One of the challenges in an election season is fact-checking candidate statements. One of the organizations working to do that is PolitiFact.
The news organization has been fact-checking political statements since 2007, It won the Pulitzer Prize for its work during the 2008 presidential election.
This fall, WKAR is partnering with PolitiFact to provide information on the U.S. Senate race between Elissa Slotkin and Mike Rogers.
WKAR’s Amy Robinson spoke with Katie Sanders, editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, about the work they are doing this season.
Interview Highlights
On how they fact check
Our reporters will contact the campaign or the person who made the claim for evidence, and then we do our own independent research and reporting. We look for official documents, think tank reports, academic studies, and we assemble a lot of information very quickly. We also try to speak to as many subject matter experts as we can.
On why Politifact is working in Michigan this election cycle
PolitiFact has identified Michigan as one of seven critical Senate races that could determine the direction and control of the U.S. Senate. That's a lot of influence, a lot of power. So we want to bring close scrutiny to these toss up races.
On how to contribute to the process
This could be what you're getting in your hard mail. This could be what you're getting in your social media feeds. You can send screenshots or forward emails to truthometer@politifact.com
Interview Transcript
Katie Sanders: PolitiFact is a nonpartisan fact-checking website dedicated to helping voters figure out the truth. In U.S. politics, we separate facts from fiction and political rhetoric that you hear from politicians and also that you see online.
Amy Robinson: This is a little bit into the nuts and bolts, but it's important for the work you do. Give me a sense for how you do a fact-check.
Sanders: Well, it all starts with picking the right claim. Not everything you hear from a politician is actually fact-checkable. They speak in a lot of hyperbole or sometimes they make very broad statements, like taxes are bad. That wouldn't make a very good fact-check. We listen out for things that can be measured or proven or disproven. That does narrow down our search, but there's still a lot of options.
On a given day, we're listening out for claims that aren't immediately true. They make you wonder when you hear them, “Huh? I wonder if that's accurate.” So that's our baseline for deciding whether to fact-check something.
From there, our reporters will contact the campaign or the person who made the claim for evidence, and then we do our own independent research and reporting. We look for official documents, think tank reports, academic studies, and we assemble a lot of information very quickly. We also try to speak to as many subject matter experts as we can.
The reporters have a lot of work cut out for them. They have to sift through a lot of information quickly, and they're really good at it. So it does happen fast. Once they turn in their stories, a panel of three editors will review what they've written and help decide how we should rate that claim on our Truth-O-Meter.
The Truth-O-Meter is a scale that people might have heard of before. It starts for the most accurate statements with a rating of True, and then as your statement is less accurate, your rating comes down. It goes from Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False, and then fan favorite: Pants On Fire! for the most ridiculously false claims.
Robinson: We have two fact-checks already from you that will be going up on our website. One is a claim made by Mike Rogers about Elissa Slotkin. The other is a claim made by Slotkin against Rogers. Turns out they both were rated false. How often do the claims you investigate turn out to be untrue?
Sanders: That happens quite a bit. I mean, we are looking out for claims that aren't immediately true, but I would say more and more, in this mis- and disinformation age, we are trying to debunk things that we certainly know to be untrue first and foremost. So, these are some examples of things that, when we heard them didn't sound quite right.
Robinson: And now for the 2024 election, WKAR is partnering with you, with PolitiFact, for a special fact-check project. Tell us about that.
Sanders: Well, PolitiFact has identified Michigan as one of seven critical Senate races that could determine the direction and control of the U.S. Senate. That's a lot of influence, a lot of power. So we want to bring close scrutiny to these toss up races.
We are no stranger to Michigan. We've previously partnered with [the] Detroit Free Press to fact-check state news and state angles, and we were certainly busy after the 2020 election with a lot of Michigan storylines. So, we're bringing some familiarity to our work about Michigan, but we're excited to have chosen Michigan as one of our focus areas on top of the presidential race fact-checking that we're doing.
Robinson: And you actively look for fact-check ideas from the public?
Sanders: We are very eager for tips from the public. We want to know what the campaigns are telling you. We get a lot of news releases, we get a lot of TV ads, but there are other ways campaigns may reach out to voters that they don't tell journalists about.
We're eager for your tips. This could be what you're getting in your hard mail. This could be what you're getting in your social media feeds. You can send screenshots or forward emails to truthometer@politifact.com.
This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
