"Did you just hear that political commercial? Are his pants on fire, or what?"
Welcome to PolitiFact. With elections just three weeks away, PolitiFact Florida, the fact-checking website that’s a joint project of the St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald, has made all of their copy available to the Bradenton Herald's print editions as a public service.
PolitiFact Editor John "J.Bart" Bartosek has been sending us these self-described "thoroughly reported, well-sourced and smartly written Truth-O-Meter items" each day. The claims are then rated by the Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get the lowest rating, Pants on Fire.
On Bradenton.com/politics, we also have posted a widget linking to the ratings and updated items each day.
Here's the explainer on PolitiFact Florida, courtesy of St. Pete and Miami:
PolitiFact Florida is a partnership of the St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald to help you find the truth in politics.
Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and the Herald examine statements by Florida elected officials and candidates and anyone else who speaks up on matters of public importance. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter.
In Sunday's editions, the Herald published PolitiFact's examination of the GOP's latest ad against Alex Sink, which states “Newspapers say Florida made bad investments, lost hundreds of millions of dollars, billions in pension funds lost. Who was in charge of Florida’s investments? Alex Sink.”
The Truth-O-Meter ranks it "Half True." See Page 13A of the Herald, or check it out at the PolitiFact site.
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