Zebra Fact Check | An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.

Email exchange with IFCN Director Baybars Örsek, July 26, 2019-Sept 23, 2019

Bryan W. White November 11, 2019 0 Comments

After confirming that the IFCN’s outside assessor responsible for PolitiFact’s 2019 IFCN verification renewal had not received complaints submitted to the IFCN about PolitiFact, we reached out to the International Fact-Checking Network to find out more information and try to resolve the problem. The email exchange with PolitiFact Director Baybars Örsek spans about two months. Find a .pdf version of…
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Interviews, Resource pages

Baybars Orsek

Washington Post Fact Checker wrongly dings Gabbard on Russian ‘grooming’

Bryan W. White November 7, 2019 0 Comments

When numerous media outlets produced conflicting reports, op-eds and fact checks on whether Hillary Clinton said the Russians were grooming Democratic Party presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Zebra Fact Check weighed in on the issue. After looking at the whole context of the Clinton interview on David Plouffe’s podcast, we said Clinton had tended to mix statements about Trump campaign…
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Commentary, Zebra Fact Checks

Grooming Gabbard, The Washington Post Fact Checker

Email outreach to Lead Stories, Oct. 21, 2019

Bryan W. White October 24, 2019 0 Comments

Editor’s note: This post was scheduled to publish at 8:01 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2019. A malfunction kept the post from publishing. Working to address the problem resulted in it publishing at 11:05 a.m. but with the 8:01 a.m. time stamp. We then immediately added this note and corrected the time stamp. On Oct. 21, 2019 Zebra Fact Check sent…
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Resource pages

Grooming Gabbard

Hillary Clinton on ‘Campaign HQ with David Plouffe’

Bryan W. White October 24, 2019 0 Comments

We have transcribed parts of two segments of a David Plouffe podcast (alternative link) featuring a Hillary Clinton interview. The segments provide critical context for a fact check conducted by fact-checking organization Lead Stories. We cite fair use as our justification for producing these transcripts. The transcripts are tagged as resource pages and are not set for indexing by search…
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Resource pages

Grooming Gabbard

‘Lead Stories’ and the hoax that wasn’t

Bryan W. White October 24, 2019 0 Comments

An Oct. 18, 2019 story at National Review said Hillary Clinton claimed the Russians were grooming Democratic Party presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) for a third-party campaign. And the fact checkers at Lead Stories, a fact-checking organization verified by the International Fact-Checking Network called it a hoax. Lead Stories was wrong. But its role as a Facebook fact-checking partner…
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Commentary, Zebra Fact Checks

Grooming Gabbard

Email outreach to PolitiFact, Aug. 21, 2019

Bryan W. White October 15, 2019 0 Comments

On Aug. 21, 2019 Zebra Fact Check reached out to PolitiFact regarding flawed reporting in an Aug. 20, 2019 fact check published by PolitiFact Wisconsin. The text of the email follows in .pdf format.

Resource pages

IFCN/PolitiFact Corrections 2018-2019

Email outreach to PolitiFact, Aug. 7, 2019

Bryan W. White October 15, 2019 0 Comments

When we found PolitiFact making a questionable claim about legal scholars and the special counsel law, we reached out to the PolitiFact writer, Jon Greenberg. After receiving no response from Greenberg we reached out to PolitiFact regarding the same issue. The text of our message to PolitiFact follows, in .pdf format.

Resource pages

IFCN/PolitiFact Corrections 2018-2019

Email outreach to PolitiFact’s Jon Greenberg, July 28, 2019

Bryan W. White October 15, 2019 0 Comments

On July 24, 2019 PolitiFact published a fact check of Republican John Ratcliffe’s claim that Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not follow the special counsel regulations. The PolitiFact fact check, by Jon Greenberg, said PolitiFact found no legal scholar who agreed with Ratcliffe. Before reading Greenberg’s fact check, we were aware that respected author and former federal prosecutor Andrew C….
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Resource pages

Complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network regarding PolitiFact, Sept. 5, 2019

Bryan W. White October 14, 2019 0 Comments

On Sept. 5, 2019 Zebra Fact Check submitted a complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network, offering evidence PolitiFact failed to scrupulously adhere to an open and honest corrections policy. The text of the complaint follows in .pdf format.

Resource pages

IFCN/PolitiFact Corrections 2018-2019

Email outreach to PolitiFact, Aug. 1, 2019

Bryan W. White October 14, 2019 0 Comments

On Aug. 1, 2019 Zebra Fact Check sent an email to PolitiFact questioning the premise of a fact check and asking PolitiFact to reconcile contradictory reporting in two of its fact checks. As of this date, over two months later, we detect no evidence PolitiFact has moved to fix either problem with its reporting. The email message appears below in…
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Resource pages

IFCN/PolitiFact Corrections 2018-2019

Latest Posts

Email exchange with IFCN Director Baybars Örsek, July 26, 2019-Sept 23, 2019

Washington Post Fact Checker wrongly dings Gabbard on Russian ‘grooming’

Email outreach to Lead Stories, Oct. 21, 2019

Hillary Clinton on ‘Campaign HQ with David Plouffe’

‘Lead Stories’ and the hoax that wasn’t

Email outreach to PolitiFact, Aug. 21, 2019

Email outreach to PolitiFact, Aug. 7, 2019

Email outreach to PolitiFact’s Jon Greenberg, July 28, 2019

Complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network regarding PolitiFact, Sept. 5, 2019

Email outreach to PolitiFact, Aug. 1, 2019

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