The Washington Post Never Stopped Fact-Checking the Biden Administration
The Claim
The Washington Post will no longer fact-check President Biden.
News posted on
Emerging story
On April 26, Washington Post fact-checking editor and writer, Glenn Kessler tweeted, “Here’s the Biden database--which we do not plan to extend beyond 100 days.” His statement was quickly misinterpreted to imply that the Post would stop fact-checking Biden altogether.
Facebook user Brandon Tatum soon shared a post stating, “Washington Post ends fact checking for Biden for the remainder of his presidency.”
The post garnered significant attention and the news began spreading to other platforms.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation discovered that The Washington Post will continue fact-checking President Biden, and hold his statements accountable. In fact, two days after Kessler issued the tweet which caused the ruckus, The Washington Post fact-checked Biden’s speech to Congress. Our analysis discovered that misinformation is what fueled the false claims about the Post.
In the article linked by Kessler he offers several fact-checks of which have proven that some of Biden's statements have been falsehoods. The Post found that Biden had falsely claimed that Georgia would be shortening voting hours, that he had exaggerated by calling the laws “Jim Crow on steroids,” and that vaccinations had been given for months when they had only been available for a single month. The database is the only part that will not be continued.
Kessler later clarified in another tweet that The Washington Post has every intention of continuing to fact-check President Biden, but is closing a database where they had previously compiled their fact-checks. The database had been established during the Trump administration in response to large amounts of misinformation. The Post claims that closing the database will not impact how rigorously they hold the president accountable.
