Colburn:
A blog, PolitiFactBias.com, devotes itself to finding specific instances of PolitiFact being unfair to conservatives. The blog does not provide analysis or opinion about fact-checks that give Republicans positive ratings. Rather, it mostly focuses on instances of PolitiFact being too hard on conservatives.We find all three sentences untrue.
Does PolitiFact Bias devote itself to finding specific instances of PolitiFact being unfair to conservatives?
The PolitiFact Bias banner declares the site's purpose as "Exposing bias, mistakes and flimflammery at the PolitiFact fact check website." Moreover, the claim is specious on its face. After the page break we posted the title of each PolitiFact Bias blog entry from 2017, the year when Colburn published her report. The titles alone provide strong evidence contradicting Colburn's claim.PolitiFact Bias exists to show the strongest evidence of the left-leaning bias that a plurality of Americans detect in the mainstream media, specific to PolitiFact. As such, we look for any manifestations of bias, including patterns in the use of words, patterns in the application of subjective ratings, biased framing and inconsistent application of principles.
Does PolitiFact Bias not provide analysis or opinion about about fact-checks that give Republicans positive ratings?
PolitiFact Bias focuses its posts on issues that accord with its purpose of exposing PolitiFact's bias, mistakes and flimflammery. Our focus by its nature is technically orthogonal to PolitiFact giving Republicans positive ratings. And, in fact, PolitiFact Bias does analyze cases where Republicans received high ratings. PolitiFact Bias even highlights some criticisms of PolitiFact from the left.We simply do not find many strong criticisms of PolitiFact from the left. There are plenty of criticisms of PolitiFact from the right that we likewise find weak.
Does PolitiFact Bias "mostly focus" on PolitiFact's harsh treatment of conservatives?
PolitiFact Bias recognizes the subjectivity of PolitiFact's "Truth-O-Meter" ratings. PolitiFact's rating system offers no dependable means of objectively grading the truth value of political statements. For that reason, this site tends to avoid specifically faulting PolitiFact's assigned ratings. Instead, PolitiFact Bias places its emphasis on cases showing PolitiFact inconsistency in applying its ratings. In two similar cases where a Democrat received a positive rating and a Republican received a lower rating it might be the case that PolitiFact went easy on the Democrat.That said, the list of post titles again shows that PolitiFact Bias produces a great deal of content that is not focused on showing PolitiFact should give conservatives more positive ratings. Holan's statement jibes with Colburn's false statement about the focus at PolitiFact Bias.
Why the misleading claims about PolitiFact Bias?
As far as we can tell, the entire evidence Colburn used in her report's judgment of PolitiFact Bias came from her interview with PolitiFact Editor Angie Drobnic Holan:I'm just kind of curious, there's the site, PolitiFactBias.com. What are what are your thoughts on that site?Note that in Holan's response to Colburn's first question about PolitiFact Bias she suggests the site focuses on PolitiFact not giving enough positive ratings to conservatives.
That seems to be one guy who's been around for a long time, and his complaints just seem to be that we don't have good, that we don't give enough good ratings, positive ratings to conservatives. And then he just kind of looks for whatever evidence he can find to support that point.
Do you guys ever read his stuff? Does it ever worry you?
He's been making the same complaint for so long that it has tended to become background noise, to be honest. I find him just very singularly focused in his complaints, and he very seldom brings up anything that I learn from. But he's very, you know, I give him credit for sticking in there. I mean he used to give us, like when he first started he would give us grades for our reporting and our editing. So it would be like grades for this report: Reporter Angie Holan, editor Bill Adair. And like we could never do better than like a D-minus. So it's just like whatever. What I find is it's hard for me to take critics seriously when they never say we do anything right. Sometimes we can do things right, and you'll never see it on that site.
Are Colburn and Holan lying?
PolitiFact Bias co-editor Jeff D. has used the PolitiFact Bias Twitter account to charge Colburn and Holan with lying.The charge isn't unreasonable.
Colburn very likely read the PolitiFact Bias site to some extent before asking Holan about it. Even a cursory read ought to have informed a reasonable person that Holan's description of the site was slanted at best. Yet Holan's description apparently underpinned Colburn's description of PolitiFact Bias.
Likewise, Holan's familiarity with the PolitiFact Bias site ought to have informed her that her description of it was wrong and misleading.
When a person knowingly makes a false or misleading statement, it counts as a lie. Colburn and Holan were both very likely to have reason to know their statements were false or misleading.
We're pondering a second post pressing the issue still further in Holan's case.
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