Greg Kessler

Claims of 1,800+ Deaths from Binge Drinking Is Wrong, WaPo Fact Checker Says
By Joseph Rossell | January 21, 2015 | 4:21 PM EST

Media outlets and politicians often fall for junk science and misleading statistics. This happened recently with alcohol-related death statistics, which The Washington Post exposed as factually incorrect.

Post reporter Glenn Kessler writes the newspaper's Fact Checker column. He debunked the claim that more than 1,800 college students die from "alcohol-related causes" or "alcohol poisoning" every year, in a January 15, piece. In fact, he gave the claim three out of four "Pinocchios" which meant the claim contained a "[s]ignificant factual error and/or obvious contradictions."

Will 'Watchdog' Media Report on Obama's Stealth Tax Hike?
By Lachlan Markay | May 23, 2011 | 1:49 PM EDT

New facts released by the office of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., reveal a hidden tax increase in President Obama's budget proposal. Obama's plan would, these facts demonstrate, impose a 20 percent increase in the top income tax rate - a significantly greater increase than the president has admitted.

The news media fancies itself a watchdog, so if the president is going to dramatically hike taxes, one would hope that Americans would hear about it first. But thus far, there has been almost no coverage of these stealth tax hikes. On Monday, Washington Post fact-checker Greg Kessler confirmed the veracity of Ryan's claims. Whether other major media outlets report on them will be the true test.

Congressman Ryan broke down the president's proposed tax hikes into a pair of separate measures that effectively increase the top tax rate. Taken with an existing Medicare payroll tax, the new top tax rate under Obama's plan would be 44.8 percent, not the 39.6 percent the administration claims - and significantly higher than current top tax rates.