The fact checkers
When I was watching the wires daily as an online news editor, one of top picks to read on the internet was AP’s “FACT CHECK”.
Now, I don’t know if it’s an old or new initiative, or if the other major wire services do it for their domestic markets, say AFP for France, Reuters and PA for the UK, but I think it’s a good one.
I suppose it’s generally fair to say that the wires do more straight-down-the-line reporting. One can argue that all journalism is subjective and can or should/shouldn’t be objective, but it’s refreshing to see these — what I like to term “clearing-the-air” stories — out there amongst the MSNBCs-and-FOX-News-polarising stances.
But it’s not about finding the centre/middle ground of any story either. If the Earth is round (and we have proven scientifically that it is), do we still quote the expert opinion of someone who says it’s round, and balance it with someone who says it’s flat? In the sense these “FACT CHECK” pieces hopefully dissect controversial stories and lay out what’s political spin and what’s fact. Will they be always correct? I doubt so. But I’m sure that at the same time, there’ll be plenty of people on the web fact-checking these fact checks — always a good thing.
After that, it’s up to people to decide how they want to view the issues being debated.
Here’s a few recent FACT CHECK articles by AP:
FACT CHECK: Is Iraq combat really over for US?
FACT CHECK: Islam already lives near ground zero
FACT CHECK: Stimulus assessments overly optimistic
FACT CHECK: Palin’s Book Goes Rogue on Some Facts
