Conventions highlight aggressive fact-check efforts

NEW YORK (AP) — Rachel Maddow ended her fact-check mission with a lightning round after President Donald Trump's nomination acceptance speech — 12 corrections in about a minute. Or, rather, 11 corrections and a prediction.

“Joe Biden will not bulldoze the suburbs,” she said.

Throughout the GOP convention this week, MSNBC frequently countered speakers by breaking in to point out untruths, a notably aggressive approach at dealing with the vexing problem of lies or misleading statements made in real time.

Daniel Dale has the truth-telling assignment for CNN, and his breathless debunking of 21 statements made by the president became an online curio on Friday.

“Oh, that's it?” a bemused Anderson Cooper said when Dale came up for air after about three minutes.

“Want more?” Dale replied.

MSNBC's effort, usually directed by Maddow on-air, was a featured part of the coverage. The network did get some criticism from Republicans since there was no similar on-air effort to question claims during the Democratic convention the week before.

“Both sides do it,” said Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the conservative watchdogs Media Research Center. “One gets checked.”

Maddow seemed almost apologetic when breaking in during the first night of the convention to point out that medical experts have expressed some doubts about a plasma-based treatment for COVID-19 that was touted at the convention.

“We hope that we don't have to keep doing this all night,” she said.

There were usually three to five such breaks in the coverage each night, although they seemed to increase in frequency and duration as the convention went on. Certainly there seemed to be less reluctance on Maddow's part.

“This is the point where we pop up and say some of what you just...