Showing posts with label left-leaning PolitiFact. Show all posts
Showing posts with label left-leaning PolitiFact. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

PolitiFact: "PolitiFact is not biased--here's why" (Intro) (Updated)

On Nov. 6, 2018, PolitiFact published an article declaring itself "not biased," suggesting with the tail end of the title ("here's why") that it could support the declaration with evidence.

We welcome PolitiFact's better-late-than-never response to its critics. But we find the proffered reasoning incredibly weak. If the argument from PolitiFact Editor Angie Drobnic Holan addresses any item from our list of arguments helping show PolitiFact's leftward lean it does so obliquely at best.

At the risk of using a pile driver to squash a gnat, we will address each of Holan's arguments in a series of posts. As we complete each part of the series we will add a hotlink to the corresponding list of arguments from Holan and PolitiFact.

Just click a claim from PolitiFact to see our answers to Holan's arguments.


1. We fact-check inaccurate statements, not political parties.

2. We follow the facts, not fact-check count formulas.

3. We make mistakes sometimes, but we correct our errors promptly.

4. Reader support allows us to stay independent.

 

PolitiFact Editor Angie Drobnic Holan

 

Update, With Conclusion (Nov. 9, 2018)

We have completed adding links to articles debunking each of PolitiFact's supposed reasons supporting its claim of being unbiased.

In summary, we think the purpose of Holan's article was not to put forward a serious argument. The article was ad copy designed to support an appeal for reader support.

It was PolitiFlack. Item No. 4 emphasizes the point.


 

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Allsides: "PolitiFact.com is a bit left"

We preface this post with the disclaimer that the editors of PolitiFact Bias tend not to trust crowdsourced methods of epistemology.

Back in 2012, we noted the emergence of AllSides, a new project intended to help sift through and identify media bias so news consumers could take it into account.

AllSides now has a preliminary assessment of PolitiFact posted to its site. The evaluation could change as more information comes in. But for now, AllSides says PolitiFact leans slightly left:
In comparison with other fact checking sites, it appears that PolitiFact.com is a bit left of FactCheck.org (bias rating "Center") and the Washington Post's Blog "The Fact Checker" (bias either "Center" or "Lean Left" - borderline).
Expect PolitiFact to pretend this evaluation does not exist, and expect journalists to refrain from asking PolitiFact's representatives about it.

'Cause that would be rude, right?

Visit AllSides to learn more about how it develops its bias ratings.