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Jared Bernstein

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When Fact Checkers Go Bad... Very Bad

Posted: 01/25/2012 8:20 am

OMG... this is beyond preposterous.

Politifact -- the self-anointed fact checkers -- grade this statement from the president's speech tonight as "half-true":

In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.

This is not half true or two-thirds true. It is just true.

So why, I ask you, why do they go where they go? Because of this:

In his remarks, Obama described the damage to the economy, including losing millions of jobs "before our policies were in full effect." Then he describe [sic!] the subsequent job increases, essentially taking credit for the job growth. But labor economists tell us that no mayor or governor or president deserves all the claim or all the credit for changes in employment.

Really? That's it? That makes the fact not a fact? I've seen some very useful work by these folks, but between this and this, Politifact just can't be trusted. Full stop.

This post originally appeared at Jared Bernstein's On The Economy blog.

 
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Randolph Greer
I am a Poet .
02:36 PM on 01/29/2012
If you create a fact check meter that has "half and mostly" on the scale, instead of just TRUE or FALSE, why would anyone care what it says ?
11:23 AM on 01/26/2012
Politifact is just another money-making enterprise; acting as a corporate shill in this instance.
09:00 AM on 01/26/2012
Add another "sic" to the quote from Politifact.

I'm quite sure the phrase "all the claim or all the credit" should read "all the blame or all the credit." Kind of embarrassing that an organization whose entire purpose is fact-checking doesn't check itself. Two groaning typos in consecutive sentences make it hard for me to take them seriously. You expect people in their line of work to sweat the small stuff.
08:38 AM on 01/26/2012
I guess Obama will just have to rely on telling the truth...Just like his Grandparents !!!
08:37 AM on 01/26/2012
I've stopped reading Politifact unless the lede is a subject about which I know nothing at all. In that case I assume that there may be a few interesting facts buried in their "analysis". Otherwise, it appears to be the worst kind of word-parsing spin. You know what I *would* read every day? A rebuttal of the Politifact column. I don't mean a reverse spin--more like a rhetorical critique; the kind of thing that we did in speech class in high school or logic class in college. I've just read one too many of their columns that, for example, rate as "half-true" a statement that is true in its meaning but has a typo or something.
12:59 AM on 01/29/2012
The proper term for that would be "Investigative Journalism." I haven't seem much of that around lately. :(
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FirstGame72
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
08:02 AM on 01/26/2012
The BIG question: Does a nation of liars deserve the truth about anything?
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Dredd
Our government is a wartocracy.
07:22 AM on 01/26/2012
It is a very old story in the U.S., where propaganda was originally institutionalized.

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2012/01/exceptional-american-propaganda.html
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
itschuck2c
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
DocJoseph
A bleeding heart will heal; a cold heart will not
12:04 PM on 01/26/2012
Only slightly better. They still feel compelled to "present both sides" even when a statement has been found to be true. "That's true - as far as it goes."

True is true. Editorializing belongs on opinion pages, not "fact" pages.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
itschuck2c
08:10 PM on 01/26/2012
And those tire jobs?
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BigBearcatBill
This is the real Bearcat - a Binturong
03:56 AM on 01/26/2012
Did Rupert by out them too? I give him 2 more years and he will have lowered the IQ of the human race by 10 points, no 20.
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IsotelusMaximus
Resist we much.
01:44 AM on 01/26/2012
Politifact ran checks like that one in Ohio every day leading up to Issue 2. I don't remember the left getting outraged.
02:39 PM on 01/26/2012
Always somebody that wants to make this a right/left discussion. Since when does one political party have ownership of what is true?
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01:21 AM on 01/26/2012
The fact that it is questionable ought to be the biggest red flag of all.
11:00 PM on 01/25/2012
I think one of the Nazi leaders pointed out that the very best propaganda (i,e. lies) is produced by using what can be stated truly as "facts". Your assertions don't count, except as spin, of course.
09:21 PM on 01/25/2012
The Washington Post & FOX news, each had a lengthy list of comments,that I will kindly describe
as "Fudged".
09:16 PM on 01/25/2012
No big deal. "Fox Views" is still called "Fox News" by most people. "Politifact" may as well become "Politi-fiction."
07:34 PM on 01/25/2012
?? So bizarre. He says BUSINESSES created jobs, and Politi'fact' says he is wrong because he is taking credit for it? The State of the Union speech describes the STATE of the Union. It lays out the facts of what problems are currently facing the country, and how it is dealing with them.
ThinkCreeps
Seriously, it's time.
04:20 AM on 01/26/2012
And from the reporting, clearly lays out the problems with at least some politifact staff.