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How well has the press held the candidates accountable for the accuracy of their remarks?

Sarah Palin's checkered political background continues to fuel controversy over the role of fact-checking + accuracy, in the media's election coverage.

Posted by brownlu • Read more • Permalink

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Election reporting has suffered from a l

E. J. Dionne Jr.
Columnist

“Boy, do I miss the old John McCain and wonder what became of him. And I wonder if the media will really take on this onslaught of half-truths and outright deception.”


Frank Rich
Op-Ed Columnist for NY Times

“You know the press is impotent at unmasking this truthiness when the hardest-hitting interrogation McCain has yet faced on television came on “The View.” ”


Paul Krugman
Columnist

“Why do McCain's people think they can get away with this stuff? they’re probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being “balanced” at all costs. If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn’t say he’s wrong, it reports that “some Democrats say” he’s wrong. ”


Matthew Yglesias
Blogger, Think Progress

“...if the practitioners of campaign journalism can’t figure out a way to make it so that lying is punished, rather than amplified and rewarded, by the press then they ought to pack up their bags and go do something else.”


Paul Begala

“The media have an obligation to point out when a politician is lying about a matter of fact, but the right-wing attack machine has so cowed some of them you can almost hear them moo.”


Michael Kinsley

“...the media have trouble calling a lie a lie, or asserting that one side is lying more than the other -- even when that is objectively the case. ...[But neither] the media,the campaign professionals, or voters care enough about lying..they even respect a well-told lie as evidence of professionalism”


Charlie Cook
Journalist

“We have created a system where there is not a lot of shame in stretching the truth.”


Jerry Lanson

“The see-saw story of Sarah Palin should give the press pause. Feeding frenzies followed by fawning serve only to confuse. If the public is to make sound decisions, to sort what's real from what's manufactured, the media must do their job with greater consistency and greater care. ”


David Corn

“Whenever the media report false charges in an evenhanded manner--A said X about B; B said X was not true--the party hurling the mud wins. And wins big. ”


Stuart Taylor

“We still have many great journalists, but I no longer trust the major newspapers or television networks to provide consistently accurate and fair reporting...This in an era when...highly partisan TV hosts and blogs creates a crying need for at least one newspaper...to play it straight.”


At times, partisan views distort objecti

Howard Kurtz
Columnist

“There is a touch of condescension in the way some pundits have talked about [Sarah Palin] from a distant frontier. But some of the anti-press criticism has been silly.”


Michael Graham
Radio show host

“The national media are dominated by enthusiastic Obama supporters desperate to see Obama the Enlightened win the White House, heal our souls, reset our thermostats and shut down the Fox News Channel. And that’s precisely how their coverage of Palin comes across: desperate.”


Jack Kelly

“the news media's flagrant bias may cost journalists more than a loss for the candidate they're stacking the deck for.”


General Comments

Karl Rove
Politician

“Of all the advantages Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to the GOP ticket, the most important may be that she has gotten into Barack Obama's head. How else to explain Sen. Obama's decision to go one-on-one against "Sarah Barracuda," captain of the Wasilla High state basketball champs?”


Paul Krugman
Columnist

“Dishonesty is nothing new in politics. [...] But I can’t think of any precedent, at least in America, for the blizzard of lies since the Republican convention. ”


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