Farewell to a Legacy Journalist
This week, we are saying goodbye to another prominent figure in mainstream media.
Glen Kessler, known for his role as a fact-checker at the Washington Post and the creator of the “Pinocchio” rating system, is leaving after nearly thirty years. He has been part of the Post for 27 years and led the fact-checking section for 15. Kessler announced his departure via LinkedIn.
He mentioned that the current political climate made it a significant time to move on, expressing a desire to continue scrutinizing politicians. Kessler hinted at plans to write a book. Over the years, he received criticism from both political sides, yet he felt that many readers appreciated his attempts to clarify political statements amidst the chaos of rhetoric.
Personally, I found Kessler’s section invaluable during my early days at Daily Caller as a Media Reporter. It quickly became obvious to me that there were different standards when it came to rating claims from Republicans versus Democrats. For example, one recent fact check labeled a misleading statement by Trump as “false,” while a comparable claim made by a Democrat was merely termed an “exaggeration.”
So far this year, Kessler has produced 55 fact checks; notably, four were not focused on Republicans or the Trump administration. Yet, some of the most stark examples of perceived bias appeared during Trump’s presidency, particularly regarding the extensive database dedicated to “Trump’s Lies.” When Biden took office in January 2021, Kessler announced his final tally for Trump but delayed the launch of a similar database for Biden for over a week.
In fact, some reviewers noticed discrepancies in Kessler’s evaluations of Biden compared to Trump. For instance, while the former president had a database capturing his numerous false claims, Biden’s first checks seemed to be delayed or even less critical initially.
Reflecting on Kessler’s approach, I recall my concern about how he classified Trump’s statements. In 2019, I examined Kessler’s assertions and found some claims labeled as “false” did not quite hold up under scrutiny. His method seemed to inflate the number of lies, as he grouped multiple related statements as one, thus amplifying Trump’s total “lying” count disproportionately.
Currently, there are no indications that Kessler will be replaced, which might be a notable shift for the Washington Post’s fact-checking segment.
Other Observations
Some highlights on my radar this week include:
- Trump’s remarks about the mayor of London, calling him a “nasty guy.”
- Concerns from wealthy residents in Resort Town, Maine, about losing access to affordable labor.
- Chris Nelson’s actions, where the Colorado Attorney General is under scrutiny for working with federal immigration enforcement to take legal action against officers.
