Brendan Nyhan

New at CJR: Rethinking fact-checking in Oz

My new column for CJR is an interview with Gay Alcorn, the editor of The Conversation's Election FactCheck, an Australian news site that is taking a different approach to political fact-checking. Here's an excerpt:

One of the most interesting aspects of the site is the changes you have made to the standard fact-checking format used by elite US fact-checking sites. Can you explain what you changed, why, and how it fits in with the mission and approach of The Conversation?

We’re using The Conversation’s greatest resource—Australia’s academics, who write opinion and analysis for the general site all the time. The editors commission an academic with subject expertise to check a statement from a politician, a political party, an interest group, or the media. We then have a “blind” review process. A second academic with subject expertise reviews the check without knowing the identity of the original author. We just wanted to add an extra layer of rigor to the process.

Read the whole thing for more.

New at CJR: When "he said," "she said" is dangerous

My new column at Columbia Journalism Review critiques the initial coverage of Jenny McCarthy's views on vaccines in stories on her hiring at The View. Here's how it begins:

ABC’s announcement yesterday that actress/comedian Jenny McCarthy will become a co-host of The View brought forth a torrent of condemnation from doctors, science journalists, opinion writers, and even entertainment commentators who oppose giving the anti-vaccine activist a high-profile platform to spread misinformation.

Unfortunately, however, the early coverage has generally failed to follow best practices for covering false or unsupported claims, giving greater reach to discredited claims that have potentially dangerous consequences for public health.

Read the whole thing for more.

New at CJR: A cure for second-term doldrums?

My new column at CJR lauds The New Republic's "Second Term Recovery Guide" as a welcome break from a mostly awful White House coverage we've seen from the press, including the latest outbreak of bully pulpit hype. Here's how it begins:

During second terms, the Washington press corps gets bored. There’s usually not much going on! As a result, reporters hype scandals and speculate about the next election. They exaggerate the president’s influence and then condemn him for failing to live up to their magical-realist visions of executive power. As we’ve seen in the months since President Obama’s re-election, these tedious exercises may fill time and column inches, but they do little to enlighten or engage.

The New Republic’s “Second Term Recovery Guide” is an impressive break from the tedium. The left-of-center magazine’s contributors recognize the institutional and political constraints Obama faces and propose novel approaches to overcoming those obstacles.

Read the whole thing for more.