Are there any Fact-Checkers at the New York Times?

Daniel J. Mitchell

On rare occasions, when I get really irked, I complain about media bias. Examples include this AP story on poverty, the Brian Ross Tea Party slur, this example of implicit bias by USA Today, and a Reuters report on job creation and so-called stimulus.

Daniel J. Mitchell

Daniel J. Mitchell is a top expert on tax reform and supply-side tax policy at the Cato Institute. Be the first to read Daniel J. Mitchell’s column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com delivered each morning to your inbox.

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dtaylor944 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 9:56 PM

They say what they say because that is what they have been told. Every time the politicians say make an investment in education it makes me want to throw up. All the investments have been made but the public education in this country is terrible. teachers in Chicago want more money to do a terrible job. When they talk about the cost of war. and the amount of deaths, check out the statistics for Chicago.

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dahni Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 5:52 PM

NYT fact finders? Yep, but they're in the Fashion Opinion section.

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Ken6565 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 5:28 PM

Fiscally conservative Germany. Well, yes, in one sense. They won't set up a spending program they don't think they have the money to pay for now. Have they on a couple of occasions overestimated revenue or underestimated costs? Yes. But they don't intentionally run up deficits. I remember when I was in Germany and New York City was about to default on its bonds. A German friend of mine--a Socialist--was incredulous. "How can they get into that situation?" I said, "They spent more money than they were getting in, and borrowed what they needed to keep spending." "That's crazy!" he said. "Everyone knows you don't spend money you don't have." In another sense, no. To support their budget, taxes are high.

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Cesar17 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 5:27 PM

NYT: Facts? What are facts?

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Moonbat Exterminator Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 2:35 PM

It's not possible for the NY Tass to have fact checkers. No one there even knows what a fact is..

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Gordon242 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 2:05 PM

CAN BOB SCHIEFFER OF CBS BE TRUSTED AS AN UNBIASED MODERATOR ?
.
CBS HAS A POOR REPUTATION FOR BEING FAIR AND UNBIASED.
.
REMEMBER THAT'S WHERE DAN RATHER CAME FROM.

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Delta Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:35 PM

There aren't even qualified copy editors at that rag. Only part of it that I read is the crossword puzzle section. Many years ago, I groused about an erroneous headline on a Bill Safire column to the author, who very courteously responded that apostrophes in itemizing decades (e.g., the 60's) were approved in the NYT "style book." By my standards of American English, their book approves not only too many apostrophes, but also too many commas. And typos galore - almost as many as in the Chicago Tribune (masthead: WGN or World's Greatest Newspaper!). HAH!

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Arley2 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:27 PM

Are there any Fact-Checkers at the New York Times?
________________________________________________
Answer = NO

1. Liberals love fantasy and abhor facts.
2. NY Times is packed with Liberals.
3. Ergo, there are no fact checkers at the Times.

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Libertarian pragmatist Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:27 PM

Why do you need fact checkers when you're perfect and everyone else is an imbecile?

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None1257 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:17 PM

"If" more money is the solution, then why aren't they doubling or tripling the amount of money they spend on education?

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Robert97 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:46 PM

None, look at the graphic again. Spending goes from $200Billion to almost $1.2 trillion. This not the doubling or tripling you ask, but five or six times as much. With poorer results.

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Nick705 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:07 PM

Hm. Seems someone's education didn't include the fact that "this data" is illiterate. Data is a plural noun, thus "these data."

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evie10 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 11:41 AM

This might help explain the liberals inability to understand facts: The co-host of Morning Joe is paid $2M per year while Joe is paid $4M per year. The co-host says that Joe Scarborough makes 14 times what she makes. When I multiply 14 by 2 I get 28 (does not matter what the units are, millions of dollars or chicken eggs - 14 times 2 equals 28). So, if she makes 2units while he makes 4units, he makes only 2 times more than she makes. It is not rocket science.

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KYoung43 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 11:21 AM

Facts are bothersome things to Progressives. Their philosophy of governing does not stand up to fact-checking and their best arguments (those of fear and envy) don't stand up when someone with facts and figures (even a Karl Rove-type white board and marker) can prove the Progressives' version of history or "plan for the future" to be totally incorrect. So to answer your question, Mr. Mitchell, "No."

