Fact Checker: The biggest Pinocchios of 2016
Fact Checker: The biggest Pinocchios of 2016
by Glenn Kessler The Washington Post
It’s time for our annual roundup of the biggest Pinocchios of the year.
Just before the presidential election, we highlighted the most outlandish statements of the campaign. This list is limited to claims we checked in 2016. We also decided to keep the focus on whoppers that the candidates said about themselves or about policy issues, not political attacks.
In the past, we have tried to assemble a relatively equal number of claims by Democrats and Republicans but find that this is impossible this year. Donald Trump earned five of the “biggest Pinocchio” ratings; the previous record was three (President Obama in 2013 and Trump in 2015).
There has never been a serial exaggerator in recent American politics like the president-elect. He not only consistently makes false claims but also repeats them, even though they have been proven wrong. He always insists he is right, no matter how little evidence he has for his claim or how easily his statement is debunked.
During the campaign, Trump earned 59 Four-Pinocchio ratings, compared with seven for Hillary Clinton. Since winning the presidency, Trump has earned four more Four-Pinocchio ratings, and his staff has earned one, as well. Unfortunately, we see little indication that this pattern will change during his presidency.
We also highlighted two especially pernicious trends this year — the rise of bogus statistics and fake news, spread through social media. It’s bad enough when leading politicians traffic in false information. But readers also need to be more skeptical about the information they find on Facebook, Twitter or other social media. All too often, the corrective report is shared less frequently than the initial, unsettling, bogus information.
In compiling this list, which is in no particular order, we primarily focused on claims that had earned Four Pinocchios during the year. To keep it simple, in some cases, we have shortened the quotes in the headlines. To read the full column, click on the link embedded in the quote.
READ MORE: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fac...
by Glenn Kessler The Washington Post
It’s time for our annual roundup of the biggest Pinocchios of the year.
Just before the presidential election, we highlighted the most outlandish statements of the campaign. This list is limited to claims we checked in 2016. We also decided to keep the focus on whoppers that the candidates said about themselves or about policy issues, not political attacks.
In the past, we have tried to assemble a relatively equal number of claims by Democrats and Republicans but find that this is impossible this year. Donald Trump earned five of the “biggest Pinocchio” ratings; the previous record was three (President Obama in 2013 and Trump in 2015).
There has never been a serial exaggerator in recent American politics like the president-elect. He not only consistently makes false claims but also repeats them, even though they have been proven wrong. He always insists he is right, no matter how little evidence he has for his claim or how easily his statement is debunked.
During the campaign, Trump earned 59 Four-Pinocchio ratings, compared with seven for Hillary Clinton. Since winning the presidency, Trump has earned four more Four-Pinocchio ratings, and his staff has earned one, as well. Unfortunately, we see little indication that this pattern will change during his presidency.
We also highlighted two especially pernicious trends this year — the rise of bogus statistics and fake news, spread through social media. It’s bad enough when leading politicians traffic in false information. But readers also need to be more skeptical about the information they find on Facebook, Twitter or other social media. All too often, the corrective report is shared less frequently than the initial, unsettling, bogus information.
In compiling this list, which is in no particular order, we primarily focused on claims that had earned Four Pinocchios during the year. To keep it simple, in some cases, we have shortened the quotes in the headlines. To read the full column, click on the link embedded in the quote.
READ MORE: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fac...
