How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
Emory University’s alleged coddling of students, Hillary Clinton’s view on torture and terror and Bernie Sanders’ charge that a trade deal initially backed by Clinton will cost jobs.
The non-partisan fact-checkers at PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia put all of those claims to the test last week, courtesy of the AJC Truth-O-Meter.Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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Newspaper, television and social media reports, March 22, 2016:
Emory University students were provided counseling after someone wrote “Trump 2016” in chalk on campus.
Various media outlets reported that counseling was specifically offered to Emory students upset over the fact that someone chalked pro-Trump messages on campus.
But no funds were provided for any kind of emergency counseling due to the incident.
Counseling is routinely provided to Emory students upon request. The university cannot confirm whether any students sought that counseling as a result of the chalkings. And that does create a bit of uncertainty in the dust-up over the Trump chalkings and their aftermath.
We rated this statement Mostly False.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016 in a speech at Stanford University:
When it comes to fighting terrorism, “Another thing we know that does not work, based on lots of empirical evidence, is torture.”
When it comes to the real goal of getting useful intelligence, the preponderance of the evidence shows that the details interrogators will get from a detainee can typically be acquired without torture. When torture is used, the “information” extracted is likely to be fiction created by a prisoner who will say anything to get the punishment to stop.
All ethical issues aside, the experts say, it doesn’t work because it is extremely inefficient and, in many ways, counterproductive.
We rated Clinton’s claim True.
Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, March 15th, 2016 in a political ad for Bernie 2016
“The Trans-Pacific trade deal could cost America 448,000 more jobs.”
We’ve asked economists to sort out the good and bad of trade deals before, and found that their opinions on outcomes can be wildly contradictory. So when it comes to predicting such outcomes, it really depends on whose Magic 8 Ball you use.
It’s important for people to understand that this number is an estimate, and it’s the biggest estimate we found.
Critics of the Tufts study that Sanders used say it goes the furthest to predict doomsday figures, without acknowledging offsetting effects.
The author of the Tufts study says that other research glosses over the real-world elements that change the lives of workers in a global economy.
A one-liner can’t possibly capture the possible outcome of a War and Peace-sized trade proposal.
We rated Sanders’
statement Half True.
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