CNN, Politifact.com, Fact Check SNL on Obama
Was Saturday Night Live’s sketch on Barack Obama’s record accurate? Politifact.com and CNN wanted to know.
But as Politifact.com’s editor, Bill Adair, notes in the CNN piece below, “It’s comedy. It doesn’t have to be fair.”
Is there a new market for fact-checking comedy skits? Did anyone run to check to see whether Sarah Palin really plays the flute when Tina Fey’s portrayal suggested she might?
Get to work, fact-checkers.
[Check out Eric Deggans' write-up on his blog for more on the issue.]
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A great question and one I’ve been pondering for awhile. I remember seeing a Weekend Update bit where someone asserted that Donald Rumsfeld had never served in the military. Of course, Rummy was a naval aviator and served in the reserves until he retired as a captain in 1989.
One would expect that things would be exaggerated, downplayed, and deliberately misrepresented for the sake of humor. On the other hand, basing a joke, or just making a statement that’s based on a falsehood seems like fair game.
I like this Jeff. The skit is fun, but it also has as much impact as the news. I for one do a poor job of keeping up with popular culture moments so thanks for helping me catch up.
Michael, good point. There should be some responsibility — whether Palin plays the flute seems trivial, whether Rumsfeld served does not.
Jerry, I’m hardly a keen pop culture tracker. I subscribe to Eric Deggans of the St. Pete Times “The Feed” (http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2009/10/huffington-post-gives-cnn-credit-for-st-petersburg-times-factchecking-story.html), however, and he does a terrific job of monitoring such things. (Eric is a fellow Poynter ethics fellow.)
Jeffery,
Thanks for this question. It is an important reality in today’s world, with the parody/reality shows out there. Colbert Report, Daily Show and SNL are all major players in political media, but also darn funny, and sometimes far detached from the real facts. I don’t think there always has to be that element of reality, and I appreciate when things get crazy.
[...] have embraced such nonsense. And there are funnier people with a point. (e.g. and if you want to fact check) But all of this talk of the antichrist reminds me… Dafoe has a new antichrist movie coming out: [...]