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?

Goals Can Come From Improbable Places

Posted by junger - 10/08/09 at 10:10:15 am

For a guy out of full-time work, you'd think I'd be updating my blog more often, right?

Maybe it's because I don't have a topic — beyond me — or because I'm managing my other blog, Automatic Finances. (Reality check: it's mostly because I'm always looking for a new theme for this site, even though I know writing more content is way more important than a new theme.)

But, I need to blog here. And I have stuff to blog about. Like, I'm on a new podcast — Tech Blab, co-hosted with my friends Dave Weinberg and Noah Wolfe. You can download the first episode here or subscribe via iTunes.

In recording this podcast, I've found out at least 3 things about myself:

1. I am naturally skeptical about some things, like "game-changers" or anything that gets a lot of hype. I want to believe, but reality keeps me grounded.
2. There's a reason why I like John C. Dvorak. It's much more fun to take the counter-argument than go along with the crowd.
3. Debbie is right that I have a tendency to be a low-talker. Crap.

But I think I've also figured out why I don't update this blog as much as I should or could. For one, there's way too much already happening in the tech echo chamber, and I'm not one to just re-hash what others are saying or try and engage in the massive conversation.

Second, even though I enjoy writing, there's a reason I've pegged myself as a multimedia journalist — audio and video publishing is more exciting (and easier to comprehend) than only text. So maybe I need to do more multimedia here. Even if it just makes me feel better about myself.

So, that'll be my goal for this site: to produce more content, both audio and video. The 24 video recaps were fun, but that whole having-a-kid-thing threw off my timing and sleep.

Stay tuned.

Web Publishing Isn't Just For Experts, And It Shouldn't Be

Posted by junger - 04/03/08 at 11:04:40 am

One of the problems I have when coming up with topics for this blog and for the Online Savings Blog is choosing subjects to speak authoritatively about.

It's not that I can't or that I won't — it's just that I don't get that much enjoyment from it.

When I'm blogging, I'd rather share my experiences and stories living life than try and provide "useful" and informative content. It's a lot more fun to just shoot the breeze and post funny links and insights.

Every day, I read a number of amazing blogs like Copyblogger, Penelope Trunk and Get Rich Slowly, who are there to provide compelling and timely content. This is what I do every day at CE Pro — but it's not what I want to do when I write here.

Bloggers have been getting a bad rap lately, but a lot of that has to do with the different expectations and meanings that term has to people. Engadget might be a blog, but they are much better tech journalists than anyone in the mainstream media. Top it off with a strict policies regarding relationships with who they're covering and they've got a much cleaner rap sheet than many "professional" journalists.

But because anyone can start a blog, "bloggers" all get lumped together — the ones redefining journalism and the ones simply telling you about their day. But does that mean you should only start a blog if you really have something useful and informative to say? Of course not.

When you come to CE Pro, you get the informative content and breaking news. On this site, I get to talk about whatever the hell I want.

So what's the take away from this? You always have something to say — and you can speak authoritatively about it: you. As Gary Vaynerchuk recently laid out, you have to look inside yourself to find happiness.

I don't pretend to bring you compelling content with every blog post on this site — I only post things that I find interesting and want to share. That's our agreement.

Thanks for being a part of it.

Does Your Content Look Good?

Posted by junger - 12/27/07 at 11:12:57 am

You might have great content, an engaging angle on a topic and a well-thought out story, but if your content doesn't look good, it may not matter.

So how do you make sure that your content looks good?

The background here is that Web users do not read — they scan.

This is why it is important to break up the text with bullet points, write short paragraphs, and be clear and concise.

If your content doesn't look easily digestible, your visitors won't read it.

I don't like when a paragraph goes longer than 4 full lines — normally 3 lines are my max. If it looks like it will take too long to read, I won't read it.

The next time you post a story online, take a look at in in draft mode and imagine yourself as a reader.

Would you want to "sit through" that story?

Penelope Trunk Fired From Yahoo! Finance

Posted by junger - 12/27/07 at 09:12:17 am

How to deal with getting fired (from Yahoo)

Wow. If there's any columnist out there today who doesn't deserve to be fired, it's Penelope Trunk.

But she's been canned from Yahoo! Finance, according to her blog, because her career-oriented columns lower the overall CPM of the finance-related articles on Yahoo.

While this is a legitimate excuse, it's not like there isn't money to be made in career advice advertising. People will pay for material if they know that they'll be getting something valuable in return. Penelope's columns deliver that.

Even though she's written her last column for Yahoo, at least she gets to go out with a promo for her blog and RSS feed.

(Yes, she is my friend on facebook.)