Newspaper and broadcast journalists both are becoming more aggressive in challenging false or misleading political claims, according to two new studies released Nov. 9 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

Among the findings:
 

• According to an Annenberg study of stories published in 34 of the largest U.S. newspapers, the number of “adwatch” type stories run in the 2005/2006 election cycle was more than three-and-a-half times larger than the number run in the 1999/2000 election cycle.

• A separate Annenberg survey of all U.S. television stations that originate news programming showed 38.8 percent of those responding ran “adwatch” or “fact-check” stories in the 2006 election cycle.

• The trend is continuing: 45.6 percent of TV stations who responded said they plan to run such stories during the 2008 campaign. And an additional 34.2 percent say they are unsure.

The studies were released as FactCheck.org and the Annenberg Center opened a Washington, D.C. conference to explore this trend. Titled “Pants on Fire: Political Mendacity and the Rise of Media Fact-Checkers,” the conference brought together a panel of five journalists at the vanguard of the fact-checking trend.

A full, written transcript of the conference will be posted at the Annenberg Web site when available.