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FACTSGlenn Kessler, fact checker, was especially busy last year. As a pioneer of the trend of checking the facts behind the words of prominent people, he and his team have been awarding “Pinocchios” at a rapid rate. But in a time of “” and “” does anyone still care? BY STEPHANIE GRACE ’87

22 brown alumni magazine jan/feb 2018 Photographs by Stephen Voss jan/feb 2018 brown alumni magazine 23 “My goal with the Fact Checker,” Kessler says, “is, if you are a regular reader of , you’ll come away with a better under- standing of the complexities of policymaking in the .”

hen Glenn Kessler ’81 unpack code words and to provide back- he became president, an average of mala Harris, Obama national security presidential election. “Presidential can- voters.” An even bigger boost came in heard then-candi- ground and context. Not every topic he 5.6 per day. (The deceptive statements adviser , and Democratic didates love nothing more than to flood December 2016, when , under date tackles is as straightforward as Trump’s the president has repeated more often National Committee Chairman Tom the airwaves with a veritable blizzard of fire for the amount of fake news content vow to save the Medi- claim and not every analysis than any other during his first year in Perez ’83, who got dinged for falsely facts,” Kessler wrote at the time, “each posted to the site in an attempt to influ- care program $300 is so clear cut. The Fact Checker’s call- the , according to Kes- claiming “tax benefits for colleges and carefully constructed to present their ence the election, announced it would billion on prescrip- ing card is a rating system based on sler, are that Obamacare is a “disaster” students killed to give a tax break case in the best possible light. The prob- give fact-checking sites more promi- Wtion drugs in February 2016, he knew “Pinocchios;” a subject can earn from and “virtually dead” and that many to private jet owners.” lem is, many of these facts are suspect. nence in its news feeds. he had his day’s work set. Not only was one to four of them, depending on how private business decisions about plant “My goal with the Fact Checker,” They usually contain a grain of reality, Of course, checking facts is not as this yet another far-fetched claim in inaccurate or misleading the statement locations and increased hiring were Kessler says, “is, if you are a regular but many are also exaggerated, out- simple as it sounds. Certifying the ac- what had already become a string of may be, with four being a “whopper.” essentially his doing.) When the Fact reader of it, you’ll come away with a bet- landish, or just plain wrong.” curacy or inaccuracy of numbers is fair- them; it was a number. To Kessler, the More rarely, the column grants a Gep- Checker put together its annual list of ter understanding of the complexities Since then, three nonpartisan fact- ly straightforward, but checking the man behind the Washington Post’s Fact petto checkmark, meaning the claim the biggest Pinocchios of 2017, six of of policymaking in the United States, checking operations—Kessler’s Fact accuracy of vaguer assertions—“I just Checker feature, a number is red meat, contains “the truth, the whole truth and the 11 were Trump statements. a better understanding of immigration Checker, PolitiFact, and Factcheck. found out Obama wiretapped me”— a quantifiable place to start. nothing but the truth.” The rating sys- Kessler and two colleagues post fact policy, of foreign policy, of tax policy, org—have dominated, but Kessler is trickier. That’s why Kessler doesn’t “So the first question is, how much tem carries a hint of whimsy—as does checks on the Washington Post website health care policy.” estimates at least 120 fact-checking stop at rating statements; he tries to does Medicare spend on prescription the collection of Pinocchio memora- at least once every weekday and run groups are now working around the track down their and explain in drugs,” Kessler says. “And the answer bilia Kessler keeps on his desk—but the the most notable of the week in the hecking the accuracy of world. “I’ve said that man has been detail how they were interpreted or ex- was $78 billion. The whole thing was mission is sober-minded. Sunday paper. Among the innovations information bound for spreading ‘fake news’ since he learned aggerated. vice wildly absurd.” In the Fact Checker Kessler and his colleagues are ex- he’s launched is the database of the print is nothing new. Fact to talk,” Kessler says. “What’s different president and scholar Darrell West, a piece he wrote that day, he noted that periencing a fact-checking boom. So- president’s falsehoods, which Kessler checking at magazines now is that falsehoods can travel faster former political science professor at Trump was effectively promising to cial media bubbles, “fake news,” and describes as a response to the fact that, and some re- than in the past. Now someone can Brown, who recently authored a Brook- turn water into wine. “alternative facts” have made it more unlike previous presidents, Trump is a ally began in the early 20th post something on a Facebook page ings paper on combating fake news, Kessler’s job is to scrutinize asser- difficult than ever for the average citi- “constant communicator” who repeats Ccentury after the of that’s utterly false and lots of people says providing this type of background tions made by the people who seek to zen to have confidence in the informa- his false claims even after he’s been the late 19th century and the muckrak- will see it. That’s something that the helps readers judge the information for make and implement policy and the tion at hand. Trump’s statements, on corrected. “You have a president who ing journalism of the early 1900s. This Russians exploited [during the 2016 themselves: “Sure, there’s a subjective lobbyists and influence groups who try and off , can often use a good doesn’t seem to care that much about kind of fact checking, however, focused presidential election].” element to fact checking, but there are to sway them. In a sign of the times, fact checking, for example, so it’s not sticking to the facts,” Kessler notes, on finding errors before statements got Fact checking received crucial pro- concrete realities, there are impartial even the occasional late-night come- surprising that he’s collected a dis- “so he says things repeatedly that are into print or on air. What’s new in re- fessional recognition in 2009, when sources of information. It’s not all in dian comes under Kessler’s watchful proportionate number of Pinocchios. false and misleading. It’s not unusual cent decades is scrutinizing statements PolitiFact won the for Na- the eye of the beholder.” eye. As he writes on the Fact Checker After a December 28 interview with that presidents would try to mislead by politicians for accuracy after they tional Reporting; the Pulitzer board cit- But given the attitude of the public website, the goal is “to ‘truth squad’ Trump for , Kessler the American public. What is unusual have been printed or spoken. That kind ed its work “probing reporters and the toward journalists in recent years, not the statements of public figures re- tallied 24 “false or misleading claims.” is the scale.” But Kessler’s roving eye is of checking has been most common power of the World Wide Web to exam- everyone trusts fact checkers, who are garding issues of great importance, be As of early January, the Fact Checker bipartisan, and so also on the 2017 list during presidential campaigns and ine more than 750 political claims, sepa- sometimes accused of leaning left. In they national, international, or local;” to database listed 1,950 such claims since were , U.S. Senator Ka- reached a new level during the 2008 rating rhetoric from truth to enlighten his recent paper, West refers to a

