An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Zebra Fact Check considers the avoidance of apples-to-oranges comparisons a completely basic task in fact-checking. Thus, it especially piques our interest when two mainstream fact checkers fact check the same apple fact with orange data when researching the same subject. During his inauguration speech, President Biden said the coronavirus deaths from the past year equaled the number of Americans killed…
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FactCheck.org and PolitiFact committed an error in common in fact-checking President Biden’s inaugural address. Both made statements representing the total U.S. death toll from World War II using statistics for U.S. military deaths and omitting all mention of civilian war dead. Both fact-checking organizations failed to address the error or acknowledge the complaint within a week’s time, leading to the…
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On Jan. 30, 2021 Zebra Fact Check requested a correction from PolitiFact, which falsely reported the total number of U.S. dead from World War II using the total number of U.S. military dead from World War II.
FactCheck.org reported a false number representing the number of Americans killed during World War II, omitting from its total civilian casualties. Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request on Jan. 30, 2021.
We don’t get much material submitted through our “Report an Error” system (see button in right sidebar). But we got one today. We honor the request for anonymity for the person who submitted the error report: The photo of Biden is NOT Biden (and you don’t source the photo).This appears to be all over social media and people are using…
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On Jan. 28, 2021 Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact. We noticed PolitiFact described a 300 million hoped-for future supply of coronavirus vaccine as 300. PolitiFact issued a correction, though with less transparency than we hoped. Find more details in a post at PolitiFact Bias.
On Jan. 19, 2021, Zebra Fact Check again asked the International Fact-Checking Network to explain the verification status for the fact-checking organization PolitiFact. PolitiFact’s annual verification expired June 20, 2020. The IFCN ordinarily allows a three-month grace period for renewal. The three-month grace period expired Sept. 20, 2020. In 2020 the IFCN also allowed for longer grace periods to counter…
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The IFCN’s 2020 transparency statement about its “Code of Principles” enforcement strangely lacks transparency. The IFCN does a particularly bad job of explaining how it handles complaints about its signatory organizations. The IFCN first allowed the public to lodge complaints about its signatory fact-checking organizations in 2018. Little fanfare accompanied the move, continuing through 2019. But apparently word got out…
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On Dec. 18, 2020 Zebra Fact Check submitted a new complaint about the mainstream fact checker PolitiFact to the International Fact-Checking Network. PolitiFact and the IFCN are both owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute. In a nutshell, the complaint points toward a long-running study of PolitiFact’s subjective application of its “Pants on Fire” rating as evidence PolitiFact does not exhibit…
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The International Fact-Checking Network allowed its stable of verified fact-checking organizations an extended period to complete their renewal process, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The normal window for renewal is three months. The IFCN, so far as we are aware, has established no limit on the extended grace period. The IFCN has, however, invited the public to ask the IFCN…
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