For 14 years, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker evaluated political claims truthfulness on a four Pinocchio scale.
Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
For 14 years, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker evaluated political claims truthfulness on a four Pinocchio scale.
Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
“In an era where false claims are the norm, it’s much easier to ignore the fact-checkers.” Those are the final words of the final column of Glenn Kessler, who has been The Fact Checker at the Washington Post these last 14 years.
Kessler is one of many journalists making high-profile exits from the Post some of whom cite the new direction the paper’s leadership is taking.
In an interview, Kessler reflects on the arc of the project, why he’s leaving, and the value of fact checkers — even if politicians ignore them.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse and Connor Donevan with engineering by Ted Mebane. It was edited by Tinbete Ermyas and Sami Yenigun, who is also our executive producer.