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FactCheck.org

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FactCheck.org
Available inEnglish
OwnerAnnenberg Public Policy Center
URLFactCheck.org
CommercialNo

FactCheck.org is a nonprofit[2] website that describes itself as a non-partisan[3] "consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics".[4] It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation.[4] FactCheck.org has won four Webby Awards in the Politics category, in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.[5]

Most of its content consists of rebuttals to what it considers inaccurate, misleading, or false claims by politicians. FactCheck.org has also targeted misleading claims from various partisan groups. Other features include:

  • Ask FactCheck:[6] users can ask questions that are usually based on an online rumor.
  • Viral Spiral:[7] a page dedicated to the most popular online myths that the site has debunked. It clarifies the answer as well as links readers to a full article on the subject.
  • Party Lines:[8] talking points that have been repeatedly used by multiple members of a political party.
  • Mailbag:[9] page for readers' sent letters and praise or disapproval of something said on the site.

History

FactCheck.org was launched in December 2003 by Brooks Jackson, a former Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, and CNN reporter who had covered Washington and national politics since 1970.[10] As a special assignment correspondent at CNN during the 1992 political campaign season, Jackson became well known for his “Ad Police” reports, which monitored candidates' advertising and financing strategies throughout the campaign.[11] In 2003, Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center approached Jackson about forming FactCheck.org,[12] and the site was online in December of that year.

In 2007, UnSpun was published. This book was co-written by Brooks Jackson, the Director Emeritus of Factcheck.org and by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. It teaches readers how to be aware of the deceptions, or "spin", that is commonly used in media and by politicians.[13]

In January 2013, Jackson stepped down as director of FactCheck.org. He now holds the title of Director Emeritus. Eugene Kiely, a former reporter and editor at The Record (of Hackensack, New Jersey), The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today, is now the site’s director. FactCheck.org employs a staff of four full-time journalists: Kiely, D’Angelo Gore, Robert Farley and Lori Robertson; and offers yearly fellowships to undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania.[14]

Topic in the 2004 Vice-presidential debate

FactCheck.org became a focus of political commentary following the 2004 vice-presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. Cheney cited the website, claiming that the independent site defended his actions while CEO of Halliburton. Cheney's claim was disputed by FactCheck.org as wrong, saying that "Edwards was mostly right" when talking about "Cheney's responsibility for earlier Halliburton troubles".[15]

Cheney's reference created some controversy because he incorrectly cited the web site's address as "FactCheck.com." At the time of the debate, factcheck.com was controlled by Frank Schilling's company Name Administration Inc., who quickly redirected the address to point to an anti-Bush website owned by Bush critic George Soros.[16]

Topic in the 2012 Presidential Election

FactCheck.org also became a focus of national attention in the summer of 2012, during the presidential race between incumbent Democrat Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney. The Obama campaign ran a TV ad accusing Romney of involvement in the outsourcing of American jobs overseas by Bain Capital, the venture capital firm that he had founded in 1984.[17] FactCheck.org ruled this ad to be false, claiming that the acts of outsourcing occurred after Romney had left the company to head the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.[18] In response, the Obama campaign contested FactCheck.org’s ruling in a six-page letter that was distributed to major news corporations, holding that Romney still retained responsibility for the company’s actions.[19]

2016 Presidential Election

Since November 2014, FactCheck.org has published 28 pages of articles factchecking the many 2016 presidential candidates.[20] As of April 2016, the five remaining candidates have dedicated archives to their many factchecked claims. Articles from FactCheck.org are highly sourced and can sometimes damage a candidate's credibility. The website has also pointed out in its coverage of debates the oversimplification of complex issues by candidates and out-of-context soundbites. For example, following the fifth Republican debate, hosted by CNN in Las Vegas, Nevada,[21] the website pointed out that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argued that the United States spent a substantial amount of money purchasing foreign oil from countries that hate the United States.[22] Just two weeks after FactCheck.org published their article on that debate, Senator Graham dropped out of the race.

Awards and recognition

The site has gained recognition and won numerous awards for its contributions to political journalism. In 2006, Time magazine named FactCheck.org one of the "25 Sites We Can't Live Without."[23] In 2008, PC Magazine called it one of the "20 Best Political Websites."[24] Between 2008 and 2012, the site won four Webby Awards in the Politics category, in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012; as well as four People’s Voice Awards in Politics, in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012.[25] FactCheck.org also won a 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for reporting on deceptive claims made about the federal health care legislation.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Factcheck.org Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (2004-10-24). "Web sites help gauge the veracity of claims; Online resources check ads, rumors". San Francisco Chronicle. p. A1. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
  3. ^ Conkey, Christopher (2004-01-29). "Hitting the campaign trail via your PC; Our picks for five web sites that cut through the bluster". Wall Street Journal. p. D1. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ a b "About". FactCheck.org. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  5. ^ http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=16[dead link]
  6. ^ http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/ ; Retrieved on December 9, 2013.
  7. ^ http://www.factcheck.org/hot-topics/ Retrieved on December 9, 2013.
  8. ^ http://www.factcheck.org/party-lines/ Retrieved on December 9, 2013.
  9. ^ http://www.factcheck.org/factcheck-mailbag/ Retrieved on December 9, 2013.
  10. ^ "Is This a Great Job or What?". FactCheck.org. 2003-12-05. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  11. ^ "Brooks Jackson". CNN. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  12. ^ "UnSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation". The Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania. 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  13. ^ Jackson, B., & Jamieson, K. H. (2007). unSpun: finding facts in a world of disinformation. Random House Digital, Inc.
  14. ^ "About". factcheck.org. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  15. ^ "Cheney & Edwards Mangle Facts". Factcheck.org. 2004-10-06. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Milbank, Dana (2004-10-07). "Urging Fact-Checking, Cheney Got Site Wrong". Washington Post. p. A08.
  17. ^ "Come and Go". Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  18. ^ "Obama's Outsourcer Overreach". factcheck.org. 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  19. ^ "Obama to FactCheck.org: "Drop Dead"". POLITICO. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  20. ^ "Presidential Election 2016". www.factcheck.org. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  21. ^ Fix, Team (2015-12-15). "5th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  22. ^ "FactChecking the Fifth GOP Debate". www.factcheck.org. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  23. ^ "25 Sites We Can't Live Without". Time. 2006-08-03. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  24. ^ "The 20 Best Political Web Sites". PC Mag. 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  25. ^ "Politics". The Webby Awards. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
  26. ^ "2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award Honorees". Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
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