THIS WEEK Joins With Politifact to Fact-Check the Newsmakers
EmailAs you may know, we’re trying out some new things on THIS WEEK. Two weeks ago we started live-tweeting of the show (which will next happen at 10 am ET this Sunday).
This week we’ve invited Pulitzer Prize winning website PolitiFact to fact-check the newsmaker interviews featured on the program.
The idea was first proposed by NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen and I thought it worth a try. PolitiFact editor Bill Adair, the St Petersburg Times’ Washington bureau chief, and I know each other from fact-checking forums and such (I was at the Fact Check desk during the 2004 elections) so I asked him if he’d be willing to give it a try. He was.
Obviously I aspire to fact-check newsmakers during the show itself, but in addition to that, starting this Sunday April 11, after the show, you can read Politifact’s fact checks on ABCNews.com/This Week and at Politifact.com.
Oh, and incidentally, our guests this Sunday will be: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
See you then!
-jpt
*This post has been updated after our guests changed, following the announcement of Justice Stevens' retirement.
Sen. DeMint: GOP Race Could Go Until Convention 
Obama Avoids Questions on Contraception Rule
uh-huh…and we’ll see the politifact checkers at the next WH BBQ I suppose…if you want truth, watch Fox.
Posted by: mjishernameo | April 8, 2010, 4:54 pm 4:54 pm
It would be awesome if PolitiFact would be part of a panel after every single politician opens their mouth. I’d like them to check and see if Guam is really in danger of capsizing. What about Long Island????
Posted by: Julie Weathers | April 8, 2010, 5:02 pm 5:02 pm
Nice smear of PolitiFact from the very first comment by mjishernameo. Here’s an idea: can you EXPLAIN how any of PolitiFact’s claims are false? The folks there sure do their part to give in-depth analysis in their fact-checking. Or are you just making wild accusations?
Posted by: Reply | April 8, 2010, 5:15 pm 5:15 pm
.if you want truth, watch Fox.
Posted by: mjishernameo | Apr 8, 2010 4:54:21 PM
____________
Riiiiiight. LOL. Fox News.
Yesterday on San Fransisco’s local ABC affiliate, Giusti’s mother blamed Fox News:
Per Eleanor Guisti, mother of the man –Gregory Guisti–arrested for threatening Speaker Pelosi:
“Greg has — frequently gets in with a group of people that have really radical ideas and that are not consistent with myself or the rest of the family and — which gets him into problems. And apparently I would say this must be another one that somehow he’s gotten onto either by — I’d say Fox News or all of those that are really radical, and he — that’s where he comes from.”
Fact checkers like Media Matters have enumerated a long list of incidents during which Faux News hurled inflammatory comments and accusations at Pelosi– and we all know how kooky they were when it came to health care reform.
But radicals don’t care about facts– they like their news biased. LOL.
Posted by: progressive mama | April 8, 2010, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
But radicals don’t care about facts– they like their news biased. LOL.
_____________________________________
So the guy from Philly who shot at Rep Cantor’s office was watching MSNBC.
Please these people were both nuts, crazy. It’s like blaming Jodi Foster for Hinkley’s shots at Reagan. What about all those people throwing raw eggs at George and Laura Bush during their first inauguration. There are wackos and crazies from the whole political spectrum. Are you going to start censoring political t.v. now? After all that is the traditional progressive way. Given Fox’s viewership ratings and based on your logic the gov’t should be calling back our armed forces to police US citizens.
Also given what the Mother must be going through right now she can say whatever. Her reality is much worse than the media. But it is interesting that this has become SO CENTRAL and finger pointing to those emulating your comments while ignoring the other wackos.
Posted by: GO | April 8, 2010, 5:37 pm 5:37 pm
So the guy from Philly who shot at Rep Cantor’s office was watching MSNBC.
GO | Apr 8, 2010 5:37:50 PM
Republicans sure love their “Ashley Todd” tales don’t they? Of course, in reality the police found the window was broken by a random gun shot tumbling on a downward gravity trajectory (ie, a shot up into the air). Didn’t even break the curtain. It is not physically possible to aim such a shot deliberately. But that reality doesn’t matter, it’s all about catapulting the propaganda, Right?
Posted by: jhw539 | April 8, 2010, 5:42 pm 5:42 pm
What about all those people throwing raw eggs at George and Laura Bush during their first inauguration.
GO | Apr 8, 2010 5:37:50 PM
“All those people”? Are you referring to the single person who threw a single egg at the presidential limo?
