Washington Post (WaPo) editor Glenn Kessler, who has run the paper’s fact-checking operation since 2010, announced on Monday that he was departing the paper after taking a buyout.
Kessler revealed his decision to depart in a post on the social media site LinkedIn, joining other WaPo figures like columnist Catherine Rampell, who has gone on to co-host an MSNBC show. The long-time fact-checker announced he’ll pursue other opportunities after he leaves.
“Much as I would have liked to keep scrutinizing politicians in Washington, especially in this era, the financial considerations were impossible to dismiss,” Kessler said. “I plan to write books. This year I completed a novel about a love triangle set in 1920s Dutch East Indies (colonial Indonesia), based on State Department cables I found in the National Archives. I have an idea for a nonfiction project and am open to freelance or consulting opportunities.”
Kessler came under fire for some of his checks, notably a June 2024 piece that said some videos showing then-President Joe Biden’s struggles, including one where he wandered around during a photo-op at the Group of 7 summit, were “cheap fakes.” Kessler also accused the New York Post and the London Telegraph of taking cues from the Republican National Committee’s website in the article.
“The use of these clips is an especially pernicious couple of examples of manipulated video — what we label ‘isolation’ under our guide to manipulated video — because it’s intended to create a false narrative that doesn’t reflect the event as it occurred,” Kessler wrote. “The RNC and its avid followers in the conservative media earn Four Pinocchios.”
The long-time fact-checker also defended his work after the New York Post published an op-ed calling Kessler’s work a “propaganda mill.”
The “Four Pinocchios” status is reserved for “Whoppers,” according to the Post’s explanation of their fact-checking. Kessler claimed he wanted to work out a way to allow the Post to transition to new leadership, but was unable to do so.
“So what’s next for The Fact Checker? I’m not sure,” Kessler posted. “As many people at The Post know, I tried to arrange a short-term contract that would have given the editors time to find a worthy successor and allow me to train him or her. I didn’t want The Post to have a gap in fact-checking coverage during this fraught period in U.S. history. But we couldn’t work out an agreement.”
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