And even if fact-check stories don’t persuade every reader, the research and digging that go into them—and that take the coverage past he-said, she-said—should be de rigueur.
“If someone says something that is wrong, you can’t legitimize the claim,” Gomez said. “You can’t just write that Mandel says jobs are going to China on one hand, and then on the other hand write that Brown says he is full of crap.”
That’s especially true in this race, where there’s so much at stake. The contest has already drawn more outside money—$5 million—than any other Senate race in the country. And the Senate’s thin Democratic majority could hang in the balance, as noted in a recent Columbus Dispatch story by Jessica Wehrman.
One thing is for sure: Burger King won’t be the only place to find a Whopper in coming months. Reporters need to dig in more and find the real meat for their audiences.
"And there’s a reason deceptions and falsehoods persist in the face of fact-checking. Gomez spoke to experts including Dartmouth College professor and CJR contributor Brendan Nyhan, who is quoted as follows: “Our research finds that corrections of misinformation frequently fail to change people’s minds and sometimes makes things worse. It’s not clear how many people are swayed by a fact-check.”"
You know why this is right? Because "fact-checkers" like PolitiFact have been shown to be nothing but partisan jokes who have nice writers that write nicely in nicey nicey college speak...
You know just like how they used to write how it was scientifically correct that blacks aren't human and jews belong in ovens...
People have relearned to ignore the well written but poorly researched and non-logical arguments of the snake oil salesman of which groups like PolitiFact fall into.
#1 Posted by robotech master, CJR on Thu 29 Mar 2012 at 04:51 PM
...or perhaps they've chosen to live in ghettos of facile escapism carefully constructed of just-so stories whose internal and external inconsistencies are blamed on one or more convenient outgroups. But enough about Southern politics, Horatio Alger and Ayn Rand.
#2 Posted by Jonathan, CJR on Thu 29 Mar 2012 at 06:05 PM
third graf and there's the Nazi reference already. A possible Godwin's law record. Bonus points for non-sequitur.
#3 Posted by edward ericson jr., CJR on Fri 30 Mar 2012 at 07:36 PM
"third graf and there's the Nazi reference already. A possible Godwin's law record. Bonus points for non-sequitur."
Yeah, usually he starts shouting about hitler and black people after he's lost an argument and I've started running up the score. Something about this article must have stung a sweet spot.
#4 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Fri 30 Mar 2012 at 11:53 PM
"third graf and there's the Nazi reference already. A possible Godwin's law record. Bonus points for non-sequitur."
Yeah, usually he starts shouting about hitler and black people after he's lost an argument and I've started running up the score. Something about this article must have stung a sweet spot.
#5 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Fri 30 Mar 2012 at 11:56 PM
Like so much of history ignore people have no idea what godwin's law says of which the 3rd/4th/5th(double post) posts would all fall under it.
#6 Posted by robotech master, CJR on Sat 31 Mar 2012 at 12:45 AM