Fact Checking is a Full-Time Job, I Should Know

I was disappointed to discover today that the two sites that so reliably put the brakes on partisan spin during the 2004 Presidential election, spinsanity.com and factcheck.org, are in their death throes.

Spinsanity.com announced yesterday, on their site, that they would be hanging up the fact checker's red pencil and pursuing other interests. They call the task of unspinning spin 'rewarding but exhausting' and assure readers that their archive will remain online as a source of information for those interested in keeping the fight alive. They also refer their disciples to factcheck.org and CJR Daily (A blog affiliated with the Columbia Journalism Review).


But while a quick look at factcheck.org, aka Annenberg Fact Check, yields an assurance that factcheck.org will continue to operate after the election, there is little evidence that it is, in fact, doing so.

One might conclude that those dedicated to fighting spin have just given up, unless one visited CJR Daily at campaigndesk.com where the battle against spin is still being fought and fought vigorously.

Leave it to those industrious Ivy Leaguers!