Dr. Anthony Fauci, CNN's Brian Stelter are among those headlining the "United Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking" to take place virtually, May 10-May 13. Other speakers include Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), and Georgia elections official/COO the Georgia Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling. The event is thanks to PolitiFact and the Polyner Institute.
NEW: Politifact is holding a multi-day virtual event to “celebrate facts” with key speakers being Dr. Fauci and CNN’s Brian Stelter
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 3, 2021
The events description says it "will bring together leading fact-checkers, journalists, health care professionals and technology leaders for four days of discussion about the role of facts in our democracy, the spread of misinformation surrounding the COVID pandemic and how we all can better spread the truth to our friends and constituents in times of crisis."
Politifact's page advertising the event continues with:
Facts took a bit of a beating in 2020. Let’s turn the page and celebrate the truth! United Facts of America, brought to you by PolitiFact and the Poynter Institute, is a celebration of fact-checking featuring some of the most important voices in media, health care, politics and technology.
Over 10 hours of virtual programming, you’ll hear from expert fact-checkers from PolitiFact, the Washington Post and FactCheck.org, doctors on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic and political and technology leaders trying to counter the spate of misinformation that lives online.
And we’ll talk with mental health counselors and experts about how we all can better share the truth with our friends and constituents in times of crisis.
Get tickets now to access four days of forward-thinking conversation about the role of facts in our lives.
This virtual festival is for everyone interested in fact-based expression, civic engagement and the role of facts in a free society. Come celebrate facts with us!
Perhaps Dr. Fauci will fare better in a more friendly setting than he did with Dr. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). In an exchange which went viral, the senator pointed out that Dr. Fauci was engaging in "theater" for wearing two masks, despite after already being vaccinated.
ICYMI today I questioned Dr. Fauci in the HELP hearing on covid.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 18, 2021
"What proof is there that there are significant reinfections with hospitalizations and death from the variants?
None in our country. Zero...
You're making a policy based on conjecture!" pic.twitter.com/ouzgN7v2Ds
Matt, who reported on that exchange, also covered Dr. Fauci when the doctor tried to take credit for the vaccine, which we can thank President Donald Trunp's Operation Warp Speed for.
Then there's CNN's Brian Stelter, or, as Greg Gutfeld likes to call him, the "hairless hall monitor." It's quite ironic, too, that he hosts a program called "Reliable Sources." However you want to refer to him, you don't really want him on your fact-checking celebration, unless you're looking for a rather one-sided one. Maybe that's what they're going for, though.
Stelter is known for ranting and raving against Fox News, even calling for a censorship of the network, which he called "patently false," because he's "reducing a liar's reach." This isn't in any way surprising, considering his Twitter advertises his book, "HOAX: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth."
Honestly, if this was something from the Babylon Bee, I wouldn't have been surprised.