Q: Professor News, is Barack Obama's anti-rumor Web site a smart tactic?

A: Yes, it is, in this the age of instant communications.

The political wisdom once was never to respond to rumors that had not surfaced in newspapers, magazines and network radio and television newscasts. The thinking was you would only draw attention to them.

But with the Internet, rumors can receive wide distribution through blogs and e-mail chain letters long before they appear in your daily newspaper. Soon the rumors may get picked up by radio talk show hosts and cable news commentators. By this stage, the rumors may have done considerable damage.

Even if the rumors are finally knocked down in the traditional media, it's often too late.

Case in point: The Swift Boating of John Kerry in 2004. By the time Kerry's campaign brought forth eyewitnesses and Navy documents to verify that the Democratic nominee had earned his medals in Vietnam, his war-hero image had been tarnished.

Another case in point: The whispers about John McCain in the 2000 Republican presidential primary in South Carolina. McCain, running against George W. Bush, was the victim of a rumor campaign that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock.

The truth is that the McCains had adopted a dark-skinned girl from Bangladesh. Bush won the primary, and McCain never regained his momentum.

Last week, The Washington Post provided an example of the rumors that haunt the Obama campaign. After talking with residents of

Findlay, Ohio, a Post reporter wrote this: "Here in Findlay, a Rust Belt town of 40,000, false rumors about Obama have built enough word-of-mouth credibility to harden into an alternative biography. Born on the Internet, the rumors now meander freely across the flatlands of northwest Ohio — through bars and baseball fields, retirement homes and restaurants."

According to the Post story, a typical Findlay resident "has watched enough news and campaign advertisements to hear the truth: Sen. Barack Obama, born in Hawaii, is a Christian family man with a track record of public service."

But the Post story says that on the Internet, in the grocery store and at a neighbor's house, the resident has absorbed a false version of the Democratic candidate's background: "Barack Obama, born in Africa, is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance."

The Obama Web site — fightthesmears.com — is intended to combat rumors like this before they become rooted in the public's consciousness. It presents a rumor, denounces it as a lie and provides what it says is the truth. Photos and video clips are often included as evidence.

For example, the Web site says it's a lie that a tape exists of Michelle Obama using the word "whitey" from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. According to the Web site, no such tape exists. It says, "Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word."

What about the rumors that Obama is a Muslim and was sworn in as a senator from Illinois using the Koran? Those are lies, says the Web site, and a photo shows Obama taking the oath with his hand on a Bible.

The anti-rumor gambit is risky. What if a "lie" on the Web site turns out to be true? Or what if a "truth" turns out to be wrong? That could be devastating.

But I can see why the Obama campaign has decided that confronting rumors head-on and without delay is worth the risk. Just ask John Kerry or John McCain.

Paul Janensch is a former newspaper editor who teaches journalism at Quinnipiac University. His column appears on the first and third Sunday of each month. You can hear him at 8:35 a.m. Thursdays on the five stations of WNPR Connecticut Public Radio, including 90.5 FM in Hartford/New Haven. Send e-mail to paul.janensch@quinnipiac.edu.