An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Occasionally the mainstream fact checker PolitiFact will publish an article giving an overview of a fact check topic. But two recent fact checks of political attack ads point to the need for one PolitiFact has yet to publish: the relevance of the source of political campaign cash. On March 27, 2014, PolitiFact published a fact check of an ad by…
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Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik blasted PolitiFact Oregon, among other PolitiFacts, with a Sept. 10, 2014 column titled “Another ‘fact-checker’ gets Social Security wrong.” We have complaints about the PolitiFact Oregon item, also. But Hiltzik’s demagogy takes precedence. This paragraph encapsulates Hiltzik’s most objectionable points: The money accounted for in the trust fund was borrowed by the federal government…
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PolitiFact published a brief guide to its fact check process recently on Aug. 20, 2014. It wasn’t bad at all. PolitiFact’s PunditFact published a fact check of former Texas congressman Tom DeLay on Aug. 31, 2014. It was pretty bad. How does this happen? How does a solid outline for fact checking claims turn into amateurish and ridiculous fact checks?…
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“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead.” Henry V, from Shakespeare’s “Henry V” Mainstream media fact checkers have done a lousy job of alerting their readers to Democrats’ deceptive gender pay gap claims. We’ll review the fact checks of the pay gap issue from FactCheck.org, the Washington Post…
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In June 2014, FactCheck.org and PolitiFact Florida fact checked the same ad from the Florida Democratic Party. The ad attacked incumbent Florida Governor Rick Scott (R-Fla.). A comparison of the fact checks helps explain why we view FactCheck.org as the current king of the fact-checking hill, with PolitiFact occupying the other end of the spectrum. The Florida Democratic Party aired…
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A viral video featuring the latest news comedian’s take on the climate change debate caught our attention this week. Comedian John Oliver’s HBO program “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” follows a trail blazed by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. As with Stewart and Colbert, we’re willing to cut Oliver a break on the accuracy of his content. He’s a…
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We ran across a fact check from May of 2013 recently while looking at search hits on the 97 percent consensus claim. The Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, gave four “Pinocchios” to a Republican who denied a scientific consensus on the role of humans in driving climate change. Kessler’s fact check topped the list of search engine hits. That…
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Jack Marshall of the Ethics Alarms blog slammed Democrats for their gender wage gap demagoguery with an April 15 post. That post directly inspires this critique of Glenn Kessler’s treatment of the gender pay gap. Kessler writes the Washington Post’s fact checks as the Washington Post Fact Checker. The key deception the Democrats use on the gender pay gap issue…
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A critical review of and reflection on The Epistemology of Fact Checking by Joseph E. Uscinski and Ryden W. Butler epis·te·mol·o·gy: the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity In their paper The Epistemology of Fact Checking (hereafter “Epistemology“), published in October 2013, authors Joseph E….
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On Feb. 20, 2014, PolitiFact Oregon posted a new rating relating to the gender wage gap. PolitiFact Oregon rated it “Mostly True” that women in Oregon make 79 cents on the dollar compared to men for the same work. It was a notable rating, since other PolitiFact ratings on the gender wage gap, while not exactly a model of consistency,…
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