Zebra Fact Check sent a second correction request to PolitiFact on May 5, 2022. PolitiFact misquoted Sean Hannity while fact-checking his opinion.
On May 5, 2022 Zebra Fact Check sent PolitiFact a correction request, the second of two, asking PolitiFact to fix a misquotation of Sean Hannity. We also asked PolitiFact to consider withdrawing the fact check because it fact checked an opinion.
We re-sent the correction request on May 6, 2022 based on the possibility PolitiFact had taken our two correction requests, sent one minute apart and with the same subject header, as the same correction request.
Zebra Fact Check will update this item if we note PolitiFact has taken action to either fix the mistake or respond to the charge it erred.
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
Your May 2, 2022 fact check of Sean Hannity mishandles a quotation in addition to fact-checking a claim presented as an opinion.
1) Paragraph six gives an accurate account of the Hannity quotation: “It’s almost as if Twitter employees lifted a broad anti-conservative, anti-Trump shadow ban, which we all knew was taking place anyway, in an effort to cover their tracks before the new boss takes over.” The title and second concluding paragraph give an altered version of the quotation, out of step with AP style. Both these versions omit “employees” without the benefit of an ellipsis. That’s not okay.
2) When a claim starts with “It’s as if” it ought to serve as a clear clue to any reader that the claim is not necessarily intended as a statement of fact. Rather, it is a statement of appearances and thus firmly in the realm of opinion (an ongoing problem at PolitiFact).
If for some reason you do not repent of fact-checking an opinion, rendering the fact check moot, please fix the misquotations of Hannity.