An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Popular mainstream fact checker PolitiFact published an article on Nov. 14, 2022 flatly proclaiming Donald Trump counts as the least accurate politician it has ever covered. The claim creates a problem for PolitiFact, for an objective proof of “least accurate” presents an exceptionally tall order. If PolitFact lacks that proof then its article ends up expressing a derogatory opinion about…
Read more
When PolitiFact failed to respond to our correction/revision request by clarifying, correcting or revising its supposedly unbiased yet apparently unsupported claim that Donald Trump counts as the least accurate politician it has ever covered, Zebra Fact Check submitted a formal complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network.
When PolitiFact took no corrective action in response to our November 12 revision/correction request respecting a PolitiFact Virginia fact check from Nov. 11, 2022, Zebra Fact Check submitted a formal complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network.
PolitiFact published an article on Nov. 14, 2022 bearing the title “Donald Trump, the least accurate politician we’ve ever covered, eyes another White House run.” The article later similarly claimed “Trump has the worst record of any politician fact-checked by PolitiFact.” Given that PolitiFact does not rate politicians using a randomly selected set of stories and uses subjective judgments to…
Read more
A PolitiFact Virginia fact check from Nov. 11, 2022 featured a substantial hole in its reasoning, so on Nov. 12 (after using Twitter to flag the issue) Zebra Fact Check sent PolitiFact a description of the problem and two potential avenues it might take toward fixing it. PolitiFact promptly responded with its standard response email.
Zebra Fact Check detected a false statement and missing context in an Oct. 3, 2022 PolitiFact fact check of a claim by Sen. Rick Scott (R, Fla.). Accordingly, we sent a correction request to PolitiFact on Oct. 5, 2022. PolitiFact sent its standard acknowledgment email in response.
Upon noticing an apparent error in a PolitiFact newsletter sent Sept. 15, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent a correction/clarification request to PolitiFact that same day. PolitiFact responded (unusual in our experience) the same day. PolitiFact Audience Director Josie Hollingsworth affirmed the presence of the error and committed to issuing a correction in the next edition of the newsletter. Note: We…
Read more
Upon noticing that PolitiFact fact check had failed to properly contextualize a claim from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact on July 1, 2022. PolitiFact acknowledged its receipt of the correction request with a form email.
On June 27, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact via [email protected]. PolitiFact issued a “Mostly True” rating for President Biden’s claim that the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision made the United States “an outlier among developed nations in the world.” We explained to PolitiFact it used an unrealistic approach to defining “developed nations” that was inconsistent with…
Read more
On June 16, 2022, Zebra Fact Check sent a complaint about PolitiFact to the International Fact-Checking Network.