Fact Check

Entries Tagged as 'Fact Check'

Standing Up for George Orwell, Citing Pete Domenici and Fact-checking The Fact-free Victor Davis Hanson

January 7th, 2015 · 2 Comments · budget policy, energy policy, Fact Check, journalism, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert Is a newspaper responsible for its syndicated columnists? For the columnists’ factual accuracy and intellectual honesty, I mean. It’s not an easy question. An answer in the affirmative puts a serious burden on editors. It’s time-consuming to read copy carefully and decide if it should be published as is, corrected or shelved. […]

The Journal Deserves Worse Than A Flunking Grade for Keystone XL Pipeline Editorial

December 5th, 2014 · 4 Comments · climate change, energy policy, environment, Fact Check, journalism

By Arthur Alpert I rarely write about the Albuquerque Journal’s editorials because the daily’s owners have a right to express their opinions there. And since the aim of most editorials is to persuade, the authors deserve plenty of room to assemble and tailor evidence for the argument. That said, editorials ought to live up to […]

Gessing, Gisser and the Common Good

September 4th, 2014 · No Comments · Fact Check, journalism, role of government, tax policy

By Arthur Alpert I’m involved in a production of Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” opening Sept. 5 at the brand-new Vortex on Carlisle NE. Given its authorship, it’s no big surprise the play is funny, but in rehearsal I realized Martin also excels at making audiences feel intelligent. My colleague, Denise Tessier, has […]

An Inquiry into The Absence of Fact-Checking at The Journal

August 21st, 2014 · 4 Comments · energy policy, Fact Check, journalism, tax policy

By Arthur Alpert In a July 21 post hypothesizing that a True Believer or two in the Albuquerque Journal hierarchy may explain the newspaper’s egregious faults, I noted that the editors do not fact-check the columns they run on the editorial and Op Ed pages. Today let’s consider why. It could be ignorance; what management […]

Headline Spin Reveals Undeniable Favoritism

August 16th, 2014 · 4 Comments · Education, Fact Check, journalism, open government, state government, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert Here’s what Rasmussen Reports, the national polling firm, said Thursday, July 24: “A new statewide telephone survey of Likely New Mexico Voters finds Martinez and King each with 43% support. Seven percent (7%) like some other candidate, and another seven percent (7%) are undecided.” Big surprise, huh? Many New Mexicans, given Governor […]

Heritage Foundation Op Eds Are Flunking Fact Checks, but the Journal Looks the Other Way

August 8th, 2014 · 1 Comment · economy, Fact Check, journalism, tax policy

By Arthur Alpert This morning (Friday, Aug. 8) I was enjoying the Albuquerque Journal’s editorial on making food stamp recipients shape up (subtext, it’s entirely their fault) until they used one Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation as an expert witness. That’s when my amusement at the Ebenezer Scrooge performance gave way to – I […]

Unflattering Comparison: The Journal’s Treatment of Immigration Story vs. That of Real Newspapers

August 4th, 2014 · No Comments · Congress, Fact Check, immigration, journalism

By Arthur Alpert Remember that old Albuquerque Journal hand who told me I was too quick to finger management’s political commissars for what was wrong at the daily. My informant advised that a lot of mistakes could be laid at the door of young, inexperienced staffers. I’ve not forgotten and sometimes the Old Hand is […]

Journal Editorials Omit Key Information in Laying Foundation for Positions They Take

July 31st, 2014 · No Comments · Fact Check, journalism, tax policy

By Denise Tessier Two recent Albuquerque Journal editorials – on why Americans should celebrate the Fourth of July (“Try Asking a Guatemalan”) and one on the nation’s debt – were called out for criticism by JournalWatch colleague Arthur Alpert last week, and caught my attention as well because of their distorted “analysis”. But, sadly, the […]

Cogs in the Koch Astroturf Machine

April 29th, 2014 · 2 Comments · energy policy, Fact Check, journalism

By Arthur Alpert It was a small item, really, a few slim paragraphs, on the Albuquerque Journal’s Business page Friday, April 25. Yet it spoke or rather shouted volumes about the newspaper. The headline read, “Libertarian author to talk at luncheon”. “The Rio Grande Foundation”, it read, “is hosting a luncheon talk with Matt Kibbe […]

Misdirection Play: What the Journal Didn’t Tell You About the Capital Research Center

April 24th, 2014 · 1 Comment · Fact Check, journalism, labor

By Arthur Alpert Albert Camus once pondered the idea, which I paraphrase, that in the last analysis, there are no villains, only victims. But only, he stressed, in that last analysis. I use the Camus insight for self- restraint. Instead of condemning a villain or cabal for outrageous behavior I try – not always successfully […]