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jmonaco Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:33 AM

Mr. Mitchell:

One statement and questions:
- I don't think you were being fair to the NYT writer so much as being generous.
- Why is it so hard to convince people that states should create voucher programs to support school choice for all families? Are people conditioned so extensively that its impossible to persuade them that the current government school system has failed and throwing more money its way doesn't fix anything?

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calrepublican only 3 of us Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:54 AM

9,000 per child here. 30 kids per class if my math is correct that is 270k. if you cant make that work I dont want you teaching cause you are incompetent.

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Stuart95 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 11:35 AM

Set up your own school with six grades, 22 students per grade, $7500 each; pay the teachers $75,000. That leaves $540k for rent, utilities, materials, and profit for a six-room rented school.

Sign me up.

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JMWinPR Wrote: Oct 21, 2012 11:24 AM

You forgot one figure, how many classes? Easier to determine the amount of students and multiply by X. These figures don't include "profits" from school lunches, vending machines, and the various fees from extra curricular activities

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John120 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:30 AM

The lack of quality facts and fact checking has given us political dogma, which so mirrors religious dogma as to be frightening to me. I see an absolute adherence of the current day Progressive to their principles of social and economic justice. When challenged on the use of these principles and their past failures, the modern day adherents can not provide a evaluation of those efforts. They respond with a preset list of explanations, a mantra, to justify the continued application of these principles. This dogmatic approach to their faith based principles is frightening when exhibited in the ruling elite and the followers of the Democrat Party.

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Chris from Kalifornia Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:18 AM

Well Certainly they check their facts. They check by asking each other. Office internet chatter. Hey Chrystia is this right? Sure Monica, that's right. A few minutes later, Hey Chrystia, I just fact checked your latest article, got it all correct for sure. Thanks Monica.

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JasonCharleston Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:16 AM

I believe they are all still chasing Sarah Palin and checking into whether Trigg was a child of an alien abduction.

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John120 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:16 AM

I have found "facts" and "fact checking" are identified and checked in each story. Every time. The crux of the matter is the quality of effort. This is where the author's bias effects the quality. I have seen this failure in every author. I will admit my bias in that liberals wear out this "tool" and are the most blind to their habits. As in the story about the school funding, the author did not check the "fact". She had already believed it to be true. Its truth is self evident, at this point, because it was essential to the narrative.

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Gordon242 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 9:35 AM

POSSIBLE OCTOBER SURPRISE.
OBAMA cancels Monday's debate.....Flies off to Iran... Stays there 2 days.... Returns with an agreement that Iran stops working on Atomic Bomb and opens up facilities to inspection.

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Reginald10 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 5:05 PM

More likely October Surprise: Iran nukes the "Zionist Entity" and/or an American city; Obama postpones election due to emergency. Remember, folks from the Muslim Brotherhood have been regularly visiting the White House for months...

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Rick 2811 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 9:14 AM

It's really sad but certainly true and verifiable how so many liberals lie. They absolutely do. Even sadder is their leader lies as much as anyone. Of course Benghazi is just the latest example. He {they} get away with it because the media aids them by not reporting lies as such. And it's easy to see how they get away with it once you see the videos showing voters knowledge about what's going on...they are totally ignorant. I have breakfast once a week with two liberal/Obama supporters and each week I'm amazed of what they don't know that they should know if breathing. One explanation though, one is an avid "Jerry Springer" fan !!

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KYoung43 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 11:25 AM

Alinsky's Rules are a favorite for the few Progressives I know--either that or the "That's just the way it is" or "My vote will cancel your vote" argument. A friend in northern CA lives where the city fathers have outlawed burning wood in fireplaces because of the horrors of air pollution. No facts to back it up, just "hugging the tree" mentality. She complains but doesn't vote for conservatives because they are racists, sexists and homophobes and hate the poor.

