An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
On June 27, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact via [email protected]. PolitiFact issued a “Mostly True” rating for President Biden’s claim that the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision made the United States “an outlier among developed nations in the world.” We explained to PolitiFact it used an unrealistic approach to defining “developed nations” that was inconsistent with…
Read more
On June 16, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent a complaint about PolitiFact to the International Fact-Checking Network.
A PolitiFact fact check got out ahead of the facts, evident after Uvalde, Texas law enforcement issued contradictory reports about events surrounding a shooting incident. PolitiFact obscured from readers that it issued apparent false reports while relying on official sources. Instead of admitting it changed its reporting, PolitiFact told readers it updated its story with new information that came out…
Read more
Zebra Fact Check discovered a major methodological error in PolitiFact’s May 24, 2022 fact check of a claim by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Accordingly, we sent a correction request to [email protected]. We received PolitiFact’s standard acknowledgment form letter in reply.
When PolitiFact responded to our May 27, 2022 outreach by failing to disclose edits it made to a May 26, 2022 fact check, Zebra Fact Check sent another correction request to PolitiFact. We noted, among other things, that revising and eliding material does not count as an update according to PolitiFact’s statement of principles.