A bad week for USA Today’s fact-checkers

The first USA Today fact check investigates criticism of incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Old photos shared this week on social media show her posing with Russian officials while wearing a cossack ushanka adorned with the Soviet Union hammer and sickle emblem.

It is true. Psaki absolutely did this. Whether it is worthy of criticism is one thing (I personally don’t think it is). It is another thing entirely to treat the matter as one where people are leveling a criticism that lacks “context,” which is just silly.

Yet this is exactly what USA Today asserts this week in an article titled “Fact check: Jen Psaki was gifted a hammer and sickle hat at a diplomatic meeting.”

Psaki “is seen in a 2014 photo posing with the Russian foreign minister and his spokesperson, along with then-Secretary of State John Kerry,” the article reads. “She is wearing a pink hat with a hammer and sickle emblem, which was a gift from the Russians that she returned.”

It adds, “At the time, Psaki was spokesperson for the U.S. State Department. The image is real, but claims that the hat was anything more a gift or that Psaki was with Russian officials in any capacity beyond her official role are MISSING CONTEXT.”

What? The “claim” as presented in the article’s headline and opening lines is indisputably true. It is a fact. Psaki was given a Soviet-themed gift, which she wore in photos posing alongside Russian officials.

Any added “context” is just an attempt to soften what USA Today clearly believes is unfair criticism. That is not the role of a fact-checker.

There is more.

USA Today also published a fact check this week investigating the 100% accurate claim that “several Democratic politicians urge social distancing and issuing stay-at-home advisories but host or attend gatherings.”

Again, this is a straightforward and accurate criticism.

The list of pro-lockdown Democratic officials who have broken their own pandemic guidelines is a long one. It includes (via my Washington Examiner colleague Kaylee McGhee White): Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

For USA Today, however, the criticism of pro-lockdown Democrats lacks “context” because it does not do enough to criticize Republicans who have likewise flouted the pandemic rules.

You knew this was coming.

You knew certain media fact-checkers would bend over backward to defend the incoming Democratic administration, even after spending four years pumping out ludicrous rulings on everything said or done by members of the Trump White House.

“It’s true that some politicians have acted contrary to the social distancing and stay-at-home practices they are preaching,” USA Today says of the criticism of pro-social distancing Democrats, “ultimately, however, it’s not just some Democratic politicians flouting COVID-19 policies and guidance – such behavior has been seen on both sides of the aisle, including behavior resulting in a coronavirus outbreak at the White House.”

Yes, but the difference here is that the White House is on the opposite side of the pro-lockdown argument. The Trump administration can be criticized for recklessness and carelessness, sure. But the hypocrisy angle, which is the animating principle behind the criticism of Democrats, is not there. But even that is beside the point. Fact checks are supposed to review claims for factual accuracy, not downplay them with a ham-fisted attempt at bothsiderism.

Like USA Today’s investigation of the Psaki claim, this is not fact-checking. This is damage control. This is advocacy.