Vetting

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Vetting is a process of examination and evaluation, generally referring to performing a background check on someone before offering them employment. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determine their usefulness.

1 Origin
2 Political selection
3 Media
4 Software
5 Finance
6 References
7 See also

Origin

To vet was originally a horse-racing term, referring to the requirement that a horse be checked for health and soundness by a veterinarian before being allowed to race. Thus, it has taken the general meaning "to check."

It is a figurative contraction of veterinarian originated in the mid-17th century. The colloquial abbreviation dates to the 1860s; the verb form of the word, meaning "to treat an animal," came a few decades later—according to the Oxford English Dictionary the earliest known usage is 1891—and was applied primarily in a horse-racing context. ("He vetted the stallion before the race," "you should vet that horse before he races," etc.) By the early 1900s, vet had begun to be used as a synonym for evaluate, especially in the context of searching for flaws. ^[1]

Political selection

Politicians are often thoroughly vetted. For example, in the United States, a party's presidential nominee must choose a vice-presidential candidate to accompany him or her on the ticket. Prospective vice-presidential candidates must undergo thorough evaluation by a team of advisers acting on behalf of the nominee.^[2] In later stages of the vetting process, the team will examine such items as a prospective vice-presidential candidate's finances, personal conduct, and previous coverage in the media.^[2]

Media

In the journalism field, newspaper, periodical, and television news articles or stories may be vetted by fact-checkers, whose job it is to check whether factual assertions made in news copy are correct. However, fact-checking is a time-consuming and costly process, so stories in daily publications are typically not fact-checked. Reporters are expected to check their own facts, sometimes with the aid of an in-house reference library. Information which is verified by two independent sources is commonly stated as fact.

In book publishing, the duty of fact-checking commonly falls to copy editors.

Even when published or televised material is not specifically fact-checked, it is often vetted by a company's legal department to avoid committing slander or libel.

Software

Vetting is also a reference to software development. The process of vetting code refers to ensuring a build of software meets a set of requirements before the build is passed to the quality assurance environment for further testing.

Finance

Vetting can refer to the process of analyzing stocks, bonds, and any other securities and financial instruments before committing money.

References

^ Juliet Lapidos, Vetting Vet The origins of vet, verb tr.. http://www.slate.com/id/2199254/ (September 3, 2008).
^ ^a ^b See, e.g., Ben Smith, Richardson Defense Raises Questions, Politico, March 8, 2007