Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. The core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.
Since their launch in 2007, they’ve received many questions about how we choose facts to check, how we stay nonpartisan, how we go about fact-checking and other topics. This document attempts to answer those questions and many more.
A fact-checking forerunner, PolitiFact has been evaluating the validity of political claims since 2007, ranking politician's statements on a Truth-O-Meter from True to False. It is focused on looking at specific statements made by politicians and rating them for accuracy.
Each day, PolitiFact journalists look for statements to fact-check. They read transcripts, speeches, news stories, press releases, and campaign brochures. They watch TV and scan social media. Readers send us suggestions via email to [email protected]; they often fact-check statements submitted by readers. Because they can't feasibly check all claims, they select the most newsworthy and significant ones.
(Copied from website)