Media Trackers: "At PolitiFact Ohio, Democrats Outnumber Republicans 4 to 1"

Media critics continue to identify bias in the political affiliation of fact checkers at PolitiFact.

Jason Hart of Media Trackers (Ohio) published a report today indicating a solid majority of the PolitiFact Ohio staff shows as registered Democrats according to election records.

Hart:

Records indicate the following twelve Plain Dealer employees assigned to PolitiFact Ohio are registered Democrats:

• Robert Higgs, PolitiFact Ohio editor
• Jane (Murphy) Kahoun, Plain Dealer deputy metro editor
• Tom Feran, Plain Dealer reporter
• Henry J. Gomez, Plain Dealer reporter
• Aaron Marshall, Plain Dealer statehouse reporter
• Reginald Fields, Plain Dealer statehouse bureau chief
• Jo Ellen Corrigan, Plain Dealer librarian
• James Ewinger, Plain Dealer reporter
• Laura Johnston, Plain Dealer reporter
• Peter Krouse, Plain Dealer reporter
• James McCarty, Plain Dealer reporter
• Robert Schoenberger, Plain Dealer reporter

We at PolitiFact Bias are on record defending the potential ability for a Democrat (or Republican) to report news or even perform news analysis fairly, so we take reports like this one with a grain of salt as supposed proof of a reporting bias.

Clearly, though, Hart's report exposes a failure of disclosure.  PolitiFact presents itself as non-partisan.  Part of PolitiFact's strategy for conveying an image of neutrality is to hide the political affiliations and leanings of its staff members.

In practice, the high proportion of Democrats on the PolitiFact Ohio staff can easily exert an ideological influence on its reporting.  It is a team of three editors who vote on the "Truth-O-Meter" ratings.  Hart identifies no Republican editors at PolitiFact Ohio.  So a Democrat is likely to do the reporting and a majority of Democrats will vote on the "Truth-O-Meter" rating.   Yet people will still criticize PolitiFact Bias compared to PolitiFact because Jeff and I admit we're personally biased against liberalism.

We're the ones exhibiting honesty, inviting readers to take our bias into account when they consider what we write.

If there's one secret the mainstream press is unwilling to divulge to its audience under any circumstances, personal ideology is it.  But it's dishonest to pretend to an objectivity of viewpoint that doesn't exist in reality.

Disconnect at PolitiFact Ohio

Nothing's better than getting PolitiFact editors on the record about PolitiFact.  Their statements probably do more than anything else to show that the PolitiFact system encourages bias and the people who created it either don't realize it or couldn't care less.

Statements from editors at PolitiFact's associated newspapers come in a close second.

Ted Diadiun, reader representative for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (host of PolitiFact Ohio), answering a reader's question:

In July you printed a chart with two years of PolitiFact Ohio results. It showed Democrats with 42 ratings of Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire, while the Republicans had a total of 88 in those categories. Doesn't that prove you guys are biased?

Well, it doesn't necessarily prove that. It might prove instead that in the statements our PolitiFact team chose to check out, Republicans tended to be more reckless with the truth than Democrats.

Diadiun apparently doesn't realize that if PolitiFact Ohio chooses more Republican statements to treat harshly then it is a likely sign of institutional selection bias unless PolitiFact Ohio either randomizes its story selection (highly unlikely) or coincidentally chose a representative sample.  How would we ever know that the sample is representative unless somebody runs a controlled study?  Great question.  It's such a good question that it is reasonable to presume that a disparity in the treatment of the respective parties by PolitiFact results from an ideologically influenced selection bias.  That was the point of Eric Ostermeier's study of PolitiFact's 2011 "Truth-O-Meter" results.

Diadiun, continuing his answer to the same question:

Or, it might prove only that there are a lot more Republicans who have been elected to the major offices that provide most of the fodder for fact-checking.

It would prove nothing of the kind.  PolitiFact has one state operation in a state that is firmly controlled by Democrats:  PolitiFact Oregon.  PolitiFact Oregon, despite a state political climate dominated by Democrats, rates the parties about evenly in its bottom three "Truth-O-Meter" categories (Republicans fare slightly worse).

Diadiun:

It is also a fact that Republicans had a few more statements rated True than the Democrats did, but the Truth-O-Meter was indeed a bit tougher overall on Republicans. You can find the report here

Does that show bias? I've said it before, and I'll say it again here: The PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter is an arbitrary rating that has the often impossible job of summing up an arduously reported, complicated and nuanced issue in one or two words.

Diadiun goes on to tell his readers to "ignore" the Truth-O-Meter.

That's quite the recommendation for PolitiFact's signature gimmick.

He's partly right.  PolitiFact ratings cram complicated issues into narrow and ill-defined categories.  The ratings almost inevitably distort whatever truth ends up in the reporting.  So shouldn't we ask why a fact checker steadfastly continues to use a device that distorts the truth?

The answer is pretty plain:  The "Truth-O-Meter" gimmick is about money.  PolitiFact's creators think it helps market the fact checking service.  And doubtless they're right about that.

There is a drawback to selling out accuracy for 30 pieces of silver:  Contrary to Diadiun's half-hearted reassurances, the "Truth-O-Meter" numbers do tell a story of selection and ideological bias.  Readers should not ignore that story. 


Jeff adds:

The hubris on display from Diadiun could fill gallon-sized buckets. Notice that he completely absolves PolitiFact from the role they play in selecting which statements to rate, and immediately implies the "Republicans tended to be more reckless with the truth than Democrats." Incompetence or deceit are the only reasonable explanations for such an empty claim.

