PolitiFact turns 1
By Bill Adair
Published on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 2:58 p.m.
It's hard to believe it's been a year since we published our first ruling (a Half True for a Mitt Romney claim that President Clinton "reduced the scale of our military dramatically"). But 600 items later, we've covered everything from Iraq to the federal regulation of ham and cheese sandwiches and helped you cut through the fog of campaign rhetoric. As our slogan says, we sort out the truth in politics.
We're happy with the awards we've won (Best Overall News Site from the Newspaper Association of American and Best Political Site in the Green Eyeshade awards), and we like the praise we've gotten from fellow journalists (A Guardian columnist said PolitiFact "does not shy away from calling a liar a liar, thus thumbing its nose at the outmoded conventions of objectivity.") But we're most proud of the feedback we've gotten from readers who've told us they're grateful to have someone checking the facts and making sense of a sometimes-chaotic campaign. We believe we've created something special; we're glad that you agree.
To mark our first birthday, here's a look at some statistics that tell our story:
Number of statements checked from Barack Obama: 105
From John McCain: 98
From chain e-mails: 35
From Spike the Romney Attack Dog: 1
Percentage of facts from chain e-mails rated False or Pants on Fire: 76
Percentage of facts from chain e-mails rated True: 6
Number of facts checked about Iraq: 56
About energy: 43
About autographing dollar bills: 1
Number of rock songs about PolitiFact: 1
Researchers: Bill Adair
We want to hear your suggestions and comments. For tips or comments on our campaign promise database, please e-mail the Obameter. If you are commenting on a specific promise, please include the promise number. For comments about our Truth-O-Meter or Flip-O-Meter items, please e-mail the Truth-O-Meter. We’re especially interested in seeing any chain e-mails you receive that you would like us to check out. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise.
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