Another day, another wild Republican exaggeration.
Posted by: jhw539 | April 8, 2010, 5:46 pm 5:46 pm
Norman Leboon will be charged with two federal counts: threatening to kill a member of Congress and interfering with his federal duties, and posting video online containing such threats. He is scheduled to appear in federal district court in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon. -per Politico
Four protesters were arrested and Bush’s limousine was hit by a tennis ball and an egg thrown from the crowd during the inaugural parade.-per CNN
Independents have the freedom to think and look at facts not just follow lame party lines.
Posted by: GO | April 8, 2010, 6:30 pm 6:30 pm
Oh in case you missed it Leboon was targeting Rep Cantor.
Posted by: GO | April 8, 2010, 6:31 pm 6:31 pm
the Tea Party is going to implode from the shear weight of all of this misinformation and name calling! The Republican party is in a laughable condition, arguing that we need fiscal controls while their leadership is wallowing in the mire of corruption and misappropriation, lies and scandals. The American people proved they were not so easily fooled last time. some 60% of us like to keep the car in the middle of the road! So wail away and blow your money on the extreme right, and align yourselves with this tea party which will eventually create a problem that they can not extract themselves from.
Posted by: dennis de bourbon | April 8, 2010, 6:59 pm 6:59 pm
You’d think an organization the size of ABC news would be able to get help from a fact checker that didn’t have a history of bowing to right wing pressure like PolitiFact does.
They also were completely wrong on the Pelosi/CIA/Torture timeline and ought to be issuing her an apology.
Posted by: Flash Override | April 8, 2010, 7:23 pm 7:23 pm
You’d think an organization the size of ABC news would be able to get help from a fact checker that didn’t have a history of bowing to right wing pressure like PolitiFact does.
They also were completely wrong on the Pelosi/CIA/Torture timeline and ought to be issuing her an apology.
Posted by: Flash Override | Apr 8, 2010 7:23:12 PM
Good point. They did botch that one– hey y’all, we don’t normally make a Truthometer judgment on he said, she said stuff but what the heck….
Gong.
And they got it wrong.
Posted by: progressive mama | April 8, 2010, 7:58 pm 7:58 pm
Independents have the freedom to think and look at facts not just follow lame party lines.
GO | Apr 8, 2010 6:30:35 PM
If you were replying to me, you did NOT support the original outlandish assertions of:
“the guy from Philly who shot at Rep Cantor’s office” (Did not happen – it was a stray shot; a youtube threat is hardly the same as a shot through the window.)
“What about all those people throwing raw eggs at George and Laura Bush”
One egg, as both you and I stated. A total of four arrests if you include the yahoo who tossed a tennis ball and the other non-egg-throwing demonstrators.
If you don’t see the exaggerations then no, you’re not thinking.
Posted by: jhw539 | April 8, 2010, 8:31 pm 8:31 pm
Jake, you are doing a great job. I really appreciate you having guests who represent both parties. I just wish people who say they are in the “middle” would be what they say they are. If one is truly in the middle, he or she will listen to arguments on both sides, and refrain from vitriol and name calling. Neither party is better or worse than the other – they both have problems. It is our job to work together keeping politicians honest or vote them out of office, Republican or Democrat.
Posted by: Betts W | April 8, 2010, 8:39 pm 8:39 pm
You’d think an organization the size of ABC news would be able to get help from a fact checker that didn’t have a history of bowing to right wing pressure like PolitiFact does.
They also were completely wrong on the Pelosi/CIA/Torture timeline and ought to be issuing her an apology.
Posted by: Flash Override | Apr 8, 2010 7:23:12 PM
It’s funny you think they ‘bow to right wing pressure’. I remember watching Morning Joe on MSNBC last year around this time, and Bill Adair was a staple on the show at least 1-2 times a week. Although Joe Scarborough seems to stay in the middle, the others are very liberal, as is the MSNBC network. I’m not sure why a ‘right wing latchey’ would appear on the show as a regular, and especially MSNBC. When he was on there, I didn’t see the GOP leanings you are talking about.
If we are trying to be honest here, let’s just say it like it is… there is no such thing as ‘fact checking’ anymore, because it seems no one knows the ‘facts’ to begin with. I don’t know that there has ever been a time of so much confusion. And it goes for BOTH sides. Politics is no different than big business. Money, lies, backroom deals, sell-outs… Always has been, always will be.
Posted by: Shoe | April 8, 2010, 8:50 pm 8:50 pm
there is no such thing as ‘fact checking’ anymore, because it seems no one knows the ‘facts’ to begin with.
