An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Annenberg Fact Check, also known as FactCheck.org, published an abortion fact check basing its conclusion on a fallacy of equivocation. Zebra Fact Check submitted a correction request to FactCheck.org on July 15, 2022. FactCheck.org made no apparent effort to fix its mistake and no apparent attempt to explain away the mistake. Zebra Fact Check reported the case to the International…
Read more
Mainstream fact checkers have had a terrible October so far in 2020. Their poor performance prompts this answer to the Poynter Institute’s “Factually” newsletter and its “The Week in Fact-checking” with what we’re tempted to call “The Weak in Fact-checking.” FactCheck.org Whitewashes Steele Dossier Annenberg Fact Check (FactCheck.org) chastised Republicans for citing an unverified intelligence report from Russia saying the…
Read more
Today, by 12:30 a.m. EDT, the International Fact-Checking Network had moved Maldito Bulo, a fact-checking organization from Spain, from its “Verified Signatories” list to the “Expired Verified Signatories” list. Maldito Bulo’s certification date was June 7, 2018. FactCheck.org (United States) shared the same certification date but it remained on the “Verified Signatory” list. IFCN Director Baybars Örsek has said organizations…
Read more
June Anniversaries Five of 65 verified signatories to the International Fact-Checking Network’s statement of principles will come due for re-verification in June 2019. FactCheck.org (US) June 7, 2018 Libération – CheckNews (France) June 11, 2018 Maldito Bulo (Spain) June 7, 2018 Pesa Check (Kenya) June 12, 2018 Science Feedback (France) June 7, 2018 IFCN Director Baybars Örsek has said that…
Read more
“Netanyahu Takes Kerry Out of Context” —FactCheck.org, from a March 3, 2015 fact check of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Overview FactCheck.org’s assertion that Prime Minister Netanyahu took Secretary of State Kerry out of context appears to lack any basis in fact. The Facts On March 3, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a well-publicized address to both…
Read more
Fact Checkers are Great Because They Condemned Mitt Romney’s Jeep Ad? In the peer-reviewed article Revisiting the Epistemology of Fact-Checking, researcher Michelle A. Amazeen offers readers an example of the beneficial effects of good fact-checking: When a framework of fact-checking becomes established, it should become more difficult for a politician to fabricate claims. For example, at the end of the…
Read more
In 2014 we first heard of a branch of scholarly research purporting to support the accuracy of mainstream fact checking. The research was mentioned in a paper by political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, The Effect of Fact-checking on Elites: A field experiment on U.S. state legislators: While individual fact-checks sometimes veer into punditry or semantic disputes (Marx 2012;…
Read more
“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” —Neil Newhouse, Mitt Romney campaign pollster, Aug. 28, 2012 Overview A media myth surrounds an oft-repeated quotation. The Facts On Aug. 28, 2012 the campaign pollster for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, Neil Newhouse, participated in a media breakfast event sponsored by Yahoo! and ABC News….
Read more
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead.” Henry V, from Shakespeare’s “Henry V” Mainstream media fact checkers have done a lousy job of alerting their readers to Democrats’ deceptive gender pay gap claims. We’ll review the fact checks of the pay gap issue from FactCheck.org, the Washington Post…
Read more
In June 2014, FactCheck.org and PolitiFact Florida fact checked the same ad from the Florida Democratic Party. The ad attacked incumbent Florida Governor Rick Scott (R-Fla.). A comparison of the fact checks helps explain why we view FactCheck.org as the current king of the fact-checking hill, with PolitiFact occupying the other end of the spectrum. The Florida Democratic Party aired…
Read more