An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“One recent report on the gender pay gap in the Valley found that a woman with a bachelor’s degree here tends to make 60 percent less than a man with the same degree.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton, Feb. 24, 2015 Summary Clinton used the wrong percentage. The Facts Former Secretary of State and likely presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave a…
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“Myth: President Obama wants the United States to stop climate change alone.” —The Democratic National Committee, December 2014 on its “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview The DNC identifies a myth nobody’s spreading and offers a dubious example of President Obama’s actions to cut carbon emissions The Facts The Democratic National Committee bills its “Your Republican Uncle” website as a…
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“Atheists are underrepresented [in federal prison].” Mona Chalabi, in a March 12, 2015 article for FiveThirtyEight Overview FiveThirtyEight uses data inadequate for the task of estimating the percentage of atheists in federal prison. FiveThirtyEight’s argument won’t even support a probabilistic case that atheists are underrepresented in the federal prison population. The Facts FiveThirtyEight’s Mona Chalabi received a request from…
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“Netanyahu Takes Kerry Out of Context” —FactCheck.org, from a March 3, 2015 fact check of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Overview FactCheck.org’s assertion that Prime Minister Netanyahu took Secretary of State Kerry out of context appears to lack any basis in fact. The Facts On March 3, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a well-publicized address to both…
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“Myth: Immigration reform will allow illegal immigrants to take away jobs from hard-working Americans.” —The Democratic National Committee, from its “Your Republican Uncle” website, November 2013 Overview Not every illegal immigrant would take away the job of a hard-working American citizen, but it’s likely some would. The Facts Our examination of the Democratic National Committee’s “Your Republican Uncle” website…
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“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” —Neil Newhouse, Mitt Romney campaign pollster, Aug. 28, 2012 Overview A media myth surrounds an oft-repeated quotation. The Facts On Aug. 28, 2012 the campaign pollster for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, Neil Newhouse, participated in a media breakfast event sponsored by Yahoo! and ABC News….
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“Contrary to Cheney’s assertion, waterboarding was an important charge in a number of the lesser-profile cases.” —Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post Fact Checker, from a Dec. 16, 2014 fact check of former Vice President Dick Cheney Overview In a fact check of the former vice president, the Washington Post Fact Checker muddies the waterboarding. The Facts Former Vice President Dick…
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“[Rudy] Giuliani said, “the conviction rate is almost exactly the same” for whites and blacks who commit murder. … Without statistical data to back up his claim, we rate it False.” —PunditFact, from a Nov. 26, 2014 fact check of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani Overview: Facts and consistency escape PunditFact’s grasp as it overlooks an extensive…
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“In a classic study on race, psychologists staged an experiment with two photographs that produced a surprising result.” —CNN’s John Blake, in a Nov. 27, 2014 story titled “The new threat: ‘Racism without racists’.” Overview: CNN and the expert it sourced, Howard Ross, both provide badly distorted accounts of a research project. The Facts “The new threat: ‘Racism without…
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“If you watch any great coach, what they try to do is ‘work the refs.’” —Richard N. Bond, reported in the Washington Post, Aug. 20, 1992 Overview Do Republicans only complain about media bias as a strategy to “work the refs”? Some use an accurate quotation out of context to suggest a former chairman of the National Republican Committee…
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