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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.
PolitiFact Georgia marks its fifth anniversary this week. To celebrate, we decided to look back at a few of our favorite fact checks over the years.
They range from zombies to gun racks in electric cars to high-profile preachers trying to buy luxury jets.
We’ve summarized a few of our picks below. Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/
The Walking Dead on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010, in the TV show’s season finale: In the case of a catastrophic event, the Atlanta-area offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will self-destruct.
In the AMC hit series “The Walking Dead,” flesh-eating zombies take over Atlanta. Survivors realize in the Dec. 5, 2010, season finale that there’s a doomsday plan in place for the CDC, where they’d sought refuge.
PolitiFact Georgia readers and more than a few Atlanta Journal-Constitution staffers asked PolitiFact to check whether the CDC has an endgame plan.
While the agency does have safeguards in case generators fail, a subnuclear blast is not one of them, spokeswoman Karen Hunter said.
“We do have systems in place, but none of them involve explosives,” Hunter said. “We do not have a doomsday scenario at the CDC.”
We ruled “The Walking Dead” claim Pants On Fire.
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Newt Gingrich on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, during a campaign speech in Cobb County: “You can’t put a gun rack in a (Chevrolet) Volt.”
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich went gunnin’ for greenies — specifically targeting the Chevy Volt, an electric car that also can run on gas.
The Obama administration is deeply opposed to Americans having the right to choose the kind of car or truck they want to drive, the former Georgia congressman and U.S. House speaker told a crowd in Cobb County.
“And I keep trying to get across to my liberal friends: You cannot put a gun rack in a Volt,” Gingrich said.
We wondered whether Mr. Speaker was taking the audience for a ride.
We borrowed a Volt and were able to install two gun racks that tote four guns combined.
Our own research shows Gingrich’s claim was a lemon.
We gave him a False.
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Juda Engelmayer on Friday, March 13, 2015, in interviews: Creflo Dollar needed a $65 million Gulfstream G650 to carry thousands of pounds of food and other supplies — as well as the word of God — worldwide.
Pastor Creflo Dollar’s plan to buy the world’s fastest and most luxurious business jet never got off the ground.
Dollar and other leaders at World Changers Church International in College Park launched “Project G650,” a fundraiser to bring in $65 million for the airplane in donations from 200,000 of the faithful.
Public reaction was so negative, though, that the fundraising campaign was abruptly canceled.
But Juda Engelmayer, a New York public relations agent representing Creflo Dollar Ministries, still insisted that the airplane, a Gulfstream G650, was needed.
“The plane is not so Creflo Dollar can get on by himself and fly,” Engelmayer told The Christian Post, noting that a ministry team of 10 to 15 people from the church takes thousands of pounds of food and provisions with them as they go sharing God’s word around the world.
The Gulfstream G650 has the fuel efficiency, speed, cargo space and seating the church needs, he told The Associated Press.
The 18-seat jet has no such capacity. Aviation expert Richard Aboulafia told us cargo space in business jets is measured in golf clubs.
Beyond the passengers, the G650 has room for 2,500 pounds of baggage, a Gulfstream official said.
Engelmayer’s argument that the plane was needed to carry tons of food never got off the runway. It was inaccurate and bordering on ridiculous.
We rated it Pants On Fire.
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Edward Lindsey on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, in a press release: Most voters prefer zombies to the current U.S. Congress
Readers, beware.
You might encounter something spooky this Halloween.
A zombie? Nah, more frightening than that. Yep, a member of Congress.
Boo! It’s John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi at your door.
“(A) majority of voters actually prefer the blood-hungry creatures of The Walking Dead and Zombieland to the current Congress,” state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, wrote in a press release. “One poll earlier this month found that a plurality of registered voters prefer real zombies over the pseudo variety haunting Washington today. (Even mother-in-laws and the DMV also outpolled Congress.)”
Despite his disdain for Congress, Lindsey is one of several Republicans running for the 11th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Update: He lost.)
So who’s scarier? Creatures who have returned from the dead to wreak havoc on the world or the men and women in Washington who recently took more than two weeks to resolve a partial government shutdown?
PolitiFact Georgia thought it would be fun to find out whether Lindsey was using hyperbole in his quest to convince voters he is a less frightening option than the lot that’s currently in Congress.
Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina-based firm, recently asked 502 registered voters by telephone a series of questions to determine how disliked is Congress. It was taken Oct. 4-6, a few days after the shutdown began. They posed this question to respondents: “What do you have a higher opinion of: Congress or zombies?”
Forty-three percent of the respondents said zombies; 37 percent said Congress. Nineteen percent said they weren’t sure.
The poll had a 4 percent margin of error.
Congress was less popular than a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles, jury duty, toenail fungus and cockroaches.
The congressional approval rating was 8 percent, which is nearly identical to most polling. Our political leaders in Washington did fare better than homegrown reality star Honey Boo Boo as well as controversial entertainers, such as Lindsey Lohan and Miley Cyrus.
This is no cause for celebratory twerking, Congress.
We rated Lindsey’s statement True.
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