After PolitiFact failed to act for over a week in response to two correction requests we sent on April 11, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent complaints about PolitiFact to the International Fact-Checking Network. Both complaints alleged PolitiFact failed to adhere to its commitment to an open and honest corrections policy.
Dear International Fact-Checking Network,
An April 8, 2022 PolitiFact fact check claimed “There is no question that U.S. consumers pay more than those in other countries” for insulin. PolitiFact’s wording suggests to readers that consumers in the U.S. pay higher insulin prices than in any other country in the world.
PolitiFact’s sourcing includes evidence that U.S. consumers pay more for insulin than consumers in other OECD nations. I wrote to PolitiFact on April 11, 2022 asking PolitiFact to make clear its claim applied to OECD countries and not necessarily others. I provided PolitiFact evidence that prices were higher in some other countries. And the price for a fast-acting form of insulin was highest in Switzerland, which counts as an OECD nation.
As of April 19, 2022, PolitiFact had taken no apparent steps to either clarify or correct its misleading claim. That inaction, which I see repeatedly from PolitiFact, would appear to fall short of the IFCN standard for “scrupulous” observance of an open and honest policy on corrections.
Dear International Fact-Checking Network,
An April 5, 2022 PolitiFact fact check claimed a new Colorado law “does not allow abortions ‘up until the moment of birth.’” Unfortunately, PolitiFact neglected to justify that claim with any kind of reasonable evidence, and its absent argument served as the key to issuing a “False” verdict.
The fact check’s concluding paragraphs aptly sum up its illogical case:
Our ruling
A screenshot of a tweet shared on Facebook claimed: “Colorado Governor Jared Polis has just signed into law a bill legalizing abortions through all nine months, up until the moment of birth.”
Colorado’s new law codifies existing protections around an individual’s right to use or refuse contraceptives, continue with a pregnancy and give birth, or to have an abortion.
Abortions that occur later in a pregnancy — at 21 weeks gestation or later — are rare.
We rate this claim False.
It is an illogical leap from “Abortions that occur later in pregnancy ... are rare” to *Abortions that occur later in pregnancy are not legal under the new Colorado law.* The fact check offers the reader no clue as to what logic would adequately justify PolitiFact’s conclusion. In fact, the fact check offers evidence to doubt its proffered conclusion:
Colorado’s law protects the right to have an abortion and does not make distinctions or regulations around a time or stage during pregnancy.
If the law makes no distinctions or regulations around a time or stage of pregnancy, then how do its legal protections fail to stretch until the very moment of birth? PolitiFact leaves that question entirely unexplored, even though it represents the exact crux of the issue.
I wrote to PolitiFact on April 11, 2022 to suggest the fact check’s rationale needed wholesale correction. As of April 19, 2022, PolitiFact had taken no noticeable steps to fix the problems with its fact check.
That inaction would seem to qualify as a failure of PolitiFact’s commitment to an open and honest corrections policy.
If you disagree, or have some unknown reason for not counting multiple examples of this type of thing as a pattern of violation, I would love to hear the rationale supporting that disagreement.