Since it was founded as an affiliate of The Tampa Bay Times and Poynter Institute's national fact-checking initiative in mid-2010, PolitiFact Wisconsin, which is published in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has held itself up as the arbiter of truth in the state's politics. However, a thorough analysis of every one of its 1,686 fact checks reveals a clear bias against Republicans and political conservatives and toward Democrats and political liberals that has gotten progressively worse.
This bias has gotten so extreme that since the beginning of 2019, Republicans have been fact-checked 70 more times (an average of nearly 35 more times per year) than Democrats and have been found to be telling the truth just 18.4% of the time. They were found to be lying 69% of the time. Democrats, on the other hand, were telling the truth 49% of the time they were fact-checked and lying just 35.9% of the time.
The obvious implication is not, as partisan liberals might suggest, that Republicans are simply less honest; it is that PolitiFact Wisconsin has set out to fact-check Republicans and conservatives far more often than Democrats and to demonstrate that they are lying. The organization, in other words, has essentially weaponized fact-checking.
How else could one possibly explain this disparity? Since the beginning of 2020, PolitiFact has given out 37 "Pants on Fire" ratings...and 35 of them went to Republicans and/or conservatives. Only two went to Democrats or liberals. "Pants on Fire" is a designation of the most egregious lie a politician can tell, and over the past two-plus years, PolitiFact Wisconsin has given out a total of 174 of them. Republicans received 127--a full 74.2% of the total--while Democrats got only 41 (23.9%).
This overt bias is made even more obvious by the fact that during the first five years of PolitiFact Wisconsin's existence (2010-2015), it fact-checked Republicans and Democrats at nearly identical rates and found that they told the truth or were lying at nearly the same clip. There was a pro-Democrat bias, to be sure, but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as it has become over the past five years and especially in the last two.
The PolitiFact concept was the brainchild of Bill Adair, The Tampa Bay Times' Washington, DC bureau chief, and news technologist Matthew Waite in 2007.
"The epiphany came after the 2004 speech by Senator Zell Miller, who endorsed George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention," Adair told the National Press Foundation in 2011. "He made a lot of claims about John Kerry, particularly about how Kerry had voted on defense bills. He said Kerry was weak on defense because he had voted against a lot of weapon systems. I heard that speech and I thought, 'Well, that's not true.'
"I know how Washington works: The Democrats vote for the Democratic bills, the Republicans vote for the Republican bills and in the process they give each other opportunities to attack [the opposing party] and make these claims."
Adair said he was inspired, and worked with Waite to create an online database of fact-checked claims made by politicians, political groups, pundits, and even private citizens. The two devised a six-rating scale for each statement they would check: "True," "Mostly True," "Half True," "Mostly False," and "Pants on Fire." Their fact checks first appeared in The Times (then known as The St. Petersburg Times) and Congressional Quarterly, which is also owned by the Poynter Insitute--a non-profit journalism organization.
Their endeavor was immediately popular in journalistic circles, and PolitiFact won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for National Journalism. Other newspapers across the country also began to partner with the Poynter Institute to implement PolitiFact bureaus of their own.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel started PolitiFact Wisconsin in mid-2010, and in its first year examined at total of 105 claims. Of those, eight were rated True; four made by Republicans and four by Democrats. 10 were rated Mostly True, seven by Republicans and three by Democrats. 12 were rated Half True; nine by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. 24 were Mostly False; 12 each made by Republicans and Democrats. 27 were False; 16 by Republicans and 11 by Democrats. 15 were rated as Pants on Fire; six by Republicans and nine by Democrats.
In all, PolitiFact fact-checked a total of 63 Republican claims and 51 Democrat claims. 28.5% of Republican claims were rated as either True or Mostly True, while just 13.7% of Democrat claims achieved such designations. 53.9% of Republican claims were rated as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire. 62.7% of Democrat claims were rated as such.
If anything, in that first half-year PolitiFact Wisconsin was biased toward Republicans and conservatives! This, however, proved to be an anomaly, although the first five years of the organization's fact-checking was relatively neutral. The two primary fact-checkers, Tom Kertscher and Dave Umhoefer, seemed to be very careful as to evenly distribute the number of checks they did between Republicans and Democrats.
From PolitiFact Wisconsin's launch in mid-2010 until the end of 2015, the organization did a total of 979 fact checks--499 on Republicans or conservatives and 460 on Democrats or liberals. The remaining 20 were politically neutral, meaning that they were neither made by an identifiable conservative or liberal and had no overt partisan slant.
