3 ms·

Politifact is infamous for their bias. Here’s an example of them rating the same exact statement very differently, depending on who made it: http://www.politif

by deno 10y ago

Politifact is infamous for their bias. Here’s an example of them rating the same exact statement very differently, depending on who made it: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jul/13/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-says-real-unemployment-rate-african/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jul/... http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/jun/20/donald-trump/trump-misleadingly-puts-black-youth-unemployment-r/ http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/jun/20/do... There are numerous studies that also show significant selection bias, that is they cherry-pick statements they fact-check. Politifact itself makes no attempt to evaluate and correct for their own bias. The newspaper that runs it is liberal leaning, and has endorsed Hillary Clinton. Because of the fact that Politifact tries to appear unbiased, their apparent bias is even more disappointing. Truly neutral fact-checking is something that would be very desirable. Perhaps the only way this will ever happen is by some sort of aggregation of left- and right-leaning “fact-checking.” Sort of like metacritic.

lake99 10y ago
Yes, I have written about this in my later comments.
lightbyte 10y ago
Those are not the exact same statements at all, they are talking about two (similar sounding) different things.
- deno 10y ago
  What different things?
zaphods-towel 10y ago
Those are different claims. Bernie specifies that he's talking about youths who only had a high school degree or dropped out. Further, Bernie's campaign replied to Politifact's questions and pointed them to a specific source. Trump made a completely different claim (about all African-American youths), and then ignored Politifact's questions. Trump's claim is wrong, and Bernie's is coming from a slightly weird source but has reasonable support. Further, Trump's campaign refuses to provide support...so of course they're not going to have as favorable a response... they don't even claim to have support for their statement.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- deno 10y ago
  The quotation in the article is cherry-picked to make Sanders look good. With little research you can see he’s been repeating this claim non-stop without any such disclaimers. The following is a direct quote from The Nation interview linked in the very same Politifact article: > Do you know what real African-American youth unemployment is? It’s over 50 percent. The fact is both Trump and Sanders were factually wrong. Their usage of the term “unemployment” was at best misleading. Politifact is however willing to massage Sen. Sander’s statement to make it only “mostly true,” instead of false, which is a clear example of bias. There are numerous examples of Politifact asserting editorial control in this manner, skewing the results on the Mostly-True–Mostly-False range of the “truthometer.”

by deno 10y ago

lake99 10y ago

Yes, I have written about this in my later comments.

lightbyte 10y ago

Those are not the exact same statements at all, they are talking about two (similar sounding) different things.

deno 10y ago
What different things?

zaphods-towel 10y ago

Those are different claims. Bernie specifies that he's talking about youths who only had a high school degree or dropped out. Further, Bernie's campaign replied to Politifact's questions and pointed them to a specific source. Trump made a completely different claim (about all African-American youths), and then ignored Politifact's questions. Trump's claim is wrong, and Bernie's is coming from a slightly weird source but has reasonable support. Further, Trump's campaign refuses to provide support...so of course they're not going to have as favorable a response... they don't even claim to have support for their statement.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deno 10y ago
The quotation in the article is cherry-picked to make Sanders look good. With little research you can see he’s been repeating this claim non-stop without any such disclaimers. The following is a direct quote from The Nation interview linked in the very same Politifact article: > Do you know what real African-American youth unemployment is? It’s over 50 percent. The fact is both Trump and Sanders were factually wrong. Their usage of the term “unemployment” was at best misleading. Politifact is however willing to massage Sen. Sander’s statement to make it only “mostly true,” instead of false, which is a clear example of bias. There are numerous examples of Politifact asserting editorial control in this manner, skewing the results on the Mostly-True–Mostly-False range of the “truthometer.”