Journalism: If media “fact checkers” are just impartial guardians of the truth, how come they got their own facts wrong about Paul Ryan’s speech, and did so in a way that helped President Obama’s re-election effort?
Case in point was the rush of “fact check” stories claiming Ryan misled when he talked about a shuttered auto plant in his home state.
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler posted a piece — “Ryan misleads on GM plant closing in hometown” — saying Ryan “appeared to suggest” that Obama was responsible for the closure of a GM plant in Janesville, Wis.
“That’s not true,” Kessler said. “The plant was closed in December 2008, before Obama was sworn in.”
What’s not true are Kessler’s “facts.” Ryan didn’t suggest Obama was responsible for shuttering the plant. Instead, he correctly noted that Obama promised during the campaign that the troubled plant “will be here for another hundred years” if his policies were enacted.
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Most fact checking sites are not all that accurate. Snopes is well known for being a left-leaning couple who often flag rumors as false when facts are that the rumors have some truth in them. There are several instances where you can read “false” flagged rumors, but the text clearly shows that the rumors are not, in fact ‘false’, but contain a mixture of true and falsified statements, and example of one such point is in the text of this flagged as “false” report, if you care to look at the allegations and the discussions within: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp.
My question is if a person can make claims that he will”stop the seas from rising,heal the planet” and now see into the future a 100 years ,really need a fact checker ?Or is he not totally out of touch with reality?Do you really want that person in charge of anything?
No. that is why I am voting for Romney/Ryan. Need the physic out of office. His predictions have failed.