TILT: PolitiFact Angrily Obsesses Over Trump on 'Fact Checks,' Goes Soft on Biden

Public opinion polls show a dramatic difference of opinion on the reliability of so-called "fact checking" groups. A 2019 Pew Research Center poll found 70 percent of Republicans believe these groups favor one side, while only 29 percent of Democrats agreed.

The Republicans aren't wrong. A review of fact-checking patterns shows a dramatic difference in "fact-checking" aggression.

Take PolitiFact. In 2017 and 2018, the Media Research Center found PolitiFact's dominant target was President Trump, with 297 evaluations -- and of those, 209 (69 percent) were rated on their "Truth-O-Meter" as "Mostly False" or "False" or "Pants on Fire."

Since then, the tilt has only gotten more negative!

A new MRC study of PolitiFact articles from January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020 finds Trump is still their favorite "fact-checking" punching bag. Trump was evaluated on 172 occasions, and 132 of those (77.6 percent) were "Mostly False" or worse. There were 23 "Half True" ratings (13 percent) and 15 "Mostly True" or "True" marks (less than 9 percent).

By contrast, Joe Biden was the subject of only 51 articles with a rating, and only 23 of those (45 percent) were "Mostly False" or worse. There were 10 "Half True" ratings (20 percent) and 18 "Mostly True" or "True" checks (35 percent).

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