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On Sept. 2, 2019 Zebra Fact Check contacted PolitiFact at truthometer@politifact.com to point out problems with a Sept. 1, 2019 fact check published by PolitiFact Illinois. The fact check checked a claim other than the claim made by Democrat Sean Casten. Note: We have not yet sent to the IFCN as an example of PolitiFact failing to adhere to an…
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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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.
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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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.