By almost any measure, the 2012 presidential race is shaping up to be the most fact-checked electoral contest in American history. Every new debate and campaign ad yields a blizzard of fact-checking from the new full-time fact-checkers, from traditional news outlets in print and broadcast, and from partisan political organizations of various stripes. And though fact-checking still peaks before elections it is now a year-round enterprise that challenges political claims beyond the campaign trail.

This report uses the Washington Post as a case study to trace the rise of modern political fact-checking.

From June 28-30, more than 300 rural leaders from across the United States met in St. Paul, MN, for the 2011 National Rural Assembly. The event included work sessions, roundtables, networking opportunities, and panel presentations for stakeholders who represented the diversity of rural America in geography, race/ethnicity, and public policy interests. Participants strategized about how to create a nation where rural communities can thrive and contribute to the nation’s success.

This paper, developed by the Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation at the request of the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), offers a policy framework that responds to the situation ACM finds itself thrust into and recommends actions to secure the future of community media.