Voters deserve political coverage that prioritizes real-time fact checking
Here are three journalists who have made truth telling the focus of their work especially in live interviews and debates.
At a recent campaign rally, Donald Trump told a whopping 30 lies. He said 30 lies in 90 minutes. That’s one lie every three minutes.
Most news outlets ignored the lies. They didn’t even talk about what it means to lie that much that fast. CNN, however, did put those lies front and center on a prime-time newscast, and I applaud that decision.
When lies are called out in real time, they cannot gain purchase in the nation’s headspace. By now, we have all learned that lies left to sit there for a few days take on a life of their own. So it is especially disappointing that CNN now says it will delay fact checking the upcoming presidential debate until after the event.
That is a terrible mistake. Voters need political news coverage that consistently centers truth telling. Not sometimes, not buried in the 19th paragraph, not hours later but as it happens. Anything short of that is a failure.
We have plenty of examples, even at CNN, of how to do this well. Take, for instance, prime-time anchor Abby Phillip. She is clearly committed to doing live in real-time, fact-based reporting. Two other standouts include George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and Kyle Clark of News9 Denver.
All three of these journalists have made truth telling the top focus of their work. They also all work in broadcasting which has some special challenges because politicians have learned how to stick to their talking points on live televised interviews and debates. Since Mr. Trump came down his golden escalator, live news has been the preferred way the MAGA movement gets its lies into the news ecosystem. These broadcasters have figured out how to seek out and report the truth in real time.
Yes, you can actually do live real-time fact checks
CNN anchor/reporter Abby Phillip dedicates the top of her nightly newscast to debunking the day’s most prominent disinformation. Her show is called “CNN News Night,” but it could just easily be labeled “Fact Check Central.”
Her steady, professional and persistent style is very effective as she relentlessly pushes for answers in both video fact checks and live interviews with politicians. Here are some of the questions and rebukes she recently asked Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R) about his false contention that President Biden tried to have Donald Trump assassinated:
● It was "pretty extraordinary that when faced with really clear facts, very clear facts ... you won’t acknowledge it."
● “That’s just not true. Why would you say something like that?”
● “Congressman, I’m talking about the conspiracy theory that the FBI was trying to assassinate Trump. Would you acknowledge that that is not true?”
● “Just, real simple question. Is it true or false that the FBI was trying to assassinate Trump?”
● “I just want to note that you are not responding to a very simple question about a conspiracy theory that you voiced.”
Many reporters ask the question once, maybe twice and move on. That leaves lies out there, perhaps for later fact-checking. But as we’ve found, later fact checking doesn’t matter. Once the lies are out there, it gets a life of its own. Phillip doesn’t hesitate to cut off people who are trying to share misinformation. She always pushes back hard on false equivalence. She uses videotape evidence to debunk disinformation and smears by right-wing media and unlike many other journalists uses the word lie to describe Trump’s lies. The commitment to fact crusading often includes featured segments with CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, including his recent reporting on Trump’s 30 rally lies.
A Sunday Show host that actually gets it
The Sunday morning political talk shows have been long criticized as inside the Beltway gabfests that still fail to hold radical Republicans to account. But that’s not the case with George Stephanopoulos, the host of ABC’s “The Week.” Especially in more recent months, Stephanopoulos has been outshining the other Sunday show hosts with his particularly dogged questioning.
Much like Phillip, Stephanopoulos refuses to move off a topic when a politician tries to deflect. One recent example was the contentious interview when he sparred with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) on how she as a rape survivor could support Donald Trump after he was found liable for rape. (Trump has since sued Stephanopoulos and ABC for defamation.) Many others applauded Stephanopoulos’ tenacious push-back including journalist Aaron Rupar, who said, “George Stephanopoulos just put on a masterclass of how to demolish bad faith MAGA talking points during his interview of Nancy Mace.”
He is also one of the few journalists who remain focused on the Big Lie about the 2020 election. Who won the last election? That’s the most important question reporters should be asking according to Stephanopoulos. He also believes it should be the very first question asked of the candidates at next week’s presidential debate. It’s already a regular part of his show.
“The first questions I ask every single time are: ‘Do you accept the last election? Why are you endorsing someone who refuses to accept the last election? Why are you endorsing someone who’s been indicted for trying to overturn the last election?’ If they can’t answer those questions, I’m not going to move on to tax policy or environmental policy or anything like that.”
He’s also suggested that Trump should never again be interviewed live. What an excellent idea.
Arguably the best debate moderator in the country
“A live debate not being the ‘ideal arena for live fact-checking’ does not absolve moderators of the responsibility to do it” is Colorado TV news anchor Kyle Clark’s spot-on response to news that CNN plans to delay fact checking of the upcoming Biden-Trump debate until immediately after the telecast.
I’m one of many people who wishes that Clark was moderating that upcoming Biden-Trump debate. I agree with gun safety activist Shannon Watts who wrote, “He should moderate every city, state and federal political debate into perpetuity.”
Give him all the debates. He is that good. So good that he’s again getting lots of national attention. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said of Clark "That's how you run a debate right there, like a drill sergeant. Give that man a raise." The Durango Colorado Herald wrote that network news debate moderators like Jake Tapper and Dana Bash should get some pointers from Clark:
“His reporting chops, made clear with back-and-forth examinations, made for a memorable debate. He asked tough questions of each candidate and those encounters mattered. Clark moderated as a journalist, not a TV host.
That’s what we want in a debate. A moderator with skills and backbone. Someone with the confidence to provide guardrails, if necessary. Someone like Clark”
The spotlight focused on Clark of Denver’s NBC affiliate after incredible work at a recent 4th Congressional District candidates forum that included Rep. Lauren Boebert (R). He is professional and determined plus he has all the necessary facts at the ready. It is really a master class in accountability journalism that other journalists should watch. You can watch it here:
I first learned about Clark’s work a few years ago when he suggested that political reporters were holding Boebert to a different standard, a lower standard.
“We hold Congresswoman Boebert to a far lower standard. If we held her to the same standard as every other elected Republican and Democrat in Colorado - we'd be here nearly nightly chronicling the cruel, false, and bigoted things she says for attention and fundraising. This is not about politics, if politics is still about things like taxes, national security, health care, jobs, and public lands. This is about us as journalists recognizing that we'll hold a politician accountable if they say something vile once, but not if they do it every day.”
He also talked about how normalizing extremists and their extremist behavior hurts our Democracy. Here is Clark in 2021 on CNN. Clark, who has won four national Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in TV Political Journalism, obviously understands how to be an effective reporter in today’s disinformation environment. Here’s hoping he inspires others to do the same.
Stopping lies in real time before they spread is very difficult work. But these three TV news journalists have shown it can be done. I encourage you to watch/read/follow them all. They will help us all navigate the disinformation tsunami and find once again, a shared set of facts. Their fellow journalists would also be smart to tune in to these three including those moderating and reporting on the presidential debates where facts may be in short supply, especially from the candidate who built his entire campaign on lies and disinformation.
Jennifer Schulze is a former Chicago journalist talking about journalism. You can read her columns here and at Heartland Signal. Follow Jennifer on Threads @jenniferschulzechi or Twitter/X @NewsJennifer.