PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that examines the statements made by American political figures and pundits. It is run by the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times).
PolitiFact was launched in 2007, a project of longtime political reporter Bill Adair (who left the site in 2013) and web developer Matt Waite. According to Waite, it is an attempt to break down fact-checking to an elemental, data-based level, inspired by suggestions by EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty.
While it offers deeply researched narrative assessments of political claims’ veracity, PolitiFact is most well-known for its six-level ranking system, which classifies claims as “true,” “mostly true,” “half true,” “barely true,” “false,” and — most famously — “pants on fire.” The site also analyzes changes in politicians’ policy stances via its flip-flop assessor: “no flip,” “half flip,” “full flop.”
PolitiFact received the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for its work on the 2008 election. It has done live fact-checking on a presidential debate via Twitter, and it is tracking the status of 510 campaign promises made by President Barack Obama.
Conde Nast is an international magazine publisher that specializes in lifestyle publications. Conde Nast publishes many of the world’s leading fashion and lifestyle magazines, including Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and GQ. It also publishes The New Yorker and Wired and owns the tech blog Ars Technica and the link-sharing site Reddit. It launched a fashion…
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