Out of those 979 checks, Politfact Wisconsin gave out 274 ratings of True or Mostly True. Republicans had 52.6% (144 in total) of them while Democrats had 43.7% (120 total). Ratings of Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire had a similar split, as Republicans had 51.8% (120 total) and Democrats had 46.7% (239 total).
During those first few years, Republicans were rated True or Mostly True 28.8% of the time they were fact-checked and rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 53.1% of the time. Democrats, meanwhile, were rated True or Mostly True 26% of the time they were fact-checked and rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 51.9% of the time.
These numbers are about as even as they could be. Both Democrats and Republicans were fact-checked about an equal amount of time, and both had nearly identical rates of honesty and dishonesty as determined by PolitiFact Wisconsin's team. That the percentages were so close suggests that said team, led by Kertscher and Umhoefer, bent over backwards to treat both sides evenly.
Over the next five years, though, this changed dramatically. As Kertscher and Umhoefer wrote fewer and fewer fact checks (neither still works for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), the two primary PolitiFact Wisconsin reporters who replaced them--Eric Litke and Hayley BeMiller--as well as a handful of other fact-checkers began to more aggressively check Republicans while simultaneously seemingly easing up on Democrats.
This period coincided with the presidential candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump, who was more aggressively targeted by fact-checkers than any other politician in history. The Washington Post kept a running tally of his alleged lies (a practice that it discontinued with Trump's successor, Democrat Joe Biden) and even created a new category of falsehood just for him: The "Bottomless Pinocchio." No politician before or since has ever been given one. The New York Times published "Trump's Lies: The Definitive List." FactCheck.org declared Trump the "King of Whoppers."
To be sure, Trump did tell lies. He is, after all, a politician. Yet the reaction to his dishonesty in the media was so much more sensational that it was immediately noticeable.
"Since Trump’s election, and led by newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post, the coverage has toughened up," wrote columnist Tony Burman in The Toronto Star just three weeks after Trump's inauguration. "The falsehoods and distortions uttered by Trump and his senior officials have particularly inflamed journalists and have been challenged--resulting in a growing prominence of 'fact-checkers' and investigative reporting."
PolitiFact Wisconsin, it seems, was part of this trend. Just as The New York Times and Washington Post had "toughened up" their coverage in the Trump era, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's fact-checkers began to investigate Republican statements far more often than Democrat ones.
Over the past five years, from the beginning of 2016 until the publication of this article on February 9, 2021, PolitiFact Wisconsin conducted 707 total fact checks, but checked Republicans 73 more times than Democrats, an average of roughly 14.6 more per year. Moreover, Democrats were awarded 56.6% of the 221 True or Mostly True ratings that PolitiFact Wisconsin handed out (125 in total), while Republicans got just 38% (84 total).
The disparity in Mostly False, False, and Pants on Fire ratings was even more pronounced. Of the 348 total, Republicans were awarded 64.7% (225 total), while Democrats got just 34.5%.
Over the past five years, Republicans were rated True or Mostly True just 21.9% of the time they were fact-checked and rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 58.9% of the time. Democrats, meanwhile, were rated True or Mostly True 40.4% of the time they were fact-checked, and were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 38.8% of the time.
In other words, from PolitiFact Wisconsin's first five years to its latest five years, the rate at which the organization labeled Democrat statements as either True or Mostly True rose by 14.4%, while the rate at which Democrat statements were labeled as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire fell by 13.1%.
At the same time, the rate at which PolitiFact Wisconsin labeled Republican statements as either True or Mostly True fell by 6.9%, while the rate at which Republican statements were labeled as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire rose by 5.8%.
"Republicans were in charge of all three branches of government, at both the state and federal level, for two of those years," noted Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editor George Stanley. "It's our job as an independent press in America to hold those in power accountable so the citizens stay in charge of their government. We treat all politicians as public servants, regardless of party."
The fact that Republicans did in fact have total control of both the federal and state governments from early 2017 to early 2019 would help to explain the sudden increase in the total number of fact checks of Republican statements, but it would not explain the dramatic shifts in honesty rates between the two parties.
"The PolitiFact ratings for the two [Wisconsin] Governors reveals the independence of the Journal Sentinel, which has graded 57% of Tony Evers' statements Mostly False to Pants on Fire and 25% of his statements True to Mostly true," Stanley continued. "The Journal Sentinel graded 33% of Scott Walker's statements True to Mostly True--8% higher than Evers--while 45% of Walker's statements fell on the false side of the meter; 12% lower than Evers."
