Sorting out the "truth" may seem a treacherous endeavor in such a politically polarized time. But we believe our journalists can play a greater role as an honest broker for voters bewildered by the barrage of campaign talk.
So in a move rare for a news organization, we're dedicating a team of reporters and researchers to meticulously examine the rhetoric of candidates and their partisans, and then make a call: Is the claim true or not?
You might think such work would be standard journalistic fare. But many news organizations can spend less money and get less grief if their political reporting sticks to stenography and puffery.
It's easier to record the words and claims of competing candidates than to vet their accuracy. It's easier to write about the strategy of using negative advertising than to do the painstaking research to sort out whether the claim is actually true or false.
— Neil Brown, Executive Editor of the St. Petersburg Times, announcing Politifact, a new project to determine whether candidate statements are actually true.
Michael Savage
There are many reasons why I rarely listen to nationally syndicated radio blowhards.
1 - I really like music
2 - I'm not in the car for long commutes anymore
3 - Some of their opinions and policital arguments remind me of dysfunctional family reunions
Then just when I think I don't give them a fair shake and that they can't all be bad, someone like Michael Savage reminds me that they are usually ill informed and completely full of themselves, and will say anything to stir the pot and cause controversy. It equals ratings gold.
Michael Savage thank you for restoring my belief that all radio personalities are absolute morons that are in touch with nothing other than their own egos.
Joey Barton
www.autismspot.com