An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 7 million Americans have signed up for private health coverage.” —the White House, April 2014 on the whitehouse.gov website Overview The White House generously doles out undeserved credit to itself. The Facts The White House website has a menu option for exploring the administration’s stance on issues. Clicking the “Health Care”…
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Last year, the Cleveland Plain Dealer stopped publishing stories under the PolitiFact Ohio banner. We read with interest the criticisms of PolitiFact coming from Plain Dealer staffers. On June 7, 2014 Plain Dealer reader representative Ted Diadiun lauded the start of the paper’s Truth in Numbers fact check effort. He told how the Truth in Numbers system improved on PolitiFact’s…
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“Myth: Raising the minimum wage is for flunkies and teenagers.” —The Democratic National Committee, ~Jan. 2014 on its “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview The DNC’s “Your Republican Uncle” website produces yet another garbled and misleading myth claim. The Facts The Democratic National Committee sponsors a website called “Your Republican Uncle.” The DNC intends the site to offer rebuttals to common…
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Did Will McAvoy’s speech on “The Newsroom” make sense? We’ve looked forward to surpassing the transparency of more established fact check sites by regularly answering the best criticisms we receive. Sadly, we haven’t had much to work with over the first year or so. We’ve decided to begin highlighting criticism by replying to a critique from “Arseny.” Arseny objected to…
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“Palin wrote on Facebook, “As unbelievable as it sounds, your tax dollars are funding the federal government’s Zombie Apocalypse Plan. I kid you not.” … Palin’s claim is False.” —PunditFact, from a May 28, 2014 fact check of Sarah Palin Overview PunditFact’s ruling hints it used zombie-like research methods to fact-check Palin, followed by zombie-like stubbornness in refusing…
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“Myth: Women don’t really make less money than men in the workplace, they just make different choices.” —The Democratic National Committee, ~Jan. 2014 on its “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview Women clearly affect their incomes through their job choices. It’s less clear women make less money than men for doing the same job. The DNC apparently wants people to…
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We ran across a fact check from May of 2013 recently while looking at search hits on the 97 percent consensus claim. The Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, gave four “Pinocchios” to a Republican who denied a scientific consensus on the role of humans in driving climate change. Kessler’s fact check topped the list of search engine hits. That…
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“Most people on the individual market are getting more benefits under the law. At worst, they’re paying more to get more, though in many cases they’re actually paying less.” —PolitiFact, from a March 20, 2014 fact check of an Americans for Prosperity ad. Overview Is “Fact Checkers for Mendacity” the answer to Americans For Prosperity? The Facts The political…
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“The ad certainly leaves the impression (Andrea) Kodad had to give up her plan. Given the circumstances, her tale of woe from November seems rather out of date.” —Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post Fact Checker, in a column from May 7, 2014 Overview The Washington Post Fact Checker fails to offer charitable interpretation to an Obamacare attack ad, with…
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“Myth: Obamacare only adds to the deficit, and it’s going to bankrupt this country.” —Democratic National Committee, Nov. 27, 2013, on its “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview Obamacare raises revenue, increases spending and decreases projected spending on net. The increased spending adds to the deficit, meaning that the revenue increase and the reductions in projected spending have a relatively…
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