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This is the September 3, 2020 edition of Factually
Factually is a newsletter about fact-checking and accountability journalism, from Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network & the American Press Institute’s Accountability Project. Sign up here
On fact-checking and fruitlessness
The remarkable performance of CNN’s Daniel Dale after the Republican National Convention last week – where in three minutes he summarily debunked 21 of President Donald Trump’s falsehoods – brought fresh attention to the art of fact-checking.
It was, wrote the Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan, “a tour de force of fact-checking that left CNN anchor Anderson Cooper looking slightly stunned.” Sullivan described Dale as a national treasure (not the first time he’s been given that title).
The fact-check also inspired a profile of Dale from The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove and stories in Mashable and HuffPost Canada (Dale is Canadian). He appeared Sunday on Brian Stelter’s CNN show, Reliable Sources.
But, as is often the case when it comes to fact-checking, the new attention also prompted a discussion about whether fact-checking is making any kind of difference given the current firehose of falsehoods, many of them from the White House.
“More and more, fact-checkers seem to be trying to bail out an ancient, rusty and sinking freighter with the energetic use of measuring cups and thimbles,” Sullivan wrote. The headline on her piece was “Fact-checking Trump’s lies is essential. It’s also increasingly fruitless.”
Fact-checking may not be changing a lot of minds in today’s entrenched, polarized society, but Sullivan’s
Read more here: https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/fact-checkers-are-helpers-not-saviors-in-the-information-wars/