Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Michael F. Cannon: "Strike Three for PolitiFact"

Better late than never, we take note of Cato's Michael F. Cannon's take on PolitiFact's 2011 "Lie of the Year":
 The annual unveiling of its “Lie of the Year” award garners PolitiFact more attention than anything else. Hopefully, it will garner so much attention that people will recognize this award, which is supposed to improve political discourse, instead degrades it.

PolitiFact’s past three Lies of the Year have been about health care.  Not one of them was a lie.
Cannon has boycotted PolitiFact because of the subjectivity of its "Lie of the Year" selections, turning down requests that he contribute is expert opinion to various stories.

We join others in calling for an expanded boycott of PolitiFact:  Don't cite PolitiFact as a dependable source of information.  Pressure it to reform by dumping the silly and misleading "Truth-O-Meter" and finding additional ways to separate objective reporting from news analysis and outright opinion.

Cannon's commentary is crisp and to-the-point.  Do read it all, and visit his links to appreciate the history of his principled boycott.

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