call it a mistake. It’s a factual error. A Gross Factual Error.
I have several GFEs in my rap sheet. Some have been small and slipped by unnoticed by everyone but myself and my cringing copyeditor. Some have been horrifyingly large, like the time I misspelled someone’s name for an entire article, or when I went to review an Irish Pub for St. Patrick’s Day only to find out from the owner after the article was printed that they are a Scottish Pub. That one still makes me queasy to think about.
Still, to an outsider, the term Gross Factual Error may seem melodramatic. So you got the street name wrong, or the date mixed up—everyone makes mistakes!
But to a journalist, it’s not about the mistake—it’s about our responsibility to the public. Journalists have a platform that most people do not. They hold a public trust. And because of this, they are held to a higher standard of communication. Writing must be clear and accurate. The facts might provoke, but the writing should not.
Journalists get a lot of grief these days—not all of it without reason—but their internal code of ethics is admirable and it is worth noting the principles behind them when we consider alternative media platforms. Read more»
Mary Van Weelden | “‘Provocative Communication’ Isn’t an Excuse for Doug Wilson (And it isn’t for us, either)” | August 27, 2025
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Mary Van Weelden
Mary Van Weelden is Content Manager at Sola Media, a graduate of Westminster Seminary California, a writer, a pastor’s wife, a former journalist, and a recovering taco snob.
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