Star Tribune Bachmann coverage slammed by watchdog

• Factual assertions are not opinions, ergo the story was faulty even if the underlying assertions are true.

• The Strib may not need me either, but it is the CJR assessment that finally caused our household to cancel the subscription we've held since moving to Minnesota 6 years ago. We'd been inching toward the ledge for a couple of years and have since jumped. We're fine, but I don't know if the Strib as we know it can survive.

• So easy for the CJR and those who aren't actually out there doing actual reporting, to sit in their Blogging Chairs, arms crossed in judgment, and say that Stassen-Berger, "in addition to writing down, [should] verify or correct or flesh out for readers" Bachmann's statements. In other words, rather than spend a small part of her 800-word reported story explicitly labeling Bachmann's statements as "opinions," she should spend time deconstructing them. If I were Berger-Stassen, I wouldn't respond to this kind of crap, either, in part because I'd be too busy chasing down a candidate, trying to file on time, than to worry about what some nag at the totally irrelevant CJR thinks. And as for Alex Brant-Zawadzki's comment about fact-checking: "Professional irresponsibility like this is an insult to the Star Tribune's readers and an insult to America as a nation of well-informed citizens armed with actual facts." Climb off the ledge, buddy. The Republic will survive. Actually, fact-checkers don't verify the actual substance of what's in a quote. They just verify that the quote is, in fact, an accurate quote of what was said. In other words: the Strib doesn't need you.

• If only it were just the Strib letting her -- and a whole slew of other (mostly) Repub/Tea Party pols -- off the hook. In the name of unbiased coverage they give both sides equal play, even when one's making up "facts" to suit an agenda, as Michelle B usually is. They also do it in coverage of things like climate change and evolution, failing to note that one is fact and one is fantasy, or that one is religion-based and one is science-based.

• Oh heavens to Murgatroid, you mean journalists are supposed to DO THEIR JOBS?!? Stop the presses! Professional irresponsibility like this is an insult to the Star Tribune's readers and an insult to America as a nation of well-informed citizens armed with actual facts. Silver lining? Hey Star Tribune: you need a fact-checker. I need a job. Let's do this

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