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| Image from PolitiFact.com |
My opinion of PolitiFact is no secret. But how cynical does one have to be to find faults in a straightforward anniversary announcement? Not very.
Since we launched on Aug. 22, 2007, we have published more than 4,000 Truth-O-Meter items, which we believe makes PolitiFact the largest fact-checking effort in history.
Fans of the Gregorian Calendar may have noticed that PolitiFact published this announcement on August 19th, instead of the 22nd, the actual 4 year anniversary. Those unfamiliar with PolitiFact might think that's nitpicking on my part. Then again new readers may not remember when PolitiFact used margin and font size to give Orrin Hatch a Mostly False for claiming an early version of ObamaCare was longer than 'War and Peace'-
The Oxford World's Classics paperback edition of War and Peace weighs in at 1,392 pages, according to Amazon.com. By that measure, the 2,074-page Senate bill would indeed be longer.
But using pages as the benchmark is misleading. The page layout of a Senate bill is much different from a novel. The bill uses much larger type, on 8.5-by-11-inch paper. The margins are larger and there are wider spaces between the lines. On balance, then, fewer words fit on a page of the Senate bill than fit on the page of the paperback novel.
Another missing piece in PolitiFact's announcement is a link to the government's Weights and Measures experts. You'd think an outfit that claims to be the largest fact-checking effort in history would have some kind of standard to judge size. Just ask Mitt Romney-
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| Image from PolitiFact.com |
When they called themselves the "largest" fact-checking project I'm sure PolitiFact thinks they were simply using a rhetorical device. It's not a literal statement that can or can not be proven. [Fact-checking operations] do not exist in space and time so their the distance from [fact-checking] constructs can't be measured. [PolitiFact] is simply summarizing [their] impressions of things and conveying that to [their] audience. Reasonable people would assume PolitiFact offers that kind of charitable interpretation to the subjects of their ratings. But reasonable people would be wrong.
The congratulations continued-
Our 4,000 Truth-O-Meter fact-checks have helped readers make sense of political debates and the daily discourse. We've checked everything from the effectiveness of the economic stimulus to the price of Slim Jims, from the magnitude of U.S. debt to the price of delivering a gallon of gas to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
What they don't mention about their ratings is everything from the effectiveness of the economic stimulus to the price of Slim Jims, from the magnitude of U.S. debt has been debunked. They don't fare too well on fact-checking gallons of gas ratings either.
Interestingly, their 4000 Truth-O-Meter ratings claim links to PolitiFact National's 103 pages of 20 ratings per page (2060). Are they including their syndicated state spinoffs' ratings in the national sum? I don't know (Disclosure: I don't care.) But it wouldn't be the first time they flubbed the numbers between individual states and the nation as a whole . Meh. What's a few flubbed numbers when you've got a Pulitzer?
Unfortunately for those of us who do want a reputable source to fact-check various political statements, PolitiFact's 4 year milestone only represents a prolonged attack on reality.
Not everyone is a policy wonk. The real victims in PolitiFact's charade are the busy people who sincerely attempt to sort out the truth from all the political statements they hear or read by doing some simple research. When presented with a flashy website complete with easy to read flaming graphics, a claim of non-partisanship, and a Pulitzer thrown into the bargain, it's easy to understand how people without political savvy find PolitiFact so attractive.
PolitiFact markets themselves as the magic diet pill of political acumen.
But PolitiFact is no substitute for diligent research and paying attention. And like all carny games and get rich quick schemes, PolitiFact has far more empty promises than it does substance.
8/22/11- Fixed link in 5th paragraph-Jeff
Well played
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