'This Week': PolitiFact to fact-check the newsmaker interviews featured on the program.

[babylonsister]

Now if they'd only fact-check the likes of George Will et al.


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023281.php

In Praise Of Fact-Checking


IN PRAISE OF FACT-CHECKING.... For all the complaining I do about the Sunday public-affairs talk shows -- I have been known to be critical, from time to time -- it's only fair to credit one of the shows for doing the right thing. ABC News' Jake Tapper had this item yesterday.

As you may know, we're trying out some new things on THIS WEEK. Two weeks ago we started live-tweeting of the show (which will next happen at 10 am ET this Sunday).

This week we've invited Pulitzer Prize winning website PolitiFact to fact-check the newsmaker interviews featured on the program.

The idea was first proposed by NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen and I thought it worth a try. PolitiFact editor Bill Adair, the St Petersburg Times' Washington bureau chief, and I know each other from fact-checking forums and such (I was at the Fact Check desk during the 2004 elections) so I asked him if he'd be willing to give it a try. He was.

Obviously I aspire to fact-check newsmakers during the show itself, but in addition to that, starting this Sunday April 12, after the show, you can read Politifact's fact checks on ABCNews.com/This Week and at Politifact.com.

Nicely done. I know "This Week" is likely to experience something of an overhaul when Christiane Amanpour becomes the new host, but here's hoping teaming up with PolitiFact becomes a standard feature.

And if we're really fortunate, the show's competitors will follow "This Week's" lead.

—Steve Benen

[underpants]

1. What a sad state- statements of fact are a rare and highlighted feature on a "news" program

[Lasher]

2. I'm amazed.

A Sunday talk show that will hold guests accountable for their lies.

[malaise]

3. Excellent idea

ReTHUGS will be exposed big time.

[ErinBerin84]

4. I remember

hack Howard Kurtz doing a segment on "should news anchors do more fact checking?" His incredible conclusion was, that news anchors are really just too busy to have all the facts to correct DURING interviews....wtf, they do this for a LIVING! We are supposed to believe that they don't know the wild lies that come out of certain people's mouths, when we do?

[KharmaTrain]

5. So They Install This Before The "Librul" Host Takes Over?

I look forward to Christine getting her long-overdue show and know that she will elevate what has become a cesspool of spin and talking points. While I applaud incorporating Fact Check into this show (and hope others do follow suit), I just can't help notice this move just before the change is made...keeping the new host on a short leash.

[babylonsister]

6. Tapper will have a few months to determine if it works for him. I don't

think Amanpour takes over the reins for awhile-August maybe? I just wonder what took them so long and would love other programs to follow suit.

[KharmaTrain]

8. It's Always The Ratings...

This Week has been in the ratings dumpers since the days of David Brinkley. Overall Sunday numbers are down as these shows have become cattle calls for political spin. I blame the "full Ginsburg" where these shows are flooded with the same guests...or one guest will make the rounds at all the shows...giving the same talking points. There's no there there.

Looks like ABC is gonna try to shake things up a little. The fun will be how long it takes for a lie to slip and the fact check to come back. If it's only done on the website or after the show, it is a nice feature but of no real value as the tactic for many of these Sunday spinners is to get the lies out early and often and when the fact check comes out later in the day it's too late, the misinformation and the dirty deed is done.

:hi:

[DCKit]

7. They're going to break the Internets with their searches.

Every word, including "the", "and" and "is" will need to be scrutinized for truthiness.

[emulatorloo]

9. FACT CHECKING! What a novel idea for journalists. LOL

I guess ABC is incapable of fact checking on its own.