The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” leaves newspaper with future of column uncertain

On Monday, The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler announced that he had accepted a buyout and would leave the publication on July 31. 

Kessler has been the main author of The Fact Checker column since 2011 and serves as a member of the advisory board of the International Fact-Checking Network. He wrote that his “fact checks were routinely the most-read articles on The Post’s website.”

In 2019, The Intercept reported that The Post had nominated Kessler for a Pulitzer Prize. In that occasion, then-executive editor Marty Baron said that “I am extremely proud of the Fact Checker team, which has been widely recognized for its very difficult, rigorous and impartial work over many years.”

The Post has not named a replacement for Kessler, nor did it respond to my questions about what is next for The Fact Checker.

Over the years, Kessler has drawn the ire of media critics on both the left and right. Some publications in the latter camp have covered his departure with outright glee.

Kessler plans to spend the next phase of his career writing books. I spoke to him on Monday afternoon; what follows is an abbreviated and lightly edited transcript of our conversation.