Feb 25, 2004 | Q
I love when reporters do what they’re supposed to do — dig into claims made to them, figure out if they’re being sold a story or told the truth, and then let the world know what they’ve found. In fifteen minutes tonight, I stumbled across two good examples of this: Brian Montopoli’s fact checking of Newsweek’s item stating that Wes Clark started the Kerry-and-his-intern rumor, and Fred Kaplan’s exploration of the Bush campaign’s claim that Kerry voted against a slew of weapons systems.
Of course, the sad side of all this is that for every reporter that finds the truth, there are a dozen that swallow the lie wholesale and haven’t the slightest compunction about regurgitating it to their readers.
Nice work! Unfortunately, the average American won’t figure it out — compare the readership of Kaplan’s site to the number of people who watch The Apprentice or Who Wants to Marry my Hairy Bachelorette? I heard recently that 38% of American males, age 18 - 25, get their news from late-night variety shows, such as The Tonight Show. Scary! Especially when we stop to consider that most of the people Jay televises when he goes Streetwalking can vote, and a bunch of them can probably even find their way to their polling place!
• Posted by: Elderbear on Feb 27, 2004, 8:21 PM