This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Korny O'Near (talk | contribs) at 12:08, 19 August 2011 (Re-restored "criticism" section, added more sections and fleshed out content). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 12:08, 19 August 2011 by Korny O'Near (talk | contribs) (Re-restored "criticism" section, added more sections and fleshed out content)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)PolitiFact.com is a project that is operated by the St. Petersburg Times, a project in which its reporters and editors "fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups...." They publish original statements and their evaluations on the PolitiFact.com website, and assign each a "Truth-O-Meter" rating. The ratings range from "True" for completely accurate statements to "Pants on Fire" (from the taunt "Liar, liar, pants on fire") for outright lies.
The site also includes an "Obameter", tracking President Barack Obama's performance with regard to his campaign promises.
History
PolitiFact.com was started in August 2007 by Times Washington Bureau Chief Bill Adair, in conjuction with the Congressional Quarterly. Adair remains PolitiFact.com's editor.
In January 2010, PolitiFact.com expanded to its second newspaper, the Cox-owned Austin American-Statesman in Austin, Texas; the feature, called Politifact Texas, covers issues that are relevant to Texas and the Austin area.
In March 2010, the Times and its partner newspaper, The Miami Herald, launched Politifact Florida, which focuses on Florida issues. The Times and The Herald share resources on some stories that relate to Florida.
Since then, PolitiFact.com expanded to other papers, such as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Providence Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Plain Dealer, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and The Oregonian.
"Lie of the year"
Since 2009, PolitiFact.com has every year declared one political statement from that year to be the "lie of the year". In December 2009, they declared the lie of the year to be Sarah Palin's claim that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 would lead to government "death panels" that dictated which types of patients would receive treatment.
In December 2010, PolitiFact.com dubbed the lie of the year to be the claim among some opponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that it represented a "government takeover of healthcare". PolitiFact.com argued that this was not the case, since all providing of health care and insurance would remain in the hands of private companies.
Reception
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PolitiFact.com was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009 for "its fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters."
Criticism
PolitiFact.com has faced assertions, especially among politically conservative commentators, that it is politically biased in its declarations of truth and untruth.
In May 2009, PolitiFact.com rated a statement published on the website of Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, that the organization ACORN "could get up to $8.5 billion more tax dollars", as "false", calling it "beyond preposterous" that they would receive this amount. Conservative analyst Matthew Vadum, who was the original source of the assertion, defended his statement in The American Spectator, saying that he meant only that there were no legal impediments to ACORN receiving the money; he then called PolitiFact.com's writings "political opinion masquerading as high-minded investigative journalism."
In October 2009, PolitiFact.com fact-checked a skit on the sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live that showed President Obama stating that he had not accomplished anything thus far; PolitiFact's appraisal was then reported on CNN. Wall Street Journal writer James Taranto called the fact-checking "a bizarre exercise", and added, "PolitiFact does not appear to have done the same for past "SNL" sketches spoofing Republican politicians like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin... It's as if CNN and the St. Petersburg Times are trying to reinforce the impression that they are in the tank for Obama.".
In February 2010, PolitiFact.com rated President Obama's statement that the Recovery Act had saved or created 2 million jobs in the United States as "half true", stating that the real figure was 1 million according to several independent studies. Economist Brian Riedl of the conservative Heritage Foundation responded that such a statement "belongs in an opinion editorial - not a fact check", since "there is no way to determine how the economy would have performed without a stimulus."
Libertarian Reason magazine journalist Peter Suderman attacked the 2010 "lie of the year" decision, calling the government-takeover claim simply an "exaggeration with elements of truth". Suderman also cited several claims by President Obama about the health-care act that he felt were more worthy of the title, calling them "full-blooded whoppers".
The 2010 "lie of the year" decision was quoted approvingly by Stephanie Cutter on the White House blog. This in turn led the Wall Street Journal to write, in an editorial, that "PolitiFact's decree is part of a larger journalistic trend that seeks to recast all political debates as matters of lies, misinformation and 'facts,' rather than differences of world view or principles." They also wrote that the health-care act "sounds like a government takeover to us."
PolitiFact.com has also been attacked by left-wing commentators. In July 2010, Huffington Post blogger Ayo Adeyeye criticized them for labelling a statement by Arianna Huffington that the company Halliburton was "defraud the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars" as half-true, instead of fully true.
Rachel Maddow has criticized PolitiFact for claiming she denied a budget shortfall in Wisconsin. She later played a clip showing that she did in fact acknowledge that Wisconsin was having a budget shortfall and requested that PolitiFact issue a correction, which they ultimately refused.
References
- "PolitiFact.com". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- Bill Adair biography
- PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'Death panels', Angie Drobnic Holan, PolitiFact.com, December 18, 2009
- PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'A government takeover of health care', Bill Adair and Angie Drobnic Holan, PolitiFact.com, December 16, 2010
- The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- Bachmann claims ACORN has access to $8.5 billion in federal money, Robert Farley, PolitiFact.com, May 6, 2009
- PolitiFact's Fixers, Matthew Vadum, The American Spectator, May 28, 2009
- Hey SNL! We've rated Obama's promises!, Angie Drobnic Holan, PolitiFact.com, October 5, 2009
- Don't Laugh, CNN Reports, James Taranto, Wall Street Journal "Best of the Web Today", October 6, 2009
- Obama says stimulus is responsible for 2 million jobs saved or created, PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter, February 17, 2010
- PolitiFact Declares Century-Long Economics Debate Over, Brian Riedl, The Foundry (Heritage Foundation blog), February 18, 2010
- Politifact’s Lie of the Year Is An Exaggeration With Elements of Truth, Peter Suderman, Reason "Hit & Run" blog, December 17, 2010
- The Lie of the Year: Health Reform is a “Government Takeover of Health Care”, Stephanie Cutter, The White House Blog, December 17, 2010
- PolitiFiction (editorial), The Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2010
- PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter in Need of Tune-Up, Ayo Adeyeye, Huffington Post, July 8, 2010
- http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rachel-maddow-blasts-politifact-bullpucky-claiming-her-wi-budget-report-was-false/
- http://www.politifact.com/personalities/rachel-maddow/