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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Judging the Fact Czecher

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
- Albert Einstein

Internet Freedom Day

The Art Of Telling The Truth: These days fact-checking can seem like a lost art. Today I just want to link to stories about the various levels of the media's ability to undertake Fact checking

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. — Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

We are all overwhelmed with information that claims to be factual, but even the most punctilious researcher, writer, and journalist can sometimes get it wrong, so checking facts has become a more pressing task...
New York Times’ public editor caused an online storm overnight when he asked readers whether the paper should become a "truth vigilante".

Political fact checkers seem to perform a vital public service for American democracy. Websites such as FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com and the Washington Post’s Fact Checker blog have grown famous in the last four years for scanning statements by politicians and evaluating their factual accuracy. After every speech at the recent Republican and Democratic party conventions, the media turned to the fact checkers for their judgement. Had the speakers been truthful, or had they earned the scornful ratings of “4 Pinnocchios” or “Pants on Fire”? Lost Cause of Fact Checking?

Some Fact Checkers Are Better Than Others ability to Czech (sic) facts PolitiFact's 'Lie of the Year' Turns Out to Be True.

Glenn Kessler [“Welcome to the biggest campaign fibs of 2012,” Dec. 23] highlighted a recent study of fact-checkers, which found that his “column split its ratings almost equally between the two parties.” That apparently confirms his view, stated earlier in the piece, that “there is little difference between Democrats and Republicans in terms of twisting the facts and being misleading when it suits their political purposes.” political purposes