FactCheck.org

About FactCheck.org

FactCheck.org is a fact check source with an AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Center.

What a "Center" Rating Means

Sources with an AllSides Media Bias Rating of Center either do not show much predictable media bias, display a balance of articles with left and right biases, or equally balance left and right perspectives.

Center doesn't mean better! A Center media bias rating does not necessarily mean a source is totally unbiased, neutral, perfectly reasonable, or credible, just as Left and Right don't necessarily mean extreme, wrong, unreasonable, or not credible. AllSides encourages people to read outlets across the political spectrum.

Learn more about Center ratings

FactCheck.org Rated Center in April 2020 Independent Review

An independent review by an AllSides staffer in April 2020 found that FactCheck.org seems to have a disproportionate number of fact check articles focusing on President Trump and other top Republicans, indicating what may be a slight Lean Left bias. FactCheck.org's About page states that it monitors "the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players." The focus on the Trump administration could be due to the fact that FactCheck.org editors consider them to be most major political players at the moment; or it could be an indication of a slight Left bias. The site did include some fact check content on Joe Biden and other Democrats, but fact check claims focusing on Trump seem to dominate the site during 6 months of content that was reviewed. Some FactCheck.org headlines during the first week of April 2020 included:

• Biden’s False Claim on Trump’s Response to Coronavirus
• Trump Falsely Claims He Inherited ‘Empty’ Stockpile
• Video: Trump’s Misleading Attacks on Cuomo
• Trump, Biden Spin China Travel Restrictions

At least one FactCheck.org headline AllSides found was actually a matter of opinion: "Pence Moved Slowly in Combating HIV Outbreak". In this piece, FactCheck.org notes that "an unusually high number of HIV cases in Scott County, Indiana, was first spotted by health authorities in November 2014. Pence did not declare a public health emergency and authorize a needle exchange program for the county until March 26, 2015." Whether or not this 4-month time period constitutes moving quickly or slowly is a subjective matter and would depend on an individual's perspective and bias, making the headline biased.

Top of Page

As of March 2023, people have voted on the AllSides Media Bias Rating for FactCheck.org. On average, those who disagree with our rating think this source has a Lean Left bias.

As of March 2023, AllSides has low or initial confidence in our Center rating for FactCheck.org. If we perform more bias reviews and gather consistent data, this confidence level will increase.

Additional Information

FactCheck.org bills itself as a "nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." According to its About page:

"We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding. FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state and federal levels."

Third-Party Accusations of FactCheck.org Left-Wing Bias

Some, including nonprofit Capital Research Center, have accused FactCheck.org of being biased to the left.

"[FactCheck.org's] parent organization, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, was established by Walter H. Annenberg, the former publisher of TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer, President Richard Nixon’s ambassador to Great Britain, and a Republican. But over time the organization moved to the left," Capital Research Center writes in an article about "Dishonest Fact Checkers."

Capital Research Center writes that Annenberg Public Policy Center’s director, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, recruited Brooks Jackson to found FactCheck.org. Jamieson "has also served on the board of the Center for Public Integrity, a left-leaning investigative journalism nonprofit that receives funding from left-wing hedge fund manager George Soros." 

Capital Research Center says that FactCheck.org has "not been brazenly partisan, despite being very much a creature of the mainstream media. It has taken Democrats to task on a number of fronts," but that both FactCheck.org and Politifact go "far beyond what they say they do, claiming to fact-check subjective things like political rhetoric that are not susceptible to fact-checking."

Top of Page

Owner: Annenberg Public Policy Center

FactCheck.org received funding from Google News "to produce fact checks about COVID-19 immunization misinformation and short bilingual video explainers," according to a press release. They received the funding alongside Univision Noticias.

“We worked with Univision’s talented staff during the last two months of the 2020 election and we are excited to continue working with them on COVID-19 misinformation,” said Eugene Kiely, director of FactCheck.org. “Univision is the primary news source for Hispanics in the U.S. This gives us an opportunity to reach a larger and more diverse audience.”

“The pandemic and misinformation have disproportionately affected the Hispanic community,” said Jose Zamora, senior vice president of communications at Univision News. “This exceptional partnership between Univision Noticias and FactCheck.org, with the support of the Google News Initiative, allows us to work with one of the most respected fact-checking platforms in the U.S. to continue and amplify our fight against misinformation and ensure that Latinos have access to accurate information. Univision Noticias is committed to serving its community through journalism and fact-checking; this partnership allows us to fulfill both purposes and our mission.”