Washington Post Glenn Kessler was a “Fact Checker”, and he wrote an “Analysis” which was more of a release for Global Fact 9, a convention that brought together all independent fact-checkers from around the globe through the liberal Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network. Kessler reveals that he sits on the IFCN advisory panel.
It was headlined “Fact-checking Movement Deals With A World Full of False Claims.” Without Fact Checkers, how would humanity survive? Kessler described the Oslo meeting as “confronting an awash with baseless claims promoted politicians and even government and more readily accepted by receptive audience members.”
This torrent of fake information has led to the attacks on the U.S. Capitol. It also includes Russian disinformation about Ukraine’s invasion and pseudoscientific claims about coronavirus pandemic. Despite the phenomenal growth in fact-checking, it still managed to emerge.
The “fact-checking organization” does sound a lot more like a political alliance than a small group of objective journalists who are fact-obsessed. Since this originates with a liberal-media organization like Poynter, we can guess what didn’t come up at the convention (it didn’t come up in this story):
Were all we wrong about the Wuhan laboratory leak theory? (Kessler stated “Ahem”, and modified his original position.
Was it wrong to promote the notion that Hunter Biden’s laptop was fake and that Russian disinformation tactics were used? It was a Russian disinformation tactic. Post The New York TimesThe Hunter laptop, which was declared a fact in 2022 by the Hunter Foundation, had been denied.
— Could we be wrong about anything? Ever? Do you believe there is any introspection?
Kessler, along with the Democracy Dies in Darkness group kept praising themselves for their success.
Members of fact-checking organizations from around the globe met last week for their first in-person conference in three years, confronting a world awash in baseless claims promoted by politicians and increasingly embraced by receptive audiences.https://t.co/ElmNrTDLl4
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 29, 2022
Kessler really underlines the tilt by highlighting Anne Applebaum, who explained that you can’t really fact-check Russia when it’s engaged in a long-form cascade of lies about Ukraine, which led to the curious argument that “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has striven to demonstrate his authenticity — wearing T-shirts and shunning the trappings of power — to effectively counter the ‘contrived fake world’ of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government.” Do you fight lies with what clothes?
This was the real telling:
Applebaum also praised the hearings by the congressional select committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as “a really interesting example of how to present and convey facts.” She described it as “A massive fact-checking/fact-confirmation operation.” made even more compelling by the committee’s decision to feature mostly testimony by Republicans and former Trump administration officials.
Brian Stelter, CNN’s executive director of reliable sources, adores all these things as naturally as rain follows rainbows.
This is a clear indication that Liberal Media Land prefers a stacked, partisan committee with Trump-defending Republicans not on it. It doesn’t even matter if the star witness contradicts her hearsay accounts. The “common framework to generate knowledge” is what counts — and we can translate that as “a framework which excludes partisan Republicans.” Applebaum wrote this about the Pelosi panel:
It seeks to repair, in addition to everything else. a common framework for generating knowledge—that is, a network of people and institutions and fact-checking mechanisms Whoever is telling the overall story of the case should not be doubted, even if it seems like they are trying to discredit one witness.
Thus, media professionals and “fact-checkers” work together to maintain the “overall story”, which is the dominant narrative.
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