We're deleting Promise No. 9 on trade policy

We're deleting Promise No. 9, which President Obama would "use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that fail to live up to those important benchmarks."

In publishing an update on Promise No. 8, we realized that 8 and 9 were virtually identical. So we are deleting No. 89.

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 04:33 p.m.

We're deleting Promise No. 147

When we looked into Promise No. 147, to expand how the Family and Medical Leave Act is applied to members of the military, we were surprised to learn that the promise had been fulfilled ... by President George W. Bush. (We suspect it's because the promise was made early in the presidential campaign, in 2007.) Obama also signed additional changes into law on Oct. 28, 2009, but they were slightly outside the scope of his promise.

Obama's promise was "to expand Family Medical Leave to include reserve families facing mobilization. This will allow workers whose spouse is called to active ...

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Posted by Louis Jacobson :: Published on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 03:58 p.m.

We've deleted Promise No. 29 on financial regulation

We've decided to delete a promise on financial regulation.

Given this week's economic news, we decided to check Obama's promise to investigate potential conflicts of interest between credit ratings agencies and financial institutions. The promise was No. 29, "Investigate potential conflict of interest between credit ratings agencies and financial institutions." Obama's campaign literature said that "Barack Obama supports an immediate investigation into the ratings agencies and their relationships to securities' issuers."

Credit rating agencies evaluate the soundness of bonds and other financial products. Before the financial crisis, they rated some products highly that ended up being poor investments.
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Posted by Angie Drobnic Holan :: Published on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 07:16 p.m.

Who is PolitiFact? Who pays for Politifact?

As we've gained new readers since the election, every now and then we get e-mails that ask, "Who's paying for this Web site? Who's putting out this information?"

The short answer is this: PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times to help you find the truth in American politics. (See more about our mission on the "About Us" page.) The Times is the biggest newspaper in the Tampa Bay area and it has the largest circulation of any paper in Florida, so the advertisers and subscribers help foot the bills for PolitiFact.
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Posted by Angie Drobnic Holan :: Published on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 05:23 p.m.

Editor & Publisher names us to its list of "10 That Do It Right"

We're honored to make a new Top 10 list. This one comes from Editor & Publisher, the journal of the newspaper business, which named PolitiFact / the St. Petersburg Times in its list of "10 That Do It Right."

Here's what E&P said:

"While fellow '10' honoree Star Tribune used the Web to open the ballot-counting process for all to see, the St. Petersburg Times showed how technology can super-size the traditional — and still fundamental — job of journalists: holding politicians' feet to the fire. PolitiFact was an innovative use of the Web that used both watchdog reporters and ...

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 06:07 p.m.

The truth on the health care distortions

Wondering about the latest claim in the war of words in health care? If you don't see it on our home page, check our health page, where we've compiled all our health care items.

You can also use the search box in the upper right corner of every PolitiFact page.

If you still can't find it, e-mail us at truthometer@politifact.com and suggest we look into it.

 

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 09:48 a.m.

Reason magazine uses Obameter to analyze Obama

When we started tracking President Barack Obama's campaign promises, we hoped the ratings would provoke some interesting commentary. So we're intrigued by a new analysis from the Reason magazine blog.

Reason looked our ratings of Promises Kept and Promises Broken and judged which promises expanded government power and which reduced government power.

Reason editor Radley Balko wrote: "By my count (and some of this is certainly subjective) of the of the 31 promises the site says Obama has kept thus far, 20 in some way grow or expand the federal government. Just six make the government ...

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Posted by Angie Drobnic Holan :: Published on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 08:13 a.m.

We've decided to delete a duplicate promise on the Fair Pay Act

A sharp-eyed reader alerted us that Promise No. 413 is essentially the same promise as No. 411. Both have to do with helping women and minorities sue their employers for pay discrimination.

Promise No. 413 states: "Pass the Fair Pay Act: Obama will also pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work."

In substance, it's similar to No. 411, "Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear: Obama will work to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination."

We ...

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Posted by Angie Drobnic Holan :: Published on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 06:49 p.m.

Obama sings backup on new PolitiFact song

Forgive our bias on this one, but we've done some research on the new version of the PolitiFact song Gimme the Truth and have made this factual determination:
 
It rocks.
 
In fact, it totally rocks. Listen to it from the player on our home page, or better yet, download the song here (for free!) and import it into your iPod, and you'll see we're right.
 
Like any good rock and roll song, it's about lies, deceit . . . and tax policy. And how many songs do you know that have great guitar licks -- ...

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 01:18 p.m.

Reactions to our Pulitzer

We've seen some nice commentary on our Pulitzer Prize. The NYT's Aron Pilhofer called it "a watershed moment in journalism." In Columbia Journalism Review, Megan Garber explores whether PolitiFact is a new species of journalism or just a new twist on an old breed.

In the blog for PBS's MediaShift Idea Lab, Rich Gordon writes that "Twenty years from now, I hope we'll see thousands of journalists developing online software applications that inform, engage and enlighten the way PolitiFact does."

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 09:14 a.m.

We've updated our item on the "light switch tax"

We've posted an update to our ruling from March 30 on the Republicans' claim that a cap and trade program would cost each family $3,128 per year. In the update, we note that an MIT professor has corrected a number in his calculations but our ruling on the original statement remains Pants on Fire.

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 03:23 p.m.

We'll be on Twitter for Obama's press conference

Tonight, PolitiFact Editor Bill Adair will be tweeting some reactions as President Obama conducts a prime-time press conference marking the first 100 days of his presidency. Follow the PolitiFact twitter feed and join in the conversation at 8 p.m. EST!

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Posted by Angie Drobnic Holan :: Published on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 12:20 p.m.

Join the NewsHunt and rate PolitiFact

This week, PolitiFact and the social news site NewsTrust are joining forces to help you find the best news coverage of President Obama's first 100 days in office, in collaboration with students at the University of Nevada at Reno. We invite you to take part in our latest "news hunt," which runs from Monday April 27 to Friday May 1.

NewsTrust helps people find good journalism so they can make more informed decisions as citizens. The nonprofit news network features a daily feed of news and opinions from mainstream and independent sources from across ...

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 09:53 a.m.

Announcing PolitiFact's '500 Promises' cards

Just in time for President Obama's 100th day in office, we've partnered with U.S. Games Systems to create President Obama's 500 Promises, a big deck of cards of his campaign promises.

They're available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or from retailers around the nation.

They're fun, they give you a chance to see the wide range of his promises -- and you can use them to play PolitiFact charades! (Imagine the fun trying to act out Promise No. 223: "Direct attorney general and homeland security secretary to meet with Latin American leaders to develop ...

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 05:48 a.m.

Special 100-day coverage

We've created a special page to help you assess President Barack Obama's first 100 days.

The page includes a new chart showing how Obama and others in his administration have fared against the Truth-O-Meter, plus another graphic that tallies our Obameter ratings on his Top 25 promises. (You can continue to get the overall count on all 514 Obameter items

You can find the page here, or by simply clicking the "First 100 Days" tab at the top of any PolitiFact page.

The 100-Day Special Report will feature stories we publish over the next week on Obama's first ...

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Posted by Bill Adair :: Published on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 06:23 p.m.