Politics · 08/09
Congress Votes to Fact-Check the Fact-Checkers’ Fact-Checks
After nine hours, lawmakers make one finding: the committee table is, in fact, a table.
WASHINGTON, IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE — Congress convened a special committee to investigate whether the institutions that fact-check political claims have themselves been adequately fact-checked.
At the opening hearing, a lawmaker questioned whether the agenda was authentic. Another proposed an independent review of that question, followed by a procedural motion to verify the reviewers’ credentials.
Nine hours later, the chair declared a major bipartisan achievement: the members had established, with broad consensus, that the table in front of them was a table.