Kill ‘fact-checking’ with fire and the sword

If we’re eliminating whole categories of journalism — which certainly seems to be the case for sports reporting — can we also do away with the “fact check” genre?

It has always been a silly gimmick, the idea that there should be a separate vertical dedicated solely to fact-checking (checking the facts is already the main goal of journalism). But even as ill-conceived as the concept is, nothing could have prepared us for how farcical the genre would eventually become.

Take, for instance, the fact-checks following President Trump’s State of the Union address last week. Naturally, the speech was full of inconsistencies and outright falsehoods. Every such address is.

What’s funny, from a media perspective, is the suffocating pettiness of the media fact-checkers and their weird fondness for playing the pedant.

“The revolution that began in 1776 has not ended,” Trump said. “It still continues because the flame of liberty and independence still burns in the heart of every American patriot, and our future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder, and more glorious than ever before.”

Associated Press “fact-checkers” felt the need to correct that. “To be clear,” the AP fact-check reads, “the American Revolution started the previous year, on April 19, 1775. The colonies declared independence in 1776. It ended Sept. 3, 1783.”

No, I am not making this up. It’s as if we in media are trying to make the public hate us.

Trump also used his speech last week to praise the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team, which had just won the gold medal for the first time since........

© The Hill