Politifact Updates Data On News Sources, Finds Fox News Lies Even More Than Before

Don't ya hate it when a third party comes in and shows you just how terrible your news source is?

Mind you, it's not much better on the other fronts either.


Source

MSNBC and CNN have improved ever so slightly on our TV network scorecards, while Fox News has moved a touch in the opposite direction.

We last looked at our network scorecards, which examine all the claims made by pundits on air, in September. The scorecards measure statements made by a pundit or a host or paid contributor on a particular network. They do not include statements made by elected leaders, declared candidates or party officials.

So what’s the latest tally?

At Fox and Fox News, 10 percent of the claims we’ve rated have been True, 11 percent Mostly True, 18 percent Half True, 21 percent Mostly False, 31 percent False and nine percent Pants on Fire.

That means about 60 percent of the claims we’ve checked have been rated Mostly False or worse. Here’s how it breaks down (as of Jan. 27, 2015):

I mean..isn't that just embarrassing? You know what's needed in this country?

Legislation regarding lying in the media. It should be a crime, to use your opinion as a fact to sway the discussion one way or another. Especially in 2015, where media collusion is half the reason we have conflicts we don't know about, or don't care about.

I'm not just dumping on Fox this time around either. MSNBC and CNN are just as guilty for being "Media For Hire".

But really though, fox should clean itself up a little bit. Even the die hard fans will start to realize eventually, that they are just being lied to.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

So who else checked politifact for their "assumed to be" fair and balanced studies? Can their statements be trusted and are their studies non-biased and scientifically valid? Just asking.

a reply to: joemoe

Good question.

From the Wiki Page

PolitiFact has been both praised and criticized by independent observers, conservatives and liberals alike. Conservative bias and liberal bias have been alleged, and criticisms have been made of attempts to fact-check statements that cannot be truly "fact-checked".

And according to that, only about 14 of their 'fact checks' merited a response by other news organizations to call it false.

That's not a bad track record over the last...7 or 8 years I guess they've been in business.

But good to look at none the less.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

I'm not surprised. Fox has gotten really bad lately with their lies and it is making the conservative right look REALLY bad when they start repeating their nonsense. Until recently, people on ATS didn't ever really call me a liberal. Now I am called that or insinuated that I am one all the time because of constantly calling into question their bs.

Good luck though, I'm sure the Fox News apologist crew will be along shortly to try to spin this in a different light.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

The results aren't really surprising considering the ratio of political commentary to news reporting at each network.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

All in all, despite weighted polls and opinions from self-styled experts, the flood of viewers to Fox News over the last few years is an absolute indication that the average viewer trusts Fox more than any of the rest. Fox cuts to the chase, and the rest of the hounds are left barking.

a reply to: Aliensun

Well no, what that shows is that people would rather listen to somebody's opinion, then listen to the news.

~Tenth

I have a question.
When did mostly true become acceptable?
If you look at the graph, all three have a 30 percent true to mostly true rating.
That means 70 percent of the information coming out of all these news organizations is slanted to sway viewers to that news organizations political leanings.
All three!

This little clip was taken right out of the links page.


"As we have said in the past, be cautious about using the scorecards to draw broad conclusions. We use our news judgment to pick the facts we’re going to check, so we certainly don’t fact-check everything."


So if bill orielly say that the president is doing a bad job with foreign relations, is that considered a lie or half truth? Without a list of facts they "checked" to review, I have to call this a bogus graph.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

I think they use more specific statements than that, which is why they don't fact check everything.

You can't really fact check that example, because it's relevant to your opinion in a lot of cases.

If you take a look at their front page, you'll see that they check statements like:

""It will cost $50,000 per enrollee in Obamacare over the next 10 years."

"There were more people on welfare than working in 2013. "

That sort of thing.

~Tenth

a reply to: Aliensun

Fox has been in the top spot for a dozen years so I'm not sure how much of a "recent flood" that would be. What it shows me is that people are okay with being lied to as long as the lies comport with their worldview. So I guess "cuts to the chase" is valid if you mean "gets right to telling me what I want to hear."


a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

If you look at the graph, all three have a 30 percent true to mostly true rating.

Actually that's not even close to being accurate.

FOX - 21%
MSNBC - 33%
CNN - 57%

CNN is clearly doing a much better job than the other two based on Politifact's evaluation. What's interesting is that nobody seems to want to state the obvious.

a reply to: tothetenthpower


Maybe thats true. But I would rather see their research than take their word for it. You have to admit that its easy to cherry pick the data you want to fact check or not fact check. News media should be able to prove the claims they make. Until they provide the research data, I'm calling shenanigans.

