{"id":58027,"date":"2021-05-25T05:49:28","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T10:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58027"},"modified":"2021-05-25T05:49:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T10:49:28","slug":"fact-checking-takes-another-beating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58027","title":{"rendered":"“Fact-Checking” Takes Another Beating"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Fact-Checking” Takes Another Beating<\/a><\/h3>\n

Fact-checkers are great, but the media business keeps trying to solve its credibility problem by misrepresenting what they do<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The soul of rectitude testifies in the Senate<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The news business just can\u2019t stop clowning itself. The latest indignity is an international fact-checking debacle originating, of all places, at a \u201cfestival of fact-checking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Poynter Institute is perhaps the most respected think tank in our business, an organization seeking to \u201cfortify journalism\u2019s role in a free society<\/a>,\u201d among other things through its sponsorship of the fact-checking outlet PolitiFact. A few weeks back, it held a virtual convention called the \u201cUnited Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-day event featured special guests Christiane Amanpour, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Brian Stelter, and Senator Mark Warner \u2014 a lineup of fact \u201cstars\u201d whose ironic energy recalled the USO\u2019s telethon-execution of Terrance and Phillip before the invasion of Canada in\u00a0South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.\u00a0<\/em>Tickets were $50, but if you wanted a \u201cprivate virtual happy hour\u201d with Stelter, you needed to pay $100 for the \u201cVIP Experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the confab,\u00a0PolitiFact\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Katie Sanders asked Fauci, \u201cAre you still confident that [Covid-19] developed naturally?\u201d To which the convivial doctor answered, \u201cNo, I\u2019m not convinced of that,\u201d going on to say \u201cwe\u201d should continue to investigate all hypotheses about how the pandemic began:<\/p>\n