PolitiFact published a video version of a fact check and with it an improper paraphrase of the fact-checked claim. Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact on Feb. 22, 2021. As of March 14, 2021 PolitiFact had not fixed the error in the video.
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
The video version of your fact check of Republcian Kevin McCarthy’s claim of job losses associated with a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour incorrectly represents McCarthy’s words.
The text version of the fact check correctly quotes McCarthy:
McCarthy’s wording, given that it contains the words “up to” points toward the CBO’s high-end estimate. If McCarthy said the CBO estimated “up to” the number of jobs lost in the CBO’s median estimate then he would be more wrong, as he would be obscuring the high end estimate. The phrase “up to” counts as an essential part of McCarthy’s point.
That phrase and that idea disappear from the video version of the fact check.
PolitiFact Director Aaron Sharockman instead said “And one prominent member of the GOP says that if the bill passes almost four million Americans will lose their jobs.”
An acceptably accurate paraphrase would read something like “almost four million Americans might lose their jobs.” “Might” would help convey the idea that the 3.7 million estimate counted as a high-end estimate. Alternatively, Sharockman could have said something like “And one prominent member of the GOP says that if the bill passes up to 3.7 million Americans could lose their jobs.”
Either of those options would fairly paraphrase what McCarthy said. The version PolitiFact used in the video does not.
Though I will not focus on it in this message, it is at least worth noting in passing that getting a figure wrong by about 50 percent often proves no barrier to PolitiFact awarding a “Mostly False” or better “Truth-O-Meter” rating.
It’s curious that McCarthy did no better than “False,” particularly when this was chiefly an issue with posting the wrong URL with the message. McCarthy’s claim was literally true of the 2019 CBO report, which is the one PolitiFact concluded McCarthy intended to reference.
Please correct the paraphrasing error in keeping with a commitment to open and honest corrections. Thanks.