NewsBusters Podcast: Partisan PolitiFact Poobah Admits They're Partial

November 25th, 2024 10:00 PM

PolitiFact co-founder Bill Adair is still doing liberal-media interviews for his book on why Republicans lie more. He admitted to a public-radio host that the "Truth-O-Meter" is an imprecise, subjective measurement. Everything about the "independent fact-checkers" is loaded with partisan opinion.

Third Strike: PolitiFact Defends Third Democrat On Transgender Sports

November 1st, 2024 1:20 PM

It is odd that a website that fancies itself as a fact-checking organization would believe that if you repeat a falsehood enough times it eventually becomes true, but that is what PolitiFact is doing with Democrats and transgender sports. In a Thursday article, PolitiFact defended Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s vote that failed to protect the competitive integrity of women’s sports by claiming such…

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PolitiFact Defends Yet Another Dem Senator's Transgender Sports Vote

October 30th, 2024 2:00 PM

Republicans clearly believe that transgender-related liberal culture war nonsense is a winning issue for them, which means that PolitiFact views it as their job to defend Democrats from the true attacks on their record. On Tuesday, PolitiFact was it again, rating Nevada Republican Senate challenger Sam Brown “false” for correctly stating Sen. Jacky Rosen supports allowing men to compete in…

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PolitiFact Founder Indulges His Bias on PBS: Republicans Love to Lie!

October 17th, 2024 9:39 PM

Bill Adair, Duke University journalism professor and founder of the “fact-checking” site PolitiFact, indulged his warped scales with a sympathetic host on tax-funded PBS, sending out a fair-and-balanced message: Republicans love to lie! Adair: "[Democrats] feel shame in ways that I'm afraid too many politicians on the right do not…."

PolitiFact Rates True Claim About Brown False For Second Day In a Row

October 12th, 2024 2:00 PM

PolitiFact is at it again. For the second day in a row, the website has condemned Senate Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund for an attack ad against Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. On Thursday, they twisted themselves into a rhetorical pretzel as they rated the PAC “false” for claiming Brown supports men being able to compete in women’s sports, and on Friday they did it again, claiming it is “mostly…

PolitiFact Wants It Both Ways On Sen. Brown's Transgender Sports Votes

October 11th, 2024 12:49 PM

The Senate GOP's The Senate Leadership Fund recently released an ad condemning Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown for voting to allow men to compete in women’s sports. On Thursday, PolitiFact slapped a “false” label on the claim, but it had to allow Brown to have it both ways multiple times to do so.

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PolitiFact's 'Truth-O-Meter' Has a Dramatic Democratic Party TILT

October 9th, 2024 10:45 AM

In a NewsBusters analysis of six months of Politifact articles (April to September) that evaluated a named politician or public official with a “Truth-O-Meter” ruling reveals that PolitiFact is profoundly tilted against the GOP:  

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PolitiFact Founder Claims Lying Has 'Become a Culture' For GOP

October 8th, 2024 1:17 PM

If journalism professor and PolitiFact founder Bill Adair meant to increase faith in the fact-checking industry with his appearance on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, he failed miserably. Adair told host Jon Stewart on Monday that the reason why Republicans get fact-checked more is because “lying... has just become a culture” in conservative circles.

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PolitiFact Rates Vance 91 Percent False At VP Debate, Walz 29 Percent

October 5th, 2024 12:21 PM

After Tuesday’s vice presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz, PolitiFact was at it again, rating Vance false 91 percent of the time and Walz false 29 percent of the time. While defenders of professional fact-checking may say, “Aha, that proves Vance lies more,” there were problems with PolitiFact’s assessments of both candidates.

CBS Won't Fact Check Vance & Walz, Leftist 'Fact Checkers' Are Upset

September 30th, 2024 2:39 PM

Associated Press media reporter David Bauder reported on Friday that CBS News “says it will be up to the politicians — not the moderators — to check the facts of their opponents.” This upset "fact checkers" like former PolitiFact boss Angie Drobnic Holan, who want journalists to have the "courage" to challenge the candidates. Well, one party's candidates. 

Carr Echoes MRC: FCC Making ‘First Time Ever’ Exception for Soros

Business
September 25th, 2024 1:15 PM

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr echoed the Media Research Center in a warning shared with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck that the federal government is poised to do a massive and unprecedented favor to leftist billionaire George Soros. 

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Two GOP Senators Echo MRC Call for Big Tech to Not Repeat 2020

September 19th, 2024 4:02 PM

Sen.Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) strongly cautioned their colleagues in the Senate and witnesses from Big Tech against continuing past censorship of Americans in the name of combatting so-called foreign mis-, dis- and mal-information. 

PolitiFact Rates True Claim About Walz's Abortion Record 'False'

September 19th, 2024 1:42 PM

It is a fact that under the governorship of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, Minnesota removed a requirement that babies that survived abortions be given life-saving care. However, PolitiFact still slapped a “false” label on the claim on Wednesday.

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PolitiFact Only Gives Harris One False Rating At NABJ

September 18th, 2024 1:53 PM

During Vice President Kamala Harris’s interview session with the National Association of Black Journalists, on-stage fact-checking was nonexistent, but PolitiFact assigned itself to do the task online. Unfortunately, the difference between PolitiFact’s treatment of Harris’s NABJ appearance and Trump’s was just as stark as the candidates’ appearances themselves.