Politifact Dragged For Pondering the Definition of Murder: ‘Let’s Not BICKER and ARGUE About WHO Killed WHO’
Fact-checking website Politifact, which is operated by the Poynter institute, came under heavy and snarky fire this week after an article “fact-checking” whether using the word “murder” for the death of Michael Brown really matters.
The question arose after 2020 Democratic candidates began referring to it as a murder in Tweets and campaign statements. The tweet which asked the question set off a lot of mockery.
NEW: Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren called Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson a “murder.” Legally, it wasn’t. How much should this word choice matter? https://t.co/Gnv0ZBFCZs pic.twitter.com/H3usKiPyCy
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) August 14, 2019
The Poynter Institute is a journalism research and education organization that is not new to friction with conservatives. Just a few months ago the org took fire over a “blacklist” of conservative media sites, which was created with help from the very partisan Southern Poverty Law Center. Politifact specifically has also faced that criticism of partisan bias.
In their defense of the Democratic candidates, those critiques naturally came up once more. For example, Wall Street Journal features editor James Taranto:
“How much should this word choice matter?” https://t.co/oVsUh6hCSG
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) August 15, 2019
Also, from Fox News Channel’s Brit Hume.
In which @Politifact twists itself in knots so as not to acknowledge the obvious falsity of Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris’s claim that Michael Brown was “murdered” in Ferguson, Mo. It’s almost a parody. https://t.co/TyEf9Lrf92
— Brit Hume (@brithume) August 14, 2019
Free Beacon’s David Rutz cut right to the chase, quoting directly from the article:
Much Fact-Checking
“Because the significance of Harris’ and Warrens’ use of the word is open to some dispute, we won’t be rating their tweets on the Truth-O-Meter.”https://t.co/VfBJhIKN5S— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) August 14, 2019
…But most of the replies and retweets were focused on the absurd framing in the tweet, as well as highlighting the perceived double standard.
According to theory underlying Michael Mann’s defamation suit, the difference is actionable. https://t.co/NgTpB67zw9
— Jonathan H. Adler (@jadler1969) August 14, 2019
You’ve become a parody, @PolitiFact. https://t.co/jPStlfnkaM
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) August 14, 2019
guys if you say that Hillary murdered Epstein, Politifact is powerless to fact-check you https://t.co/NrEGBHfyAy
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 15, 2019
Spokesman on @PolitiFact rules for use of technical language (like “murder”) by presidential candidates: pic.twitter.com/s9Ex96OzRc
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) August 14, 2019
Might as well take the opportunity to remind you that, as far as I can tell, @nytimes, @CNN, @ABCNews, @CBSNews, @NBCNews, @MSNBC, and @WSJ have all avoided reporting on @KamalaHarris, @EWarren and @TomSteyer‘s “Michael Brown was murdered” hoax/conspiracy theory. https://t.co/NRSkXbJGwy
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) August 14, 2019
Trump’s lawyer tweeted a meme accusing Clinton of, among other things, murder.
Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren called Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson a “murder.” Legally, it wasn’t.
How much should this word choice matter?https://t.co/NRSkXbJGwyhttps://t.co/WyuK0TozPD pic.twitter.com/9jkVI8RJkl
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) August 15, 2019
guys if you say that Hillary murdered Epstein, Politifact is powerless to fact-check you https://t.co/NrEGBHfyAy
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 15, 2019
What kind of crap question is that? The answer, as we all know, depends on the political party of the liars. In this case, they’re Democrats, so “lies” are written off as poor “word choices.”
— Paula Bolyard (@pbolyard) August 14, 2019
This is a ridiculous exercise in special pleading from a fact-checking enterprise. https://t.co/3Lv5EOawic
— 존파워/John Power (@John_F_Power) August 15, 2019
Factually?
A lot
But that has never really been your forteYou’re more about covering for the Left
& attacking the RightYou should change to Politfax since you just generate & retrans propaganda https://t.co/og8FO0r2tD
— Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) August 15, 2019
“What are words, really, and is anybody really entitled to declare what they mean?” -Politifact https://t.co/SND4DedIvn
— Will Truman (@trumwill) August 14, 2019
If the friendly neighborhood semantic anal-rententives are going to start writing about how ACTUALLY it doesn’t do to be too pedantic in parsing politicians’ speech then what on Earth is the point of them https://t.co/8xrc4iTpWi
— Andrew Egger (@EggerDC) August 15, 2019
You are genuinely one of the most unethical organizations on the internet.
— Dan Gainor (@dangainor) August 15, 2019
so “word choice” is the new euphemism for “lie.” Any Republicans who enjoy this courtesy?
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) August 14, 2019
The word choice should matter a whole lot, given that it separates truth from fiction
— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) August 15, 2019
But surely the most succinct and apt snarkastic tweet was from National Review’s Dan McLaughlin.
New fact-checking standard: “Let’s not BICKER and ARGUE about WHO killed WHO.” https://t.co/DI2zSpwDKq
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) August 15, 2019
Nailed it.
