en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stringer_Bell
1 correction found
In 2019, political writer Adam Serwer apparently coined the term "The Stringer Bell Rule" for the adage "don't keep notes on a criminal conspiracy".
This sentence is incorrect because Adam Serwer was already using the phrase “the Stringer Bell rule” in a 2014 MSNBC article, five years before his 2019 Atlantic piece.
Full reasoning
The claim says Serwer apparently coined the term in 2019. But Serwer used the phrase "the Stringer Bell rule" in an MSNBC article published on April 28, 2014, in the sentence: “The two cases are technically being heard separately, but both involve violations of the Stringer Bell rule.” That is direct evidence the term was in Serwer’s published usage at least five years earlier than 2019.
His 2019 Atlantic article did prominently reuse the phrase in the headline “Trump's Inner Circle Keeps Violating the Stringer Bell Rule,” but that article therefore cannot be where he first coined it. The 2019 date in this sentence is false.
2 sources
- Supreme Court to decide cops' power to search cell phones
Apr. 28, 2014 ... “The two cases are technically being heard separately, but both involve violations of the Stringer Bell rule.”
- Trump Associates Keep Taking Notes on Conspiracies
January 25, 2019 ... “Trump's Inner Circle Keeps Violating the Stringer Bell Rule”