Latest Posts

Correction requests sent to Slate, Feb. 5, Feb. 6, and Feb. 22, 2024

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Slate published false information from interviewee and PolitiFact employee Louis Jacobson in a Feb. 1, 2024 article. We sent two correction requests which Slate appeared to initially heed. But Slate changed its update in a misleading way, so we sent a third correction request on Feb. 22, 2024. That request, unfortunately, has a mistake on our part. One of our…
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Seeking the elusive Poynter Institute correction

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On Aug. 3, 2023 and Feb. 1, 2024 (x2) we wrote to the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute asking for corrections to cases where the IFCN credits/blames Bryan W. White (this author) with resolving unresolved complaints about IFCN signatory organizations. Yet the Poynter Institute has not corrected the apparently false reports and has not explained its decision not…
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PolitiFact stands pat with misleading Bush v. Gore narrative

PolitiFact published an explainer of the Trump ballot removal case before the Supreme Court. The Feb. 8, 2024 article had what we consider an ambiguous description of the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore from 2000: The last time the Supreme Court played such a pivotal role in the presidential race was in 2000, when the justices ruled 5-4 to…
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Review: ‘Bias in Fact Checking?: An Analysis of Partisan Trends Using PolitiFact Data’

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An Honors Thesis by a Duke University economics student recently came to my attention. Writing in 2023, Thomas A. Colicchio mathematically analyzed PolitiFact “Truth-O-Meter” ratings in an attempt to objectively measure bias. We found an error in his approach that renders a portion of his findings effectively moot. As for the rest, it helps build the case against PolitiFact’s supposed…
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What is a “small error” at PolitiFact?

Jeff D, the co-creator of the “PolitiFact Bias” website, and I have often joked that PolitiFact’s principles are more like guidelines than actual rules. That’s a reference to a classic line from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” about the so-called “pirate’s code.” And so it is with PolitiFact’s principles. PolitiFact’s corrections policy offers it an easy out from its responsibility…
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Zebra Fact Check requests communication with Logically Facts editorial team, Dec. 22, 2023

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In response to Logically Facts misleading so-called revision of its 2022 fetal pain fact check, Zebra Fact Check requested contact with Logically Facts’ editorial team. We’ve made such request of Logically Facts before, but have received no response despite the organization’s commitment to respond to all complaints within 48 hours.

Complaint about PolitiFact sent to the International Fact-Checking Network, Jan. 26, 2018 (Update: oops, duplicate)

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We’ve been slow (Editor’s note 12/28/2023: Not as slow as we thought! We already posted this documentation in Oct. 2023) to document our first complaint submitted to the International Fact-Checking Network regarding PolitiFact. That’s partly because we tried to ensure that IFCN figures were clear that our emails were seeking publishable responses. It’s acceptable in journalism to publish anything received…
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ZFC on Medium (2016): ‘Fact Check This, Bill Adair’

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Back in 2016 I used the Medium platform to skewer Bill Adair’s errant view of fact-checking. Bill Adair is the founder of PolitiFact and after PolitiFact was elevated to journalistic sainthood with a position at Duke University. My article, titled “Fact Check This, Bill Adair,” pointed out that bias is irrelevant to fact-checking if the fact check gets the facts…
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