We've noted that ABC's This Week is working with PolitiFact.com on a trial basis to provide a weekly fact-check of the network's Sunday show and that rival David Gregory, host of NBC's Meet the Press has said of fact-checking his program, “people can fact-check Meet the Press every Sunday on their own terms.”
Not content with letting Gregory off the hook, a pair of college students has launched MeetTheFacts.com in an effort to put pressure on the NBC Sunday show to do the right thing. Says the website:
Meet The Facts is a non-partisan grassroots effort to encourage the NBC television program Meet The Press to incorporate a formal fact checking procedure for all statements made on air by its guests. That analysis would then be released to the public, preferably within several days of the broadcast.
Reached for comment, MeetTheFacts.com co-founder Chas Danner -- a journalism and writing student at The New School in New York City -- said the website was launched because, "Meet the Press has lost a lot of its journalistic relevance. Guests from both ends of the political spectrum know how to come on the show and get away with making false statements."
Danner added, “Jake Tapper and This Week are definitely out in front on this issue, but even they have said it's only an experiment. This should be an essential component of all Sunday shows.”
Asked if the Sunday shows should conduct their own in-house fact-checking or rely on a neutral third-party, Danner said, “a third-party fact-checking organization is the way to go, but I don't think it's a deal breaker if they want to do it in-house...I think both the guests and hosts should have their statements verified, and obviously that is easier to ensure with an independent source.”
Danner met MeetTheFacts.com co-founder Paul Breer -- a political science student in Kansas -- on Facebook just last Sunday. As of approximately 11:30 a.m. this morning, their effort had purportedly resulted in more than 1,100 unique visitors (several from within NBC Universal.)
MeetTheFacts.com offers visitors a variety of ways to take action including the use of Twitter/Facebook, sending emails, making phone calls and mailing letters (“Remember Those?” the website asks.) Check it out and if you feel so inclined, go ahead and take action.
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