An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
On April 7, 2022 PolitiFact published a fact check concerning Colorado’s new abortion law. PolitiFact drew immediate criticism on social media for failing to support its conclusion. Colorado law and late term abortion After a Facebook post said Colorado’s law codifying state abortion rights made abortion legal up until delivery, PolitiFact stepped in to fact check. PolitiFact’s fact check, by…
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In 2021 PolitiFact produced a video explainer about its “Truth-O-Meter” process. We reviewed the video in our article “PolitiFact’s misleading ‘Truth-O-Meter’ explainer” on Oct. 4, 2021. A tweet from PolitiFact’s Louis Jacobson on March 10, 2022 impels us to revisit the subject. Jacobson’s mention of the “chamber” suggested he was talking about the “star chamber” for PolitiFact New York. That…
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PolitiFact’s video explainer for critical race theory hides from its audience the movement’s postmodernist hostility to Western culture.
PolitiFact’s Jan. 28, 2022 fact check of a claim by Fox News’ Sean Hannity mistakenly rated his claim as though it used an “or” conditional instead of an “and” conditional. The resulting conclusion (“False”) flew in the face of logic. We noticed a fair amount of pushback against PolitiFact’s conclusion on Twitter, but after PolitiFact spent days making no move…
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On Jan. 21, 2022, after PolitiFact declined to act in response to our Jan. 14, 2022 correction request, we sent this formal complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network, noting on the complaint form that PolitiFact’s inaction breached its pledge to “scrupulously” adhere to an open and honest policy on corrections. Updated a few minutes after publication to add the date…
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We saw something funny on PolitiFact’s Facebook page the other day. It was a video purporting to answer questions about PolitiFact’s trademarked “Truth-O-Meter” system for rating the relative truth of political statements. We would count the explanatory video as an unmitigated disaster. Much of PolitiFact’s video deserves critical commentary. We invite readers to watch the embedded video via YouTube before…
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The go-to paper on avian mortality from power plant operation has little to back its conclusions about plants using fossil fuels, and fact checkers struggle to describe it correctly. A funny thing happened when media fact checker PolitiFact looked into the question of birds killed by fossil fuel-burning power plants. PolitiFact either neglected to check the facts or neglected to…
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On or about June 21, 2021, a Google search discovered a complaint we had submitted to the International Fact-Checking Network about PolitiFact. We’ve lobbied the IFCN for years to encourage it to adopt a more open policy with its system of complaints. We’d prefer for the public to have free access to all the complaints the IFCN receives about its…
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When PolitiFact failed to respond to Zebra Fact Check’s Feb. 22, 2021 correction request, we sent a formal complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network. We called PolitiFact’s failure to correct its mistake a violation of its commitment to scrupulously follow an open and honest corrections policy.
On Oct. 20, 2020, Zebra Fact Check noted no change made by PolitiFact pursuant to our Oct. 13, 2020 correction request. Accordingly, we submitted a formal complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network. We charged that PolitiFact failed to exhibit an open and honest corrections policy as stipulated in the IFCN Code of Principles.