24 brown alumni magazine jan/feb 2018 jan/feb 2018 brown alumni magazine 25 Kessler estimates at least 120 fact- checking groups are now working around the world: “I’ve said that man has been spreading ‘fake news’ since he learned to talk.”

Poll that found the percentage of Amer- claim, and instead be more willing the stupidest claims made so far in this icans who say they have a great deal or to try to get at the underlying truth,” campaign.” In fact, Trump has earned fair amount of trust in media dropped Graves says. “As a whole it’s a very posi- so many Pinocchios that after award- from 53 percent in 1997 to 32 percent tive development. Of course it’s contro- ing him a Geppetto for a statement in 2016. Lucas Graves, an assistant versial at a time when people have very about the number of police officers shot journalism professor at the University low confidence in the press.” and killed in the line of duty, a topic on of Wisconsin and the author of Decid- One way Kessler tries to steer clear which he’d previously been mislead- ing What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact- of the partisan battlefield is to stick to ing, Kessler and his staff wondered Checking in American Journalism, points the statement at hand without judg- whether they’d unconsciously graded out that even the most meticulous fact ing the motive of the individual being on a curve. When he thought about it checks can run into resistance. checked. “I can’t get inside someone’s later, Kessler concluded that the same “We know it’s difficult to convince head,” he says. Trump, for example, “is statement uttered by Obama would strong partisans to let go of false beliefs very situational. He will say something have earned one Pinocchio instead of a when those beliefs confirm their world- today that he’ll contradict 180 degrees Geppetto. “We were so impressed that view or are tied closely to their group the next day. I think in the moment he Trump actually got the statistic right.” loyalties,” Graves says. That’s a particu- really believes what he’s saying.” Dur- lar challenge for fact checkers because ing Kessler’s years covering, among essler is widely considered they essentially take a position, which, other things, foreign policy, econom- one of the pioneers of this he notes, “provokes even greater suspi- ics, the White House, and Congress for kind of fact checking and cion and hostility by people who feel at- the Post, he’s learned that “both politi- one of the best. Alexios tacked by that position.” cal parties will manipulate the truth Mantzarlis, who heads the To promote best practices, in 2015 if they think it gives them a political International Fact-Check- the launched the In- advantage.” Yet it appears that the ma- King Network, considers him a trailblaz- ternational Fact-Checking Network nipulation, or disregard, of facts has er. Bill Adair, who founded PolitiFact and established a “code of principles” reached a new level in the past year. and now runs a reporter’s lab focused made up of five statements aimed at Both and Hillary Clin- on fact checking at Duke, credits Kes- nonpartisanship and the transparency ton earned four Pinocchios about 15 sler for serving as a generous mentor of such things as methods, sources, percent of the time they were checked. and fostering a “wonderful sense of and funding. “What I think is best Trump’s number is 65 percent, so, Kes- community” in the ever-growing fact- about the work that Glenn and other sler says, “he’s really off the charts.” As- ing check universe. leading fact checkers have done is that sessing a four-Pinocchio 2016 Trump Kessler caught the journalism bug we’ve really seen journalists kind of tweet linking Clinton’s hacked emails early. As a 5th-grader growing up in let go of the idea that being objective to the execution of an Iranian scientist, Ohio, he launched his own neighbor- means just repeating what both sides Kessler wrote, “Truly, this is among hood paper, presciently called The Cin-