Another problem I have with the media, and this involves all media outlets not just Fox News, is how they do redactions. Media outlets should be forced to put their redactions front and center on their webpages and newspapers instead of hiding them in places that are hard to find. Notice that newspapers put their redaction at the end of the paper, that online articles put their redactions at the end of the article? That isn't showing that the news outlet REALLY cares about getting the truth out.

a reply to: theantediluvian


I see 27 fox 31 msnbc 30 cnn in the chart above. Am I reading the chart wrong?



Oh I see it,,, never mind.
I was looking at the first number not the percentage number... My bad

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

From their about us page:

How the Truth-O-Meter works

The heart of PolitiFact is the Truth-O-Meter, which we use to rate factual claims.

The Truth-O-Meter is based on the concept that – especially in politics - truth is not black and white.

PolitiFact writers and editors spend considerable time researching and deliberating on our rulings. We always try to get the original statement in its full context rather than an edited form that appeared in news stories. We then divide the statement into individual claims that we check separately.

When possible, we go to original sources to verify the claims. We look for original government reports rather than news stories. We interview impartial experts.

We then decide which of our six rulings should apply:

True – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.

Mostly True – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.

Half True – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.

Mostly False – The statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.

False – The statement is not accurate.

Pants on Fire – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.

Also, if you click on any of their rulings, they clearly detail why they chose that particular bracket, with the appropriate source material to back up that claim.

There probably is some bias though.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

They should probably triple the amount of times fox lies, they lie to three times the viewers....lol
Oh well, people will believe what ever they want to believe.

Fox is so popular because it markets the T&A so well.

Now would most aging men rather watch lies propagated by above?

Or watch lies propagated by below?


MSNBC and others are not as 'popular' because they don't sell the sex as well, sex sells.
But they all have their niche role to play in the deception.

As far as accuracy, it is all propaganda. This is a huge thorn in my side the past month, as some may have noticed, sorry.

I cant stand to even pause on fox anymore, and I used to watch it a lot from 2000 till about 2010.
I just cant stomach the blatant BS anymore.

So many people are so dumbed down anymore that they cant see the blatant propaganda for what it is.
That is the desired affect of the controllers of the....cough...news.

People need to research this stuff.
Please take 4 mins and watch this if you are unfamiliar with the CFR and media control.


The media and many of its faces are all CFR members. It is one big club that figures the best way to control opinion and thus control policy.

Let me begin by stating that all in the world is not as you have been told. The old saying that "truth is stranger than fiction" couldn't be more accurate, for we have been deceived on such a grand scale that most would have a difficult time in comprehending the full extent.

The behind the scenes machinations of big money and politics are so well hidden from most of the population, that if people actually knew how things were really run, we would quite literally have a second revolution overnight. Henry Ford knew this well when he said, "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

Most people who read this might have a hard time fathoming how an entire nation could be so well deceived, but it's really not that hard when you understand the inner workings and hierarchy of an overly revered media in which we place our blind trust.

Many have realized long ago that our politicians will lie to us at the drop of a hat, but most have no clue that our news media lies and deceives us just as much, if not more so.

Consider this quote from John Swinton, former Chief of Staff for the New York Times in an address to the New York Press club.

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." John Swinton, former Chief of Staff, The New York Times.

We are ALL being deceived. What is put out by MSM is nothing more than propaganda to sway the masses to think exactly how they are TOLD to think.
I am not against nbc, cbs, fox or any one outlet, I am against the WHOLE MSM conglomerate.

It is all an illusion, designed to give appearance of choice, as in different opposing networks.
When in truth these 'opposing' networks are DESIGNED to divide us and keep us arguing about trivial issues, trivial to them.

We are all being played and most will never even see it.
source

When Fox Business can't even be bothered with fact checking something as simple as Super Bowl attendance prior to running a seven minute story on declining Super Bowl attendance (hint, they didn't know the location changes each year and that different stadiums have different seating capacities) by would anyone think they fact check important stuff?

Those who watch Fox News are going to believe whatever they say anyway, and eat it up.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: Aliensun

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

If you look at the graph, all three have a 30 percent true to mostly true rating.

Actually that's not even close to being accurate.

FOX - 21%
MSNBC - 33%
CNN - 57%

CNN is clearly doing a much better job than the other two based on Politifact's evaluation. What's interesting is that nobody seems to want to state the obvious.

To me, this is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read.
And makes the point I am trying to make.

Our most trusted news source spews BS almost half the time it opens its mouth. And that's the BEST we have???

People need to wake up.

The half that is proven BS is controlled propaganda to deceive us.

here's what's wrong with politifact,....
example: if I say "a river used for drinking water was contaminated by 250,000 gallons of spilled oil"......and "the truth uncovered by politifact is....."there was only 200,000 gallons, and the substance spilled was cleaning fluid"....politifact would say...."that's a half truth" on it's meter.

so, you get a "supposed" half truth, when in reality, it's ALL TOXIC to be used for drinking water!!!!......which is the dangerous truth