An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Apparently I made a tactical mistake trying to embed many .pdf images at this website The files demand quite a bit of memory and were affecting site performance in many ways. The display files are temporarily deactivated. We do have a strategy for moving forward by transferring the body of the text to the normal text display method (no embed)…
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Our problem displaying .pdf files, which helps power the radical transparency we try to model at Zebra Fact Check, led us to the step of relocating Zebra Fact Check to Substack. The solution to the .pdf problem would have worked on WordPress, but Substack had other advantages making it the better option. We went back and edited the old posts…
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Recently we disabled a website feature enabling readers to see .pdf copies of our correspondence. That’s part of our policy on radical transparency. Readers get to see how the sausage is made, so to speak. If we ask leading questions of our sources, the reader gets to see that. And if we’re hiding stuff our sources tell us readers get…
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As detailed in our March 14, 2024 post, Zebra Fact Check has reached out a number of times to the International Fact-Checking Network and the Poynter Institute seeking corrections of its multiple false reports that this author “resolved” unresolved complaints about IFCN signatories. As that post relates, we journeyed to the Poynter Institute in person to seek those corrections when…
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As part of our evaluation of PolitiFact’s April 30, 2024 fact check connected to Florida’s proposed abortion rights constitutional amendment, we asked one of PolitiFact’s cited experts for the rationale supporting a quotation PolitiFact used in its story. We will update this item should we receive a response from Professor Virelli.
On May 3, 2024, Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact concerning its assessment of Florida’s proposed abortion rights amendment. Of note, our request includes the claim that the Miami Herald evaluated the same claim and came to a different conclusion. In fact, the two stories looked at different, albeit equivalent, claims. We acknowledge the mistake while holding…
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Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact on April 18, 2024. With the correction request we received no reply from PolitiFact. Typically we receive a standardized reply acknowledging receipt of the email.
Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact on April 17, 2024 regarding an apparently duplicated fact check. We received PolitiFact’s standard (automated?) response in reply.
Zebra Fact Check reached out to International Fact-Checking Network director Angie Drobnic Holan (cc Poynter president Neil Brown) to point out a set of discrepancies on its newly redesigned page showing signatories active and otherwise.
We sent a correction request to PolitiFact on April 11, 2024. As it contained an error, we sent a follow-up message a few minutes later to acknowledge and correct the mistake. We include both messages here. To: truthometer@politifact.comDear Truth-O-Meter, PolitiFact Wisconsin published a fact check on April 1, 2024 ostensibly rating a pair of claims from Donald Trump. One claim…
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