An Open Letter To Facebook About Politifacts Bias
im hoping by publishing an open letter that more people will see it
dear poynter and Facebook
Id like to let you know that based on my research one of your signatories is flouting the ifcn code of principles and not properly adhering to them.
PolitiFact.com - a project of the tampa bay times- was one of the first to be registered by you. however since then i have noticed they seem to be ignoring the code of principles. specifically the first one: "commitment to nonpartisanship and fairness"
"Signatory organizations fact-check claims using the same standard for every fact check. They do not concentrate their fact-checking on any one side. They follow the same process for every fact check and let the evidence dictate the conclusions. Signatories do not advocate or take policy positions on the issues they fact-check."
that is the definition of the very first requirement to be a signatory on your website..
however PolitiFact Is not following this. PolitiFact has often been accused in the past of favoring one side over the other but just in my own research they don't seem to fact check left-wing claims even half as often as they fact check right-wing claims..
just a quick glance at their "most recent fact-checked page" and it becomes clear that in the last week alone they only fact checked two to three "left-wing claims" (depending on how loose your definition of "left-wing claim"" is)
almost all of their fact checks for an entire week seem to be targeted specifically at fact checking republicans..
is in line with previous studies showing that websites like PolitiFact spend most of their time fact checking Republicans
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/fact_check_review/?featId=25
https://thefederalist.com/2016/12/16/running-data-politifact-shows-bias-conservatives/
https://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2011/02/10/selection-bias-politifact-rate/
https://www.insidesources.com/politifact-bias/
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/fact-checkers-big-media/
https://www.politifactbias.com/?m=1
but even the few fact checks of left-wing claims that they did fact check- it seems that they specifically chose left-wing and Democrat claims that they knew would be true period so that they would be able to rate them as true period in the last week they have clearly been many many claims from both sides. many true and many false. and if you take a look at any of your other signatories (factcheck.org checkyourfact.com usatoday) you will see that they regularly fact check claims from both sides and you can see from their fact checking that there are both true and false statements from both sides and just that week alone.. however PolitiFact has roughly and regularly ignored them..
that too is in keeping with other studies that show that websites such as PolitiFact tend to favor the left wing over the right wing..
https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politifact
https://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2011/02/10/selection-bias-politifact-rate/
https://www.insidesources.com/politifact-bias/
in the last week PolitiFact has not fact checked ANY false claims from the left. their fact checks seem to be slanted in a way that boosts democrat talking points.
such as almost seemingly cherry picking statements about the police to fact check in order to bolster the anti-police messaging of the Democrat party. despite other fact checkers finding both true and false statements from the Democrat Party about police.
it is because of these reasons (that you can verify yourself) I believe PolitiFact Is not following the fairness and nonpartisanship aspect of your ifcn code of principles. and multiple studies back this up.
I would hope that the poynter institute will investigate this and take appropriate action if necessary. as it is very damaging for fact-checking as a whole and for fighting disinformation when there is a fact checker that does not operate in good faith..