For the benefit of our new readers, I'd like to provide an exaggerated example of selection bias: Let's say I'm going to call myself an unbiased fact checker. Let's say I'm going to check 4 statements that interest me (as opposed to a random sample of claims). I'll check Obama's claim that he would close Guantanamo Bay, and his claim that he "didn't raise taxes once." I find he's telling falsehoods on both accounts.

Next, I'll check Rush Limbaugh's statement that he's happy to be back in the studio after a long weekend. I'll also check his claim that he's one of the most popular radio shows in the nation. Of course, these claims are true.

What can we learn from this? According to PolitiFact's metrics, Rush Limbaugh is a bastion of honesty while Barack Obama is a serial liar. I'll even put out "report cards" that "reveal patterns and trends about their truth-telling." I'll admit the "tallies are not scientific, but they provide interesting insights into a candidate's overall record for accuracy." It's unbiased because, as the popular defense goes, I checked both sides. The reality that I checked statements that interested me supposedly has no influence on the credibility of the overall ratings. If you don't like the results, it's because you're biased!

See how that trick works?

It's something to keep in mind the next time you see Obama earning a Promise Kept for getting his daughters a puppy or a True for his claim that the White Sox can still make the playoffs. A cumulative total of PolitiFact's ratings serves the purpose of telling readers about the bias of PolitiFact's editors and what claims are interesting to them. It's a worthless measure of anything else.

Ohio Watchdog: "PolitiFact slams GOP spokeswoman for ‘literally true’ statement"

Jon Cassidy and Ohio Watchdog give us an 8th installment in its series on PolitiFact Ohio, this time examining PolitiFact's rating of the Ohio Republican Party and spokeswoman Izzy Santa (bold emphasis in the original):

Joe Guillen, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter writing for PolitiFact Ohio, was determined to find fault.

“The claim is literally true because it includes both Brown and his allies,” Guillen wrote, and he should have stopped right there. If it’s literally true, are we supposed to worry it might be figuratively untrue? It’s a number, not a simile.

It turns out that Guillen’s beef is that Santa’s declaration changed the subject.

It turns out that we have to rely on Guillen alone for the context of Santa's remarks.  Guillen insists that the context indicates Santa was talking about "outside money."  Part of Guillen's evidence for the PolitiFact story is Guillen's July 10 story for the Plain Dealer that likewise insists--based on a partial quotation and Guillen's paraphrase--that Santa was talking about "outside money":

Izzy Santa, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Republican Party, said Redfern’s criticisms are not credible because special interest groups supporting Brown “are plotting to spend over $13 million.”

Was Guillen's paraphrase justified?

Cassidy apparently has the text of the email Santa sent to reporters (reformatted quotation):

After Redfern’s July 10 press conference, she sent out an email to reporters:

Redfern is the least credible person to be commenting on outside spending when it comes to Ohio’s U.S. Senate race. Sherrod Brown and his special interest allies in Washington are plotting to spend over $13 million, with no end in sight. It’s clear that Brown and his supporters are having to spend this type of money because Brown’s out-of-touch record has exposed him to Ohioans as a 38-year politician and Washington insider who puts politics over people.

If the above represents the full context of Santa's response, then Guillen has misrepresented her.  Santa specifically wrote "Brown and his special interest allies" and Guillen Sentenceshopped that into "special interest groups" minus Brown.  Guillen's paraphrase, in other words, changed Santa's meaning.  And Guillen proceeds to fact check his paraphrase and blame it on Santa.

Guillen probably shouldn't expect more than a lump of coal for Christmas this year.

Rather than interpreting "Sherrod Brown and his special interest allies" contrary to its literal meaning, he should have inquired further as to how Santa justified calling Redfern "the least credible person" to comment on outside spending.

Visit Ohio Watchdog to read the whole of Cassidy's report.

Balancing act at PolitiFact Ohio?

Since its 2011 "Lie of the Year," the claim from Democrats that Republicans voted to end Medicare, PolitiFact has found itself trying to answer the criticism that it tries to achieve a false balance in its fact checking operations.

Past questions about the dangers of selection bias should have amply prepared PolitiFact editors to answer this sort of question.

Should have.

PolitiFact Ohio editor Robert Higgs of the Cleveland Plain Dealer took a shot at addressing the issue of balance in comments to the Plain Dealer's reader representative, Ted Diadium:

I asked Bob Higgs, the editor who oversees the PolitiFact Ohio operation, if he deliberately tries for balance:

"The belief is that if we apply the same constructive standards to all claims, we'll end up treating all sides fairly," he said. "Some of the state operations (there are 10 in the PolitiFact organization), as well as the national operation, do not tally the rankings at all."

Higgs admits that he does tally up the results by party (which shows them remarkably even), "but only to see after the fact how we've done."

Even if PolitiFact Ohio applies its evaluation standards consistently to all its stories, balanced treatment need not result. In fact, it probably won't result.

It won't result because selection bias will occur without active steps taken to avoid the problem.

Select nine stories likely to make Democrats look bad while selecting one that will likely made Republicans look good will not achieve balance regardless of applying identical standards in the evaluation--not that we at PolitiFact Bias believe PolitiFact applies its standards consistently.

Newsflash for Higgs:  Every writer and editor at PolitiFact likely has a sense of how the stories break down by party.  The "remarkably even" count that results at PolitiFact Ohio helps prove the point.

PolitiFact markets its stats as candidate report cards and the like, but the real value of PolitiFact's numbers comes from the insights we obtain into PolitiFact's behavior--not the behavior of those featured in the stories.


Correction:  Changed the first of two consecutive instances of "the" to a "from" in the concluding paragraph.  Hat tip to Jeff Dyberg for catching the the error.