26 brown alumni magazine jan/feb 2018 jan/feb 2018 brown alumni magazine 27 THE GRADING One Pinocchio Two Pinocchios Three Pinocchios Four Pinocchios Upside Down Pinocchio Geppetto Checkmark Some shading of the facts. Selective Significant omissions and/ Significant factual error and/or Whoppers. An unacknowledged flip-flop. Statements and claims that contain SYSTEM telling of the truth. Some omissions or exaggerations. A politician obvious contradictions. Mostly false. “the truth, the whole truth, and and exaggerations, but no outright can create a false, misleading Can include technically correct Example: When President Trump Example: Senate Majority Leader nothing but the truth.” Used for falsehoods. Mostly true. impression by playing with statements taken so out of context claimed that the recently enacted Mitch McConnell complained that claims that are unexpectedly true. words and using legalistic as to be very misleading. tax bill would cost him “a fortune,” Democrats used highly partisan Not awarded very often. Example: House Republicans have language that means little to Kessler wrote, “The fact that the tactics when they were in charge; claimed that they passed more bills ordinary people. Half true. Example: U.S. Representative Jeb president has refused to release he did not acknowledge that he Example: The Trump last year than in other presidents’ Hensarling of , a Republican, his tax returns should not allow started doing the same when he administration claimed that “seven first year. True, Kessler wrote, but Example: senator insisted that history shows big him to make claims about his taxes took over the majority. out of 198 nations allow elective many of those bills did not become , a Democrat, earned tax cuts create enough additional without offering documented proof. abortions after 20 weeks of law. “To use a analogy, two Pinocchios for claiming the revenue to “fill any deficit hole.” The information we do have—the pregnancy.” The data backs up that bills passed in the House are like Las Vegas shooter was only Yes, tax cuts stir economic growth, partial 2005 return—shows his claim, one of Kessler’s Fact Checker hits and bills signed into law are like stopped because his gun lacked Kessler wrote, but historic data do claim of losing a fortune on the tax colleagues wrote. runs. The House Republicans are a . not show they pay for themselves. bill is poppycock.” counting hits, not the runs that win the games. Hits are an interesting statistic, but they do not matter as much as the final score.”

