Joe Concha: Fact-checkers no different than politicians, media they're supposed to hold to account
PolitiFact has done as many fact-checks on Virginia's lieutenant governor as on Jen Psaki
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This article is adapted from Joe Concha's video commentary.
Do the fact-checkers need fact-checkers? Let's go down the rhetorical road!
Fact-checkers are supposed to be the last line of defense against misinformation. Objective. Unbiased. The original fact-first crowd.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Well, like many organizations that involve news and journalism, fact-checkers have mostly existed to pick a side. A side against conservatives.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, left, speaks with Virginia first lady Suzanne Youngkin during an inauguration ceremony, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
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Exhibit A comes this week, after PolitiFact went out of its way to rule against Republican Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, who claimed that, "The Loudoun County School Board spent about $300,000 … to bring Critical Race Theory in some form or fashion to the school system."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PolitiFact called the claim "mostly false" … Enter Chrissy Clark, an education reporter for the Daily Caller, who has the receipts.
There you see them, far more than $300,000 for "The Equity Collaborative," which is code for Critical Race Theory. While Sears did say "last year," the receipt showed more than $100,000 paid to the group in 2020 alone, and far more than that in the last two years, which PolitiFact's fact-check doesn't note.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By the way, this is the same PolitiFact that has only fact-checked White House press secretary Jen Psaki – after hundreds of briefings – twice.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 5, 2022. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
No check on Psaki's claim that Republicans want to defund the police. No check on her claim that Donald Trump is actually to blame for the skyrocketing surge in illegal migrants crossing the southern border. No check on her scolding reporters for saying Americans had been left behind in Afghanistan.
And when President Biden compared any American who opposed his election overhaul push to Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis, Politifact was there to protect the president by applying … context.
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It's not just PolitiFact, by the way.
The CNN fact-checker, who was on TV more than William Devane during the Trump years, is barely on the tube now.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Because we wouldn't want to insult what's left of CNN's viewers by challenging the president on any consistent basis, now would we?
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Fact-checking. It was a once a noble profession. But now, it's no different than the politicians and media they're supposed to hold accountable without fear or favor to party.