The opening of a new food court Chipotle at the Mall in Columbia this week reminded me of the importance of one of the cardinal virtues of journalism: fact checking.

When I called to talk with someone from the company to confirm details about the opening, the spokeswoman mentioned as an aside toward the end of our conversation, “And we’re not owned by McDonald’s.”

This surprised me, as I had heard — from who knows where — that the company was actually owned by the fast food juggernaut. As in many urban legends, there is some truth to this one — McDonald’s owned a controlling stake in the company up until a few years ago, when it completely divested its interest.

They have no ties to the company now and have not for several years, but the story still persists.

While I wasn’t planning on mentioning McDonald’s one way or the other, I was glad to learn about my mistaken assumption. It’s surprising how much information we think we “know” turns out to actually not be true.

If you have any doubt of this, just browse through Snopes.com and see how many of the entries you’ve heard passed along as a true story.

Journalism tends to make one paranoid: We’re always double checking names, addresses, amounts of money, etc., and it’s situations like this that remind me why.

---

user comments (0)