This past Friday night my friends and I were discussing politics over dinner. Many of them vented that they wish they knew of a place to get non-partisan political news. Are there such sites out there? It’s no surprise that I’m a liberal that would much rather get my political news from MSNBC over that horrible cable network that rhymes with Pox Mews. I’m an avid fan of The Huffington Post and I steer clear from sites like TownHall.com. Is it healthy for me to get all my news from liberal leaning media? Maybe I should check out conservative leaning media. Or not. However, I did find two sites that are genuinely “fair and balanced.”
The first is FactCheck.org. They describe themselves as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit, ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.” They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by both John McCain and Barack Obama “in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.” Reading the findings from this site often brings me down from my liberal high horse. It has me focus on the real issues of the campaign instead of the mudslinging that is being thrown by both parties.
The second site is PolitiFact.com. In the same spirit of FactCheck.org, this site calls out the candidates on their exaggerations and lies. It’s a highly amusing site that offers a feature called the Truth-O-Meter. This feature rates the candidates’ claims and attacks and are given rulings (TRUE, MOSTLY TRUE, HALF TRUE, BARELY TRUE and FALSE). If a statement isn’t accurate and is completely ridiculous, the site rules it PANTS ON FIRE. Another amusing feature is Flip-O-Meter, which you guessed it, determines if a candidate has flip-flopped on an issue.
If you are true independent or just need a dose of un-biased “truth,” these two sites are for you.
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