Jason Unger

Who Fact Checks the Fact Checkers?

Posted by junger - 11/25/09 at 07:11:28 am

Why did the Associated Press, an organization that recently laid off dozens of employees, assign 11 staffers to fact check Sarah Palin's new book, Going Rogue?

Is it because Palin is a big, fat liar? Is it liberal bias? Or is it because the AP has nothing better to do?

The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. But this is an unprecedented fact check for a woman who, well, has never held national office and most Americans couldn't name 2 years ago. (Then again, the same exact thing could have been said about this guy, seen at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.)

Here's what Palin had to say on her Facebook page:

Imagine that – 11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to "fact check" what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing.

So when the AP uses so many resources to fact check Palin's book, it's only fair that the AP's fact check is fact checked.

Enter the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR).

Not normally known to be friendly to Republicans and conservatives, the CJR has put together a great fact check of the AP's fact check. It's available here.

Among the worst offenders?

PALIN: “Was it ambition? I didn’t think so. Ambition drives; purpose beckons.” Throughout the book, Palin cites altruistic reasons for running for office, and for leaving early as Alaska governor.

THE FACTS: Few politicians own up to wanting high office for the power and prestige of it, and in this respect, Palin fits the conventional mold. But “Going Rogue” has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto, the requisite autobiography of the future candidate.

Why is this here, other than to sneak in a line about how the memoir is really a campaign autobiography, and a dig at Palin for being motivated by the same things almost all politicians are motivated by? The quote above is self-serving boilerplate, just what you’d expect from a politician’s book. It makes no factual claims, and there’s nothing there that warrants checking.

Major props to the CJR for calling out an unfair article, especially when there has been so much conflicting and misinformation about Palin (some hers, some others). Facts deal in the truth, not opinion. The AP's fact check obviously included the latter.

Unfortunately, in a society with access to unlimited information, the truth is often the first thing to go.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

My New Gig (in Press Release Form)

Posted by junger - 11/24/09 at 06:11:13 pm

This went out on Monday:

AE Ventures Names Jason Unger Director of Digital & Editorial Services
Responsibilities include developing and managing editorial programs and e-media properties

November 23 – AE Ventures, producers of the Electronic Security Expo (ESX) and CE Pro 100 Integrators Summit, has named Jason Unger to the newly created position of Director of Digital & Editorial Services.

In this capacity, Unger will be responsible for developing, maintaining and growing e-media properties produced by AE Ventures. He will also manage communications, editorial programs and technology solutions.

"Jason is a key hire as AE Ventures expands its role in helping associations, companies and other groups grow their influence online," says John Galante, president, AE Ventures.

"His expertise in online media and journalism qualify him uniquely to both generate and deploy content for our products and services."

Prior to joining AE Ventures, Unger was the Website Publisher, CE Brands for EH Publishing, where he managed cepro.com and electronichouse.com. He has worked with high-profile Web sites, including Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist and Ray Carney's Cassavetes.com.

He graduated cum laude from Boston University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

He can be reached by email at junger@ae-ventures.com or by phone at 301-238-5960.

3 Observations About Seemingly Unrelated Items

Posted by junger - 11/19/09 at 06:11:00 pm

I haven't blogged for, what, a few weeks now? That's not a total shocker, per se, since I've always tended to go through peaks and valleys of creativity.

But as my life has started getting into a new routine (did I mention I started a new job? Press release coming soon), I've realized a few things about my priorities.

I don't need to stay as connected to the news as I thought
I've talked about selective ignorance before, but for the past few weeks, I've lived it. I've spent a total of about 5 minutes in my Google Reader over the past 2 weeks. And boy, a lot of stuff happens. And most of it is useless.

How much time are you wasting trying to know everything?

It's way easier to be productive to music than to podcasts
I love podcasts. But I only have a certain amount of time in my day to half-pay attention to them. And that's OK, since my time is probably the most valuable thing I have (after my family).

Rather than trying to listen to what all of my podcasts are talking about, playing music in the background is way more conducive to getting things done.

And, PS, I love Pandora.

There's only so many things you can do at a time
I haven't done jack with Automatic Finances in the past few weeks. I just haven't had the time, and that bothers me. Part of me thinks that it should be merged into this site, but I don't want to be pegged solely as the personal finance guy.

But since I started the new job, am now recording two podcasts a week — Tech Blab and This Week in This Week in Tech (TwiTwit) — and thoroughly enjoy it all, prioritization becomes even more important.

There's only so much lifehacking you can do (I already killed my commute) to make all this happen.

The First Official 24 Season 8 Trailer

Posted by junger - 10/29/09 at 07:10:52 am

As shown during Game 1 of the World Series Wednesday night:

Great quotes:

"You're lucky I'm retired."

"You're supposed to call me grandpa"

One More Thought On Personal Branding

Posted by junger - 10/28/09 at 05:10:45 pm

Apparently, my post on personal branding caused quite a storm. Which is definitely a nice reaction, even though it wasn't really my intention.

The funny thing about my description of all of the brands that make me up is that I missed one of the biggest ones.

Last Saturday night, I'm playing in a poker game when Phil Bak, author of the great Boras Blog, asks me why I didn't list "personal finance blogger" among my brands.

Duh. I can't believe I forgot that.

I've been running personal finance blogs for the past 3+ years, and I didn't even remember to list it.

But it proves my point. It's impossible to have one brand that you can apply to every context of your life — unless your brand is simply your name.

When it comes to the brand that is Jason Unger, I rule Google. And that's pretty much all that matters.