Shoe | Apr 8, 2010 8:50:56 PM
Rubbish. Facts exist, the modern world is built on them. It is a very sad critique of our education system if people no longer understand the basics of primary sources, referenced facts, and basic logic that are used to define truth.
Posted by: jhw539 | April 8, 2010, 9:23 pm 9:23 pm
Jake Tapper has really been moving to the left in recent months. He must be angling for a raise at ABC News. The notion that PolitiFact is “unbiased” is preposterous. It is just another liberal news organization and is sponsored by the left-leaning St. Petersburg Times.
Objective my hat! Tapper you lost me as a fan.
Posted by: Mitch | April 9, 2010, 1:57 am 1:57 am
But radicals don’t care about facts– they like their news biased. LOL.
Posted by: progressive mama | Apr 8, 2010 5:26:40 PM
Right because we all know how unbiased the other news networks tend to be, right? So tell us how many networks covered the anti-war protests instead of the more lucrative Tea Party events?
“The news media did not find the second, larger march to be as newsworthy as the tea party demonstration. Using the media data-mining tool Critical Mention, a search by ThinkProgress of the keyword “protest” of the three major cable news networks — CNN, MSNBC, and Fox — found that the tea party protests were covered 31 times between March 19th and March 21st, and the antiwar demonstration was only covered twice.”
LOL LOL
Posted by: For the Record | April 9, 2010, 2:55 am 2:55 am
The American people proved they were not so easily fooled last time. some 60% of us like to keep the car in the middle of the road! So wail away and blow your money on the extreme right, and align yourselves with this tea party which will eventually create a problem that they can not extract themselves from.
Posted by: dennis de bourbon | Apr 8, 2010 6:59:55 PM
Well I can see right away that you are very centrist as you rail against the extreme right and give the extreme left a complete pass.
“not so easily fooled last time”? What does that even mean? 60% in the middle of the road? Are you talking about Independents? 60% is wishful thinking. More like 30% – most of which are actually partisan one way or the other.
Posted by: For the Record | April 9, 2010, 3:03 am 3:03 am
It is a very sad critique of our education system if people no longer understand the basics of primary sources, referenced facts, and basic logic that are used to define truth.
Posted by: jhw539 | Apr 8, 2010 9:23:45 PM
Yes. A sad critique of the LIBERAL education system.
Posted by: For the Record | April 9, 2010, 3:05 am 3:05 am
Here’s a fact, Sunday is April 11, not April 12
Posted by: studentof | April 9, 2010, 9:16 am 9:16 am
That’s fantastic! I’m so sick of our media feeding these false controversies for ratings. That’s not journalism.
I’m so happy you got This Week Jake. I’ve been hoping you would. You are a knowledgable and fair-minded moderator, and won’t allow the “he said, she said” (as Rosen puts it) to overshadow the facts.
Posted by: Teri Beaugez | April 9, 2010, 10:10 am 10:10 am
Don’t get me wrong, I think its a great idea. Just like hiring Amanpour, it will help combat the trend of talking heads (no offense Jake!) who don’t have a clue, and hopefully returning a little of the practice of actual journalism.
Posted by: Flash Override | April 9, 2010, 10:59 am 10:59 am
What a revolutionary experiment!
Posted by: Misha Durak | April 9, 2010, 2:14 pm 2:14 pm
And please keep Steph from asking stupid questions to smart people. Like this morning on GMA. Otherwise, he’ll just be tasting cupcakes in place of Rosanna Scotto.
Posted by: kravitz | April 9, 2010, 6:16 pm 6:16 pm
Mr. Tapper,
Two things: 1) About time! and 2) Well Done!
Here’s hoping it remains a time-honored tradition at This Week and that your competitors begin to follow suit. America’s public discourse deserves no less.
Posted by: Shantyhag | April 9, 2010, 7:30 pm 7:30 pm
Hey ABC. Fact-checking is YOUR job. That’s the difference between a professional news operation and the free-for-all blogsphere. If you can’t fact check your own guests and stories, you’re no longer a news operation.
Posted by: wetshoes | April 9, 2010, 8:34 pm 8:34 pm
Mr. Tapper,
Walter Conkite must be rolling over in his grave. As stated by several earlier comments, it is YOUR job to report facts. How sad that ABC News and many other so called “news” organizations have turned into nothing but stenographers, simply stating that politician X said this but politician Y said that, and then moving on to the next story.
