David Gregory: Not our job to fact check!

From Howard Kurtz this morning:

Gregory has hung onto the No. 1 Sunday spot since succeeding the late Tim Russert, averaging 3.5 million viewers this year to just under 3 million for "Face the Nation" on CBS and 2.6 million for ABC's "This Week." The ABC program has been hurt by rotating hosts while waiting for Christiane Amanpour to take over in August. But accepting a challenge from New York University's Jay Rosen, interim host Jake Tapper has arranged for the St. Petersburg Times' PolitiFact site to fact-check what "This Week" guests say after each program.

An "interesting idea," Gregory allows, but not one the NBC show will be emulating. "People can fact-check 'Meet the Press' every week on their own terms."

Not a surprising quote from Gregory, I guess, but gosh, what does NBC pay him and his extensive staff to do, anyway? Why even study up on the issues if you're not going to challenge the guests when they state falsehoods?

Steve Benen has a nice bit on the Gregory quote and why it's so sad.