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Stuart95 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 11:43 AM

They don't think they're lying. They have such an ingrained attachment to liberal ideas, like taking money from undeserving, immoral rich people and giving to school children, that contrary facts don't even register in their minds. The emotional pain of discovering that taking money from rich people hurts everyone, and that throwing money at school children doesn't make the smarter, is too much to bear. Textbook case of cognitive dissonance. Think of Nancy Peolsi - I really think she believes the nonsense that flows so freely from her mouth.

Of course, when you study liberals like Obama and Reid, you can't avoid that creeping sense of creepy cynicism.

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gepaza Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 9:01 AM

Well, of course they have fact-checkers! And, they all use the pages of the NY Times for their facts!

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Gordon242 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 7:56 AM

CAN BOB SCHIEFFER OF CBS BE TRUSTED AS AN UNBIASED MODERATOR ?
.
CBS HAS A POOR REPUTATION FOR BEING FAIR AND UNBIASED.
.
REMEMBER THAT'S WHERE DAN RATHER CAME FROM.

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Chris from Kalifornia Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:22 AM

The only truly fair way to chose moderators is to let each participant chose half of the moderators and they each get one veto.

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Robert97 Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:52 PM

Romney's team should ask to see all the papers Schieffer has. No more "check the transcript."

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Scrap Iron in Texas Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 7:54 AM

Well, now, you have to understand liberal thinking (?).
If you cut an education budget (or any budget, actually) even one dollar, you are SLASHING SPENDING.
If its education, you hate children.
If its health care, you HATE old people.
If its welfare, you HATE minorities

Never mind that up to 60% of funding goes to run the bureaucracy, never mind the waste and fraud found in every big dollar government program, YOU HATE the children, the elderly, the minorities.
And is really IS as simple as that., if you understand liberals

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Matt in N.C. Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 7:43 AM

The Times writer (she's not a reporter) got something else wrong. Educational attainment didn't create the middle class. The middle class created educational attainment. This country had a middle class before it had anything like universal education. Elites have always had elite schools to attend. It was the middle class that created the wealth to support more inclusive parochial schools and other private schools and generated the tax revenue to support public schools. Some in the middle class even crashed the elites' party, either by saving enough to send their children to elite schools or by making enough to join the elite. Chrystia Freeland is not only a leftist dunce, but also a snob.

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Chris from Kalifornia Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:26 AM

Talk about taxation without representation. I have to pay for other people's kids to be educated, such as it is. That should be a parental responsibility and none of the government's business at any level. Just imagine how prosperous the country would be if so much money wasn't wasted on government run schools. Most people would have the money to pay for their own kids education, assuming they cared. And yes I don't care. If the parent doesn't care enough to get their kids educated then they can bite me. Give em rabies.

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jmonaco Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 10:43 AM

It is peculiar that non-thinking people so concerned about "fairness" and "justice" are happy to overlook people in your situation.

I guess I forgot that they believe it's not YOUR money, but rather, it's all OUR money. Hypocrisy, thy name is "progressive" Democrat.

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Wendy in AR Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 12:15 PM

I also pay for the public schools that I do not use.... We have taught our children at home for more than 15 years, and buy all textbooks, lab equipment, etc as well as music lessons, field trips, art classes, physical education classes (ie sports, martial arts) and all the other auxiliary stuff. So we pay twice, once through taxes for the public schools, then for each child individually.

When I see the dean's list college grades, or the high school student that is outscoring college seniors, I realize it is well worth the costs! (and, no, I do not have "genius" kids, just kids who learned how to learn!)

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SpaceVegetable Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 4:42 PM

I agree 100%. I don't have kids and derive no benefit from education spending. Then there's the whining about not having enough money and raising property taxes even more. It sucks.

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true liberal Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 7:03 AM

It is coming to the point where the MSM is going to be speaking in an echo chamber amongst themselves.

THe rest of the people will be getting their news from TH and Drudge and other outlets but avoiding the Leftist news altogether.

I look forward to the day that the NYT becomes a weekly rag that is nothing more than the weekly local ads for bargains

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Scrap Iron in Texas Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 7:55 AM

The New York City Penny Saver?

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Matt in N.C. Wrote: Oct 20, 2012 8:18 AM

Carlos Slim's Coupon Bazaar. . .the possibilities are many. Most newspapers are 75% ads anyway, so the transition wouldn't be especially jarring.

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