In a discussion on the July 1 broadcast of KTVD Channel 20's Your Show about the impact of weblogs on political discourse, FacetheState.com founder and managing editor Brad Jones stated, “Content is king, and if ... your content is regularly incorrect you will lose credibility.” Colorado Media Matters has documented numerous instances in which Face the State has provided misleading headlines and other “incorrect” content.

Jones was discussing the credibility of blogs with Your Show's host, Adam Schrager, and fellow guest Jason Bane of the blog ColoradoPols.com.

From the July 1 broadcast of KTVD Channel 20's Your Show:

SCHRAGER: You both talk about the water cooler and, and Leslie R. in Denver writes in, saying: “There's a lot of untrue information and what some people would call gossip on the Internet, including as it relates to politics. How is that a good thing?”

BANE: Well, I, you know, I think it, it's -- it, there's a good and a bad with everything. I mean, the, the -- with traditional media the good is that you, you tend to hope or, or believe that it's been vetted more and, and, and it's been reported at more, but the bad side is you get a lot less information, you get a lot less talk on specific issues. I mean, The Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News -- they're cutting staff. There's less chance to talk about other stories. With the Internet, you know, the bad side can be maybe some of these, these things that are reported or put out there aren't, aren't backed by the same level of reporting, but at the same time you get a lot more information. And I think it takes care of itself. I mean, I think if a site that is, is consistently wrong, people stop paying attention. I mean, I think by and large it polices itself.

SCHRAGER: Brad?

JONES: I'd like to say that people do have more intelligent conversations on the Internet and sometimes they do, based on issues. Content is king, and if, and if your content is regularly incorrect you will lose credibility. But we also need to also explain that a big hit on an Internet site is getting your story into the mainstream media. Because it's always economies of scale. You want as many readers as possible. So we're regularly talking with people on television stations and, and reporters at, at major papers to get our stories out. Because the end goal here, whether it's online or elsewhere, is to move issues. I will say, though, that I think a lot of times sites can be irresponsible -- particularly ColoradoPols. Jason's the only name that's public on that site. It's run by a consortium of we don't know how many people. And they've, I think, very irresponsibly pointed the finger at me, accusing me of illegal conduct and things like that. And there's not many people you can go back to and ask to back up their claims and, and be responsible. If -- the anonymous nature of a lot of these forums leads people to say things that they probably otherwise wouldn't in public.

As Colorado Media Matters repeatedly has noted (here, here, here, here, and here), Face the State frequently publishes misleading headlines on its aggregated news articles, employs the well-established conservative tactic of using the noun “Democrat” as an adjective instead of the grammatically correct “Democratic,” and perpetrates other distortions to advance conservative viewpoints and denigrate liberal positions and political figures.