An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Zebra Fact Check detected a false statement and missing context in an Oct. 3, 2022 PolitiFact fact check of a claim by Sen. Rick Scott (R, Fla.). Accordingly, we sent a correction request to PolitiFact on Oct. 5, 2022. PolitiFact sent its standard acknowledgment email in response.
Upon noticing an apparent error in a PolitiFact newsletter sent Sept. 15, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent a correction/clarification request to PolitiFact that same day. PolitiFact responded (unusual in our experience) the same day. PolitiFact Audience Director Josie Hollingsworth affirmed the presence of the error and committed to issuing a correction in the next edition of the newsletter. Note: We…
Read more
PolitiFact used an equivocal argument in an Aug. 12, 2022 fact check rating a tweet from Libs of TikTok as “False.” Zebra Fact Check sent PolitiFact a correction request to PolitiFact on Aug. 16, 2022. PolitiFact sent its standardized reply the same minute we sent the correction request.
Is abortion ever medically necessary? Reuters Fact Check addressed that question back in late 2021 but committed a fallacy of equivocation in its fact check (documented here in detail). On July 30, 2022, Zebra Fact Check asked Reuters Fact Check for a correction of its fallacious reasoning. After over a week of apparent inaction from Reuters Fact Check, Zebra Fact…
Read more
Meta/Facebook fact-checking partner Lead Stories committed essentially the same fallacy of equivocation other fact-checkers committed with the issue of whether abortion is ever medically necessary. We sent a correction request to Lead Stories on July 23, 2022. Lead Stories made no apparent attempt to correct its error through Aug. 9, 2022. Lead Stories’ failure to fix a documented error duly…
Read more
AFP Fact Check committed the same equivocation error other fact-checking organizations have committed while attempting to answer whether (elective) abortion can sometimes prove medically necessary. The failure either of AFP Fact Check’s correction request interface or else its desire to correct error count as a failure to scrupulously adhere to an open and honest corrections policy, hence our complaint submitted…
Read more
Annenberg Fact Check, also known as FactCheck.org, published an abortion fact check basing its conclusion on a fallacy of equivocation. Zebra Fact Check submitted a correction request to FactCheck.org on July 15, 2022. FactCheck.org made no apparent effort to fix its mistake and no apparent attempt to explain away the mistake. Zebra Fact Check reported the case to the International…
Read more
AP Fact Check failed to act in response to Zebra Fact Check’s correction request noting the former’s fallacy of equivocation in an abortion fact check. Accordingly, we sent a complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network noting AP Fact Check’s failure to scrupulously follow an open and honest corrections policy. Note: The embedded document differs from the one sent to the…
Read more
Zebra Fact Check found Reuters Fact Check using the same fallacy four fact-checking organizations “verified” as to their compliance with the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles used in rating a claim from anti-elective-abortion group Live Action. Live Action said abortion is never medically necessary to save the life of the mother. Facebook justified censoring the offending meme by citing…
Read more
On Dec. 27, 2021 Reuters Fact Check published a fact check examining whether anti-elective-abortion activist Alexandra DeSanctis Marr correctly stated that abortion is never medically necessary. Zebra Fact Check found the same fallacy of equivocation in that fact check that we observed from other mainstream fact checkers looking at similar claims. Accordingly, we sent a correction request on July 30,…
Read more