On May 24, 2019 PolitiFact published an item surrounding actor Alyssa Milano’s claim a Georgia law would subject women to prosecution. The article found the law did not say what Milano claimed. But the PolitiFact article did not take the step of applying a “Truth-O-Meter” rating.
We reached out to PolitiFact to encourage adherence to a consistent standard. The text of the email follows in .pdf format:
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
As you are doubtless aware, one of your stated principles consists of a "burden of proof" criterion.
Executive Director Aaron Sharockman recently described that criterion for an African audience:
If you say something, if you make a factual claim, online, on television, in the newspaper, you should be able to support it with evidence. And if you cannot or will not support that claim with evidence we say you're guilty. We'll, we'll rate that claim negatively.
Contrary to that statement of principle, PolitiFact withheld judgment on a claim Alyssa Milano (and others) made about the impact of Georgia's law limiting abortion (May 24, 2019). The summary paragraph explains that PolitiFact does not rate Milano's claim because it is not yet known whether it is true:
This non-ruling could hardly provide a more obvious contradiction to Sharockman's description of PolitiFact policy. PolitiFact's statement of principles declares "we rate statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made."
I implore you, Truth-O-Meter, to either apply the principles consistently or else alter the principles to allow PolitiFact to apply them consistently moving forward.
Altering the principles on a case-by-base basis should not serve as a viable option.
Note: Though we titled the email based on the notion that PolitiFact had not applied its “burden of proof” principle consistently, in Milano’s case PolitiFact concluded the Georgia law simply did not say what Milano claimed. So “burden of proof” was not the relevant inconsistency. Instead, Milano was receiving the fact-checking equivalent of the “Mulligan” in golf.