rare // Classified ScoopSix fact-checkers on the agency's roster now sign Form 7-D, which promises nothing about accuracy and a great deal about legal fees.
Verdict: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5). Sturdier than Form 7-C. Priced as if it were sturdier than that.
Fenhallow & Dray Talent Management, of Suite 4, above The Wash & Dash on Tallow Row, issued a revised standard contract on Friday to the six clients on its Verification roster. The agency said the revision follows the arrest in Egypt of six journalists from a fact-checking and investigative outlet, whom police accuse of spreading misinformation on behalf of a banned organisation. We read all eleven pages of Form 7-D, including the one that is only a signature line.
What we liked
Clause 9, the Accuracy Warranty, is gone. Form 7-C required each client to "warrant the correctness of every statement published under the Agency's representation." Form 7-D requires a "good-faith effort," which is easier to meet and, according to the agency's own table of precedents, has been met by every client on the roster 100 percent of the time.
The new Clause 14(c), Detention Rider, entitles any client held for more than 36 hours to a phone call from an agent within 48 hours. Build quality is good: the rider is printed on 120-gram stock and survives folding.
The commission on corrections falls from 15 percent to 12 percent. Managing Partner Odalric Fenhallow, a goblin, told GNN the change was made on the record and on purpose. "We were taking a cut of every time a client said they were wrong," Fenhallow said. "That is a conflict. Corrections are now cheaper than the original error, which is the first time that has been true in this building."
What we did not
The Legal Defence Reserve of 6,000 gold pieces is still held at the agency's former bank, whose deposits were insured by the Goblin Deposit Insurance Corporation. The Corporation is bankrupt, having placed 100 percent of its funds in PachinkoCoin days before the pachinko ban. Form 7-D describes the reserve as "insured to the fullest extent available." That extent is nil.
Battery life is poor. The agency's emergency line runs on a handset that holds a charge for 41 minutes, which is shorter than the 48-hour window the rider promises and longer than most calls to it have lasted.
The clients' professional category has also been renamed. "Fact-Checker" is now "Explainer (Verification-Adjacent)," a change that adds eleven characters to every business card and removes none of the risk.
Should you buy it
If you are one of the six clients, you have already signed it, and the agency would like the original back by Monday. Prospective clients should weigh a lower correction rate and a 48-hour call against a reserve that insures nothing and a handset that lasts 41 minutes.
The agency has asked that reviewers note it also offers Form 7-E, which is Form 7-D without the Detention Rider and 3 percent cheaper.
