Politifact Bias and Reliability
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Bias: Middle
Reliability: Reliable, Analysis/Fact Reporting
Overview
Ad Fontes Media rates Politifact in the Middle category of bias and as Reliable, Analysis/Fact Reporting in terms of reliability. Politifact is a fact-checking website created by the Tampa Bay Times in 2007. Since 2018, the site has been part of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a nonprofit organization for journalists. PolitiFact staff members select statements about news topics and checks them for accuracy, giving a Truth-O-Meter rating for each that ranges from “True” to “Pants on Fire.” Its Flip-O-Meter rates how consistent an official is on a particular issue. The site also tracks the campaign promises of elected officials. PolitiFact partners with Facebook, TikTok, newspapers, radio and other websites to help combat the spread of misinformation. PolitiFact, part of the International Fact-Checking Network, also publishes PolitiFact Florida and PunditFact, which checks the accuracy of statements may be political commentators.
Overall Score
The following are the overall bias and reliability scores for Politifact according to our Ad Fontes Media ratings methodology.
Reliability: 44.67
Bias: -3.51
Panels of analysts from Ad Fontes Media regularly review representative sample content to rate it for reliability and bias. Each panel of analysts comprises one left-leaning, one right-leaning, and one center-leaning analyst.
The team considers a variety of factors when rating content. To determine its reliability score, we consider the content’s veracity, expression, its title/headline, and graphics. We add each of these scores to the chart on a weighted scale, with the average of those creating the sample content’s overall reliability score.
To determine sample content’s bias score, we consider its language, its political position, and how it compares to other reporting or analysis from other sources on the same topic. We add each of these scores to the chart on a weighted scale, with the average of those creating the content’s overall bias score.
The bias rating, demonstrated on the Media Bias Chart®️ on the horizontal axis, ranges from most extreme left to middle to most extreme right. The reliability rating, demonstrated on the chart’s vertical axis, rates sources on a scale from original fact reporting to analysis, opinion, propaganda and inaccurate/fabricated information.
Reliability scores for articles and shows are on a scale of 0-64. Scores above 40 are generally good; scores below 24 are generally problematic. Scores between 24-40 indicate a range of possibilities, with some sources falling there because they are heavy in opinion and analysis, and some because they have a high variation in reliability between articles.
Bias scores for articles and shows are on a scale of -42 to +42, with higher negative scores being more left, higher positive scores being more right, and scores closer to zero being minimally biased, equally balanced, or exhibiting a centrist bias.
Individual Content Sample Scores
These are the most recent content samples that Ad Fontes Media analysts have rated for this source.