This, however, does not tell the whole story. In Walker's eight years as Governor, PolitiFact Wisconsin fact-checked him a whopping 203 times for an average of 25.4 times per year. In Evers' two years as Governor, he has been fact-checked just 27 times--an average of 13.5 per year. Moreover, PolitiFact Wisconsin gave Walker 11 Pants on Fire ratings, while Evers has had just one.
Also, while Stanley compares the entirety of Walker's term to Evers' first two years, a far better comparison is Walker's first two years to Evers' first two years. In 2011 alone, PolitiFact Wisconsin gave Walker three Pants on Fire ratings and 13 False ratings--more than the one Pants on Fire and eight False ratings that Evers has been given in two full years.
In Walker's first two years in office, he received more than twice as many False ratings as Evers (16 to 7) and five times more Pants on Fire ratings (five to one). He was rated as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire a total of 29 times. Evers achieved such ratings 16 times--just 55% of the times that Walker did. Walker was also fact-checked nearly twice as often: A whopping 49 times in his first two years to Evers' 27.
It is during Evers' governorship over the past two years that PolitiFact Wisconsin's bias has become far more extreme than ever before. Unlike Walker, who faced massive liberal protests and a recall election in his first two years, Evers is something of an afterthought, as PolitiFact Wisconsin has turned an inordinate amount of attention on Trump and his allies in the runup to and aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
"[This has been] a time period unlike we have ever seen in American history--the first time a sitting President has ever refused to accept the results of an election," Stanley said. "Prominent Republicans rank among the people who have called Donald Trump's repeated denials of the will expressed by the voters a lie.
"They include Mike Gallagher, congressman from Green Bay; Sen. Mitt Romney, the party's presidential candidate in 2012; and Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. PolitiFact rated a huge number of false statements by then-President Trump and his supporters in Wisconsin during and after this past election and called out their falsehoods for the lies they were."
From 2019 until early February 2021, PolitiFact Wisconsin fact-checked a total of 316 statements, 184 (58.2%) made by Republicans and 114 (36.1%) by Democrats. Over the past two years, the organization has fact-checked 70 more Republican statements than Democrat ones; an average of 35 per year.
PolitiFact Wisconsin has also all but stopped rating Democrat statements as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire. Just 41 Democrat statements--23.9% of the total--rated as such, while Republican statements made up a whopping 74.2% (127 in total). In the past two years, Democrats have only had six Pants on Fire ratings, while Republicans have had 38.
From 2019 until now, Republicans were rated True or Mostly True 18.4% of the time they were fact-checked, and rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 69% of the time. Democrats, meanwhile, were rated True or Mostly True 49% of the time they were fact-checked and Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 35.9% of the time.
If this was, as Stanley suggests, merely a function of Trump and his allies' claims about the election after it had concluded, then why in 2017 and 2018 did Republican Pants on Fire ratings outnumber Democrats' by a 9-3 margin? Why did Democrat True and Mostly True ratings outnumber Republican ones 45-27? And why for five years now has PolitiFact Wisconsin used fact checking as more of a weapon against Republicans and shield for Democrats than anything else?
From its inception until the end of 2015, PolitiFact Wisconsin's fact-checking appears to have had a slight liberal bias, as evidenced by the fact that Democrat statements were rated as True or Mostly True at a 6.7% higher rate than Republican statements and Republican statements were rated as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire at a 9.5% higher rate than Democrat statements.
Now, though, those numbers have jumped dramatically. Democrat statements have for the past two years been rated as True or Mostly True at a 30.6% higher rate than Republican statements and Republican statements have been rated as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire at a 33.1% higher rate than Democrat statements.
The data doesn't lie, and the data--a decade's worth pulled from PolitiFact Wisconsin's own site--tells the clear and unmistakable story of a fact-checking operation that was once deeply concerned with fairness to one that is deeply and obviously partisan.
Raw Data
Total Fact Checks: 1,686
Republican/Conservative Fact Checks: 878 (52.1%)
Democrat/Liberal Fact Checks: 774 (45.9%)
Neutral Fact Checks: 31
Total Ratings of True or Mostly True: 492
Republican/ Conservatives: 225 (45.5%)
Democrats/Liberals: 250 (50.5%)
Total Ratings of False, Mostly False, or Pants on Fire: 860
Republican/Conservatives: 490 (56.9%)
Democrats/Liberals: 359 (41.7%)
In total:
Republicans/Conservatives were rated True or Mostly True 25.6% of the time they were fact-checked (225 of 878)
Republicans/Conservatives were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 55.8% of the time they were fact-checked (490 of 878)
Democrats/Liberals were rated True or Mostly True 32.3% of the time they were fact-checked (250 of 774)
Democrats/Liberals were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 46.3% of the time they were fact-checked (359 of 774)
2010-2015
Total Fact Checks, 2010-2015: 979
Republicans/ Conservatives: 499 (50.9%)
Democrats/Liberals: 460 (46.9%)
Total Ratings of True or Mostly True, 2010-2015: 274
Republicans/Conservatives: 144 (52.6%)
Democrats/Liberals: 120 (43.7%)
Total Ratings of False, Mostly False, or Pants on Fire, 2010-2015: 512
Total Republican/Conservatives: 265 (51.8%)
Total Democrats/Liberals: 239 (46.7%)
From 2010-2015:
Republicans/Conservatives were rated True or Mostly True 28.8% of the time they were fact-checked (144 of 499)
Republicans/Conservatives were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 53.1% of the time they were fact-checked (265 of 499)
Democrats/Liberals were rated True or Mostly True 26% of the time they were fact-checked (120 of 460)
Democrats/Liberals were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 51.9% of the time they were fact-checked (239 of 460)
2016-2021
Total Fact Checks, 2016-2021: 707
Republicans/Conservatives: 382 (53.2%)
Democrats/Liberals: 309 (43.1%)
Total Ratings of True or Mostly True, 2016-2021: 221
Republicans/Conservatives: 84 (38%)
Democrats/Liberals: 125 (56.6%)
Total Ratings of False, Mostly False, or Pants on Fire, 2016-2021: 348
Republicans/Conservatives: 225 (64.7%)
Democrats/Liberals: 120 (34.5%)
From 2016-2021:
Republicans/Conservatives were rated True or Mostly True 21.9% of the time they were fact-checked (84 of 382)
Republicans/Conservatives were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 58.9% of the time they were fact-checked (225 of 382)
Democrats/Liberals were rated True or Mostly True 40.4% of the time they were fact-checked (125 of 309)
Democrats/Liberals were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 38.8% of the time they were fact-checked (120 of 309)
2019-2021
Total Fact Checks, 2019-2021: 316
Republicans/Conservatives: 184 (58.2%)
Democrats/Liberals: 114 (36.1%)
Total Ratings of True or Mostly True, 2019-2021: 95
Republicans/Conservatives: 34 (35.8%)
Democrats/Liberals: 56 (58.9%)
Total Ratings of False, Mostly False, or Pants on Fire, 2019-2021: 171
Republicans/Conservatives: 127 (74.2%)
Democrats/Liberals: 41 (23.9%)
From 2019-2021:
Republicans/Conservatives were rated True or Mostly True 18.4% of the time they were fact-checked (34 of 184)
Republicans/Conservatives were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 69% of the time they were fact-checked (127 of 184)
Democrats/Liberals were rated True or Mostly True 49% of the time they were fact-checked (56 of 114)
Democrats/Liberals were rated Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire 35.9% of the time they were fact-checked (41 of 114)
Ratings
True
(Total: 187, Republicans/Conservatives: 83 (44.4%), Democrats/Liberals 96 (51.3%), Neutral: 8)
2020/2021 (Total: 27)
Republicans/Conservatives: 7
Democrats/Liberals: 19
Neutral: 1
2019 (Total: 19)
Republicans/Conservatives: 8
Democrats/Liberals: 10
Neutral: 1
2018 (Total: 7)
Republicans/Conservatives: 2
Democrats/Liberals: 5
2017 (Total: 13)
Republicans/Conservatives: 6
Democrats/Liberals: 6
Neutral: 1
2016 (Total: 17)
Republicans/Conservatives: 9
Democrats/Liberals: 8
2015 (Total: 20)
Republicans/Conservatives: 8
Democrats/Liberals: 10
Neutral: 2
2014 (Total: 25)
Republicans/Conservatives: 10
Democrats/Liberals: 14
Neutral: 1
2013 (Total: 13)
Republicans/Conservatives: 9
Democrats/Liberals: 4
2012 (Total: 14)
Republicans/Conservatives: 6
Democrats/Liberals: 6
Neutral: 2
2011 (Total: 24)
Republicans/Conservatives: 14
Democrats/Liberals: 10
2010 (Total: 8)
Republicans/Conservatives: 4
Democrats/Liberals: 4
Mostly True
(Total: 308, Republicans/Conservatives