Start reporting the facts and stop worrying about offending someone or a political party that may not like what the facts are.
How sad that you have to ask an outside organization to check the facts when it’s YOUR job to do so.
Pathetic.
Posted by: Mary from Manhattan | April 9, 2010, 9:18 pm 9:18 pm
What a sad state of affairs we live with when “news” is somehow differentiated with “fact.”
This will forever be the legacy of Murdoch and his followers, making news profitable by making up the news.
Posted by: mg | April 11, 2010, 10:23 am 10:23 am
THE LIBERALS NEED TO GET A BACKBONE AND FIND A SPOKESMAN OR WOMAN WHO CAN ENERGIZE THE DEMS.THE WAY PALIN HAS FOR REPUBS.SOMEONE WITH THE LOOKS BUT WITH A BRAIN ASWELL.SOMEONE SMART ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK OUTSIDE THEIR BASE AND WITH OUT EXTREAM REHURSAL IT CAN BE DONE.
Posted by: DONNA | April 15, 2010, 5:28 am 5:28 am
You know what? It would be an excellent TV show if on Sunday night, there was a show made by Fact check that covered all the stuff being discussed on the Sunday news shows. They could call out all the truths and lies that were given by the politicians.
Posted by: Ross | April 17, 2010, 5:38 am 5:38 am
There is no liberal like Sarah Palin!
The liberal backbone does not QUIT, does not tell blatant lies, does not look at what she said and then say that the Democrats said it.
I will be EAGER to see the likes of a Palin come up against Obama in 2012! The fact that Republicans are energized by a lying, dropout, quitter, who is more interested in making money than serving anyone else, shows only the real disingenuous and scrambled state of the GOP.
Head back over to Voyeurs; maybe you’ll get a glimpse of your idol up in the nets where she belongs!
Posted by: steve | April 18, 2010, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
Those who believe that ABC (or any station), should not get an “independent” fact-check, must also not believe it necessary that corporations require an independent auditor, to fact-check their accounting, so as to ensure a higher level of accuracy!
How about independent reviews of judicial decisions? Outside firms that quality check manufactured products?
Using an outside source to ensure quality is as old as quality itself!!
Posted by: david | April 18, 2010, 2:33 pm 2:33 pm
Mr Tapper
This morning Sam Donaldson appears to either have gone off his medication or to have taken too much. Maybe it’s just his age. He dominated the segment and this is unfortunate for the show. I’m sure it would be very easy to find another regular guest who could make more substantive contributions to the discussion topics. Please find someone else.
Posted by: David | May 23, 2010, 11:48 am 11:48 am
who now lead a campaign against Israel.
Who are those organizers: GEORGE GALLOWAY and GRETA BERLIN (possibly, somebody else). They organized a criminal international enterprise to pursue the objective of promoting their personal political image as well as put bloody cash in their pocket. These people are international gangsters personally responsible for death and must be put on trail. EU SECURITY COUNCIL and TURKEY PM must be also held responsible for funding criminal entity and planning PROVOCATION against democratic country.
Mark Bernadiner, PH.D.
Texas
I am accusing UN Secretary General, Human Rights Counsel, and Security Counsel in development of a coordinated plan for eliminating Israel from the Earth, killing over 7 mln. Israel population and therefore destroying Jewish communities around the world. I demand comprehensive, independent investigation into their criminal activity.
UN, including Secretary General, Human Rights Counsel, and Security Counsel, started to design a plan to destroy Israel during second Lebanon war. They pushed Israel into ‘cease fire” trap to save Hezbullar from total defeat and thereafter helped Hezbullah to rearm with advanced Iranian weapons under UNIFIL protection. The same tactic with the same objective UN used in Israel war on Hamas. Now UN is implementing a strategy to arm Hamas to the teeth with Iranian weapons. In addition, UN developed a strategy to disarm Israel through so called initiative “Nuclear Free ME”, to oppress Israel legally through fraudulent “independent” investigations of “war crimes”. Just several days ago, a UN Secretary General staff blackmailed US for supporting Israel and threatened with investigation on using drowns against Islamic terrorists. UNHRC in cooperation with Goldstone and Co. fabricated fraudulent and fake report on Israel activity in Gaza war and threatened Israel with ICC. Current UN represents grave threat to existence of Israel, Israeli citizens, Jews, and eventually all people, except terrorists, around the world. We don’t need UN an unaccountable global government, as UN administration would like to be. We must have rights to put them on trial.
Posted by: Mark Bernadiner | June 6, 2010, 11:07 am 11:07 am