On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

Rachel Maddow attacks PolitiFact, again

For the third time in four weeks, Rachel Maddow has lashed out at the fact-checking organization PolitiFact for issuing rulings that seem to defy its own research.

In January, Maddow called PolitiFact "a mess" and "an embarrassment"; last week, she called it "a disaster." And last night, she said "PolitiFact should go away. Or at least they need to stop using the word 'fact' as part of their name."

"This is so bad, so egregiously bad, that if they do not correct this one, I think we can safely assume that PolitiFact, for all intents and purposes, is dead," Maddow declated. "They are over."

Maddow was responding to PolitiFact's ruling about an MSNBC ad featuring Lawrence O'Donnell, in which he says that critics of the G.I. bill "called it welfare." MSNBC provided PolitiFact with multiple instances from the 1950s in which critics of the G.I. bill referred to "relief" or "the dole system," terms that MSNBC said were equivalent to "welfare." One such comment came from Representative John Rankin, then-chairman of the House committee for veterans affairs, who when discussing the G.I. bill said "the bane of the British Empire has been the dole system."

And yet PolitiFact ruled as follows: "We found no evidence of critics referring to the GI Bill as welfare. Yet some fretted that the law’s unemployment compensation element would encourage laziness. We see a touch of truth to O’Donnell’s claim, which we rate Mostly False."

On his own program, O'Donnell also criticized PolitiFact for its ruling.

I reached out to PolitiFact editor Bill Adair late last night to ask for his response, but have yet to hear back. In past instances, Adair has responded with a statement like this:

Our goal at PolitiFact is to use the Truth-O-Meter to show the relative accuracy of a political claim... We don't expect our readers to agree with every ruling we make. We have published nearly 5,000 Truth-O-Meter ratings and it's natural that anyone can find some they disagree with. But even if you don't agree with every call we make, our research and analysis helps you sort out what's true in the political discourse.

Does that guarded defense hold up to Maddow's attacks? It's easy to cast aside one controversial ruling, even two. But Maddow's ongoing campaign has caused significant damage to PolitiFact's reputation, likely rendering it all but worthless in the eyes her viewers. If PolitiFact wants to reclaim that audience, it may have to address Maddow and MSNBC head on and offer a more complete explanation (or apology) for its controversial rulings.

Then again, Maddow's attacks are keeping PolitiFact front and center in the primetime conversation. O'Donnell even suggested to Maddow (albeit jokingly) that that may be a calculation on their part, that someone at PolitiFact is teeing up bad rulings for Maddow to hit out of the park.

Unlikely. But it is true that PolitiFact won't "go away" as long as Maddow continues to attack it. Negative press is still press, and in that regard she's doing them a huge favor.

NOTE: Past thoughts on PolitiFact can be read here.