USA Today’s “fact checking” just gets worse and worse. The paper that falsely claimed that Democrats didn’t start the Civil War or found the KKK (they did) is now defending a fact check on Jacob Blake by saying editors didn’t know it was wrong at the time. On August 20, 2020, USA Today declared it “false” to say that the man shot by Kenosha, Wisconsin police was carrying a weapon.
But now prosecutors have revealed that Blake was armed with a “razor blade-type knife.” Will USA Today correct its fact-check? Nope. Here’s an "editor's note":
Editor's note: Prosecutors revealed Jan. 5, 2021, that Jacob Blake was armed with a “razor blade-type knife" when he was shot by police. Kenosha County, Wisconsin, District Attorney Michael Graveley said as a result the officer who shot Blake could successfully argue self-defense, and therefore wouldn’t face criminal charges. That does not affect the rating for this item; ratings are based on what is known at the time. When this statement was made in August 2020, it was not clear what Blake was holding or when, given the grainy cell phone video and lack of detail released by police.
Catch that? USA Today won’t update this article because “that does not affect the rating for this item; ratings are based on what is known at the time.” So, the paper won’t be letting new facts get in its way now.
USA Today’s fact-checking sometimes flies in the face of facts in order to reach a political conclusion. On July 1, 2020, I explained how the journalistic outlet claimed that Democrats didn’t start the Civil War and found the KKK. In reality, every state in the Confederacy was Democratic, the co-founder of the KKK was a Democrat.
As I pointed out at the time, here’s how prominent 19th century writer Robert G. Ingersoll put it in a speech in 1876:
Every man that loved slavery better than liberty was a Democrat. The man that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Every man that sympathized with the assassin -- every man glad that the noblest President ever elected was assassinated, was a Democrat. Every man that wanted the privilege of whipping another man to make him work for him for nothing and pay him with lashes on his naked back, was a Democrat. Every man that raised bloodhounds to pursue human beings was a Democrat.
Don't tell USA Today that. Facebook later tried to censor my fact-check of USA Today's fact-check. The social media giant ultimately backed down.
In June of 2020, the paper attempted to cover up the racist history of the Democratic Party by claiming this meme was “partly false”:
In 1964, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Democrats held the longest filibuster in our nations [sic] history, 75 days. All trying to prevent the passing of one thing.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT
The first line of the fact-check read, “It is true that the Democrats hold the record for the longest filibuster.” But went on to claim that a “couple” aspects were misleading. For USA Today, fact checks often mean "reality is what we want it to be."
