Ross: With claims that Haitian migrants eat pets, fact-checking remains vital to debates

KIRO Newsradio Commentaries

Over the weekend, after some fact-checking, the news shows did a deep analysis into why J.D. Vance and Donald Trump would spread a rumor about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating pets and hunting geese.

It’s a little concerning because they’re running for a job where the decisions involve trillions of dollars and the world’s most powerful military – and they went public with a story that turned out to be a neighborhood rumor.

I understand why they’d run with it. It’s because some stories are just too good to fact-check. And sure enough, once fact-checking was done here, the story fell apart and became boring: It was based on fourth-hand information; pictures of a cat and geese from unrelated incidents.