cinnati Fact, and never wavered from was heating up. It became a permanent “is the things that we would give four tion you could ask: would Richard Nix- only going to believe in the facts that decreased in size, and not everyone his ambition to become a reporter. At feature on January 11, 2011. Pinocchios for, like the thousands of on have survived Watergate if support my side’ makes it hard to have a trusts journalists. “The megaphone for Brown, which has no journalism con- About half the fact checks come out Muslims [in New Jersey cheering the had been in existence?” conversation about policy.” fact checkers is much smaller than that centration, he concentrated in history, of reader inquiries, and Kessler has fall of the World Trade Center], are Just how intractable the challenge Alexios Mantzarlis of the Interna- of the president of the United States. took art history courses, and dabbled been particularly active in collecting things that his supporters already be- is, and how irreversible the trend, is a tional Fact-Checking Network insists That’s the ultimate limit,” he says. in photography and design, but he also input via Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP) lieved. That’s the Trump secret sauce. matter of some debate. it’s too early to panic about some post- Those who practice the art of fact picked up some tools he’d use in his and Facebook. Most people find fact An ordinary politician would not have “We’ve never seen anything like fact world. “I think we are fact-resistant checking tend to find a balance - be career. The late political science profes- checks using and other search said that because they would know this,” says PolitiFact’s Bill Adair. “It’s but not fact-immune,” he says, pointing tween optimism and realism. As Man- sor Edward Beiser, for example, taught engines. Kessler has teamed up with there’s no documentation, no evidence, very worrisome to me that so many out that elections are not usually won or tzarlis puts it, “I think it’s setting us up him critical thinking skills and opened Google to develop a coding system and in fact not a single other Republi- people are rejecting objective journal- lost because candidates got their facts for failure to think that fact checkers his eyes to the “very political nature of that identifies verified posts from all can candidate repeated that. Whereas ism and rejecting facts that come from straight. Promises of hope and change can change all minds all of the time. something like the Supreme Court.” recognized fact-checking organiza- Trump says it and doubles down on it the hard sciences and social sciences. It’s weren’t fact-based, he noted, but they You can change some people’s minds After Brown, Kessler earned a mas- tions and elevates them in search and says he saw it with his own eyes. worrisome because to me facts are the helped Obama win in 2008. some of the time,” he said. “It’s not as ter’s in international affairs at Colum- findings. There is a certain irony to And so his supporters are saying, ‘Fi- building blocks of a healthy political dis- Kessler would like to see read- but it’s what I’ve got.” bia, where he took classes at the jour- this: The Internet provides the fact nally there’s a politician telling the course, and they are the building blocks ers make an effort to read outside Kessler believes the public is won nalism and business schools with an eye checkers a broad audience, and gives truth about this.’” of public policy. And this idea that ‘I’m their comfort zones: liberals should over one fact check at a time—or not. toward breaking into the growing field them the ready access to databases Kessler blames the fragmentation of read conservatives, and conservatives His approach is to do the job well, be of business journalism. His first job and other sources that they need to media, which allows people to seek out should read liberals. Darrell West as transparent as possible, consider was with a business newsletter, which do their jobs. But it is also the biggest news sources that verify their assump- agrees, and offers additional prescrip- all the ways a disputed statement can led to a position at . While cov- source of false facts. tions and beliefs. Long gone are the Fact checking tions for educational institutions (news be interpreted, and strive for objectiv- ering the 1996 presidential campaign as Kessler believes the success of the days when everyone watched the eve- literacy training), technology compa- ity, all while explaining the reasoning Newsday’s chief political correspondent, Fact Checker reflects the larger suc- ning news and talked about it at work received crucial nies (investments in innovations to behind judgments that are necessar- Kessler wrote what may have been the cess of the Post, as readers try harder to the next day. Instead, it’s now possible identify and flag news), and govern- ily subjective. The rest, he figures, is first lengthy fact-check story in a - ma sort true facts from false ones. The Post for a to receive news exclusively professional ment (support for press freedoms). As out of his hands. “We write these fact jor American , a preemptive topped a million digital subscriptions from a website or television network for the media itself, he says fact check- checks not necessarily to change peo- guide to a debate between last year, and, while many metro news- that filters it through a specific politi- recognition in ing and other high-quality journalism ple’s minds,” he says. and Bob Dole aimed at helping viewers rooms are desolate these days, the pa- cal point of view. “Now,” Kessler says, 2009, when that calls out aren’t “We write them so that the informa- evaluate the claims they were about to per’s downtown Washington headquar- “You can, as an American, say ‘I’m only cure-alls but definitely help shift the tion is out there. People have a basis on hear. After joining the Washington Post, ters is bursting at the seams. Still, it’s going to watch Fox News or MSNBC.’ Politifact won balance. He cited Trump’s declin- which to make their own decisions and working as the national business editor clear that a growing segment of Ameri- The distressing thing is that, after 30- ing poll numbers, and the sense that to understand it’s much more complex and serving years as the paper’s cans simply don’t trust facts or view plus years of covering this stuff, I see the Pulitzer Prize “people do think he makes things up,” than politicians make it out to be.” chief State Department reporter, he them as just another kind of opinion. the country becoming so tribal and so for National as evidence that the approach yields posted his first fact check in September “Part of the secret of [Trump’s] suc- increasingly self-sorted into ideological results. On the other hand, the audi- Contributing Editor Stephanie Grace is a politi- 2007 as the 2008 presidential campaign cess in the last campaign,” Kessler says, cul-de-sacs. There’s a legitimate ques- Reporting. ence for traditional news outlets has cal columnist for the New Orleans Advocate.

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