Glenn Kessler, the biased “factchecker” who has a dossier on Ethics Alarms as long an your metaphorical arm, accepted a buy-out from the hopelessly unethical newspaper and then, after starting his substack (where disgraced pundits go to die), issued an article that proved, as if there was ever any doubt, what an utter hack he is.
Pompously titled ‘“Democracy Dies in Darkness’ — but what if the lights are going out from within?,” his screed whines that he had to leave the Post as a matter f principle because he was urged to do what he could so the Post would “appeal more to Fox News viewers.” Gee, tough one. What would that be? Maybe not beginning every inquiry with the assumption that the Axis narrative is the correct one? Not working so hard to appeal to the Post’s 90% Democratic readership’s biases? Actually checking facts rather than opinions?
To Kessler, of course, appealing to Fox viewers means tacking news analysis to appeal to racist, ignorant fascists—you know,
…what Joe said. (Kessler didn’t “factcheck” that speech, incidentally. It would have upset MSNBC viewers…). Kessler writes, in a miracle of self-unawareness, ‘We have to tell the truth…I admire many Fox News reporters, but the network’s main impact comes from its opinionated, late-night conservative hosts who wholeheartedly support Republicans.” Funny, the Washington Post’s main impact comes from opinionated, progressive or Trump Deranged columnists.
Hey, here’s an idea, Glenn—it’s so crazy it just might work! What about doing non-partisan, objective factchecking that just states the facts without being concerned over which party’s officials look like jackasses and which TV news your readers prefer?
A single statistic nicely demonstrates how deluded Kessler is if he truly thinks he was seeking the truth, and how gullible any reader was who assumed his factchecks and his decisions regarding what to check were neutral, objective and non-partisan.
Kessler’s “Pinocchio” count from 2024-2025 was 148 “liar” badges for Republicans in comparison to 28 charged to Democrats. Hey, he just called them as he saw them!
Ethics Alarms 
Yesterday I responded to a “would you consider resubscribing to the comPost?” email which asked a bunch of questions about my perceptions of the paper’s reporting and presented several “which of these subscription options would you prefer?” scenarios. I unabashedly responded to the perceptions request. The subscription options were even more entertaining – 8 sets of three pricing plans were presented. Once you selected your favorite, the window would expand and as “Would you actually subscribe to this plan?” Eight times I responded with “No.”
So why did I respond to the survey? Because participating entered you in a chance to win gift cards. I figured that, should I be fortunate enough to win a card, the overall process would be a genuine win-win experience. Like that’s going to happen.
Full disclosure: My previous comPost subscription was provided by my educational employer. After a couple of weeks, I decided that even when provided at no cost to me, it was still overpriced and cancelled my account.
From the “Even A Bli…um…Vision-Challenged Pig Finds A Truffle” files:
Biden Earns Four Pinocchios From Washington Post For FALSE CLAIM About Georgia Voting Law
PWS
Halperin Rips Glenn Kessler: You Used The Power Of The Washington Post To Make People Believe Biden’s Decline Was Made Up | Video | RealClearPolitics
Some “What elephant?” and “Humina humina humina” from the man himself.
He couldn’t report on Biden’s obvious decline because powerful people wouldn’t like it.
Biased hack who let Obama mushroom squat him.
I am a little afraid to ask, but what does “mushroom squat” mean? In the context of your comment, it can’t good.
jvb
A mushroom squat is to squat over your sexual partner’s open mouth and lower your scrotum into it for purposes of oral stimulation.
Hmmm. I thought that was called tea bagging.
I have heard that term as well, although I think that came a little bit later.
Seems to be the term for a Mixed Martial Arts move.