PolitiFact announces partnership with Hearst TV

By Bill Adair
Published on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 4:54 p.m.

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The PolitiFact partnership includes Hearst stations such as WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.

The Truth-O-Meter is coming to Hearst Television.

PolitiFact and Hearst Television are launching a partnership to produce weekly fact-checking segments on the 2012 campaign for the chain's 25 news-producing stations around the country.

The segments will be produced by Hearst's Washington bureau and will feature PolitiFact reporters and editors explaining the latest Truth-O-Meter articles.

Hearst Television owns the leading television stations in Des Moines (KCCI-TV), and Manchester, N.H., (WMUR-TV) -- the two markets where the 2012 presidential campaign begins.  

The PolitiFact partnership is part of Commitment 2012, a project by the Hearst stations to expand political coverage. The cornerstone feature will be "12 in 12" – a pledge of a minimum 12 minutes' airtime for daily political news and candidate-discourse coverage per weekday and, where possible, on weekends, in the 30 days leading up to the primary and general elections at each station. This represents a 20 percent increase in coverage – or some 25 additional hours for a total of 150 hours group-wide over the 30-day period – from the 10 minutes daily which Hearst first pledged in 2006. In addition, each station will produce a "Virtual Town Hall" or political discussion in the 30 days leading up to the election.