PressEthic

How about taking a fact checker's dogged search for the truth and sicking it on political propaganda? If journalists want to give voters an accurate survey of the candidates, this seems like a project they should pursue more often.

The Annenberg Political Fact Check, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group out of the University of Pennsylvania, examines the "TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases" from both Democratic and Republican camps to catch the fishy facts. "We found examples of disregard for facts and honesty – on both sides – that would get a reporter fired in a heartbeat from any decent news organization," they wrote on their website.

Here are a few Whoppers of 2006:

• In New York, a Republican ad accused Democratic House candidate Michael Arcuri, a prosecutor, of letting an accused rapist go free because he "failed to indict him in time." The truth is that Arcuri was left with no choice when the victim and another key witness didn't show up. The man was free eight days before Arcuri eventually indicted him and secured a guilty plea to a reduced charge.
• Nebraska Republican Senate candidate Pete Ricketts used newspaper headlines in one of his TV ads, but the truth is the headlines were faked. A spokesman explained this was due to "creative reasons."
• A national Republican ad suggested in not-very-subtle terms that voting Democratic carries a risk of death in a nuclear attack . It quoted a bin Laden lieutenant boasting that "we purchased some suitcase bombs," followed by images of al Qaeda fighters and a graphic image of a rapidly expanding orange-yellow globe resembling a nuclear fireball. The ad offered no evidence that Democrats would be any less zealous in keeping nuclear weapons from the hands of terrorists, however. And experts say it is improbable that al Qaeda or any terrorist organization actually has or could get a workable nuclear device.
• A Democratic-leaning group ran false ads accusing a few Republican senators of voting to deny modern body armor for troops in Iraq. In fact, the amendment cited by the ad didn't mention body armor, and passing it wouldn't have allowed the Pentagon to acquire a single additional armored vest: It already was buying as many as the economy could produce. See "False Claims About Body Armor" from Sept. 20. A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ad repeated this false claim even after we de-bunked it.

There's plenty more where that came from.

It's enraging that campaigns use newspaper headlines and quotes to make false or distorted claims. As if we aren't distrusted enough these days.