AUDIE CORNISH, Host:
And David, what do you mean by the News Tip?
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: Whatever it is, I want to be offering with you, a word to the wise, not just to the journalists. But often, it'll be to our listeners, to readers and viewers, consumers and citizen.
CORNISH: So David, News Tip No. 1?
FOLKENFLIK: News Tip No. 1 - this tip is for reporters. And the point is: Cover the facts, not just the opinion. Here's a perfect example. There's been a lot of coverage lately of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who's seeking to become the Republican nominee in next year's presidential race. He's been talking a fair amount about global warming, climate change. Here's what he said in a recent speech.
G: I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects.
FOLKENFLIK: What you're not hearing, the hole at the middle of that doughnut, is the question of what the facts are. I've seen stories in ABC, USA Today, the Boston Globe and many others, and they don't talk about that. But the facts are that the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community is that global warming is real and that much of it, at least, is manmade.
CORNISH: But this is such a political topic. I mean, I think for reporters it's difficult. Right? I mean, you basically want to avoid that part of the conversation.
FOLKENFLIK: But in reality, most people reading stories aren't going to absorb whether or not certain assertions have validity to them, if people don't add the sentence or two that says what the scientific community actually believes.
CORNISH: Now, this seems like total inside baseball, but it was a big story going into the holiday. And what's the News Tip here?
FOLKENFLIK: There's this Kabuki theater going on. But I mean, I think we've been reminded in recent days, a report showed that there had been zero jobs created functionally in the last month. There're a lot more serious issues on the plate that should probably be dominating the front pages. It makes for good signs of the political dysfunctional in Washington, but a front-page story? Really?
CORNISH: All right, OK. So lastly, you wanted to tip people off to a little story in the New York Post.
FOLKENFLIK: Yeah. And I like this tip a lot. It's the third News Tip of the day. That is: More reporting is always the best antidote to poor reporting. Here in New York City, the Post reported that congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who is also a candidate for president in the Republican Party, had been receiving financial support from Jewish donors who mistakenly thought because of her name, that she was Jewish.
CORNISH: Huh.
FOLKENFLIK: So Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple thought that was kind of dubious, as he told me when we spoke recently.
ERIK WEMPLE: I just wanted to give the New York Post a little hand in trying to confirm the story. So I started calling around to GOP Jewish donors and the Jewish donors on Michele Bachmann's own rolls, to see if I could confirm this notion that somehow, they thought that she was Jewish.
FOLKENFLIK: And by giving them a hand, you mean deeply mortify, right?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
WEMPLE: Well, you know, I'm sticking with my talking points here. I'm part of the media brotherhood and when I see another outlet that's a little weak on sourcing, well, I just try to get in and row.
FOLKENFLIK: And, you know, to invoke a Yiddish term, what Eric Wemple got when trying to confirm that was bupkis. He couldn't find any Jewish donors...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
FOLKENFLIK: In this story, it seemed to me that he sort of mockingly did the original reporting it would have been nice for the Post to do itself.
CORNISH: NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik, thank you so much for talking with us.
FOLKENFLIK: Hey, you bet.
CORNISH: And if you want more of David's News Tips wisdom or want to send your own tips in, hit him up on Twitter @davidfolkenflik. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.