It pains me to say that Marketplace has stumbled.

As the founding producer and editor of the show, a factual mistake is one big fear…but finding oneself duped or used is the biggest fear of all.

When it comes to a segment called My Life is True that they recently aired, it sounds like they got taken to the factual cleaners by one Leo Webb (true name, who knows?) and by what sounds like eh-editing. Most of the claims Mr. Webb made in the commentary don’t check out.

The Washington Post uncovered it and took Marketplace to task. Boy, did they ever.

Marketplace has issued an on-air retraction but, a no-no in this age of transparency, now also removed the offending commentary, copy and comments from its website.

To be totally open about all this, there are some My Life is True segments on PRX. Not this one in question, mercifully. As with all 30,000 programs on PRX, the claims and integrity of the work rest with the producers until a question arises. One has. I have queried the producers.

The segments are absolutely compelling and moving and very well done. We have liked them, promoted them and aired them on our Remix service. But if the title makes a claim to them being ‘true’ stories, I would like think they are (as much as human memory can recall a truth). And, that the producers have done some checking to make certain.

Journalism can be a real pain in the ass. If only we could believe what people tell us, our mics and notebooks at the ready. But, you have to ask the hard question. Check things out. Even when it is hard and it is a bad day. Today, I have to ask, too.

Some people forget. Some get mixed up. Some make things up because they don’t want to say ‘I don’t know…’ And some just lie through their teeth to get on the air.

It’s a bummer to admit, but you have to possess something of a bullshit meter to be an editor; I’ve caught a number of bogus stories because a claim or an account just didn’t sound right. “Really?”, you ask. Or a little poking reveals something to not be entirely up to snuff.

No editor catches everything. A good liar can get by the best editors. (Hello, New York TImes and Washington Post.) I like to think that is what happened to the good, earnest people at Marketplace.