Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Read PolitiFact

I was delighted to find the PolitiFact website, by way of Redneck Liberal. The site is described:

PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters and editors from the Timesfact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups and rate them on our Truth-O-Meter. We’re also tracking more than 500 of Barack Obama’s campaign promises and are rating their progress on our new Obameter.


Site services include a Truth-O-Meter indicating statements as True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True, or False; an Obameter showing the President's promises as Kept, Compromise, Broken, In the Works, Stalled, or No Action; and various other informative goodies. The Truth-O-Meter is even available as a blog widget. This seems to be a nonpartisan site calling out Republicans, Democrats, and other people for stretching the truth; and indicating where people are indeed telling the unvarnished truth.

I think this is the kind of stuff that newspapers could be doing to keep themselves, and journalism, relevant in the information age. We need facts, and we need them not to be treated like hockey pucks or elastic waistbands.
Tags: news, politics
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  • 4 comments
xiphias

xiphias

September 21 2009, 17:50:05 UTC 11 years ago

The Saint Pete Times is really one of the only actual newspapers left.

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ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

September 22 2009, 04:04:05 UTC 11 years ago

>>I don't see how anybody could be scrupulous _and_ involved in a scam like astrology. <<

That depends on how it's presented. Newspapers usually label astrology as "for entertainment." Indeed, those horoscopes are so overgeneralized as to be pointless.

>>Comics make no other claim than entertainment. Astrology pretends to understand something about human nature, the future, etc., and should be excluded from any reputable paper.<<

There are different types of astrology, and they are used for different purposes, not all having to do with the future and/or human nature. Like any other type of divination, astrology can be used in a perfectly mundane sense of giving you something to think about in a structured way. But you have to use a lot more detail than a newspaper ever gives, even for that to be worthwhile. The newspaper horoscopes are just for fun, like fortune cookies.

"... in bed."
cissa

cissa

September 21 2009, 22:32:14 UTC 11 years ago

Fascinating- thanks for the link.

Anonymous

September 22 2009, 03:18:42 UTC 11 years ago

This link given for "reporters and editors" -- http://houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com/truth-o-meter/staff/ -- doesn't work. Houseboatonstyx is a literary site, has very little if any politics.