Categories
Fact Checks

Consider the Source

Anatomy of an anti-vax fact-check: Consider the Source, Check the Site, Confirm the Content. Who made the claim, who published it, where’s the evidence?

Categories
News Fakes

Mainstream media spreads fake news

Mainstream media contributes significantly to the infectious spread of conspiracy fantasies. But it could hold the cure.

Categories
News Fakes

(Assume) Everything on Social Media Is Wrong

Social media’s malgorithms spread lies and hate. The platforms are unwilling and probably unable to change.

Categories
Science

Vax vs. Vote

A side-by-side, state-by-state comparison showing vaccination rates closely correlated with Biden-vote percentages.

Categories
News Fakes

The United States of Conspiracy

Americans will believe almost anything. Two decades of polling prove that. No matter how insane the claim, at least 10% and up to 40% of people will say it’s true.

Categories
News Fakes

Mainstream media funds fake news

When debunkers link to fake-news stories, they do more harm than good. There’s a right way and wrong way to cite unreliable sources. Most publishers use the latter.

Categories
Science

Congress’ COVID-Positive Party

Do partisan beliefs and behaviors affect COVID-19 infection rates? Maybe, at least among members of the U.S. Congress.

Categories
Fact Checks

PolitiFact: Pols, Pundits, and Pant Fires

This last of a three-parter compares the PolitiFact credibility of groups making political claims. The most truthful: comedians. The least: social media.

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Fact Checks

PolitiFact: All the Presidents’ Peeps

Part two of the series, that turns PolitiFact-checks into credibility scores, calculates the truth ratings of people in the past three presidential administrations.

Categories
Fact Checks

PolitiFact: Voters Face Facts

Using PolitiFact-checks, we can compare the credibility of candidates and determine, from past elections, if voters tend to pick the more truthful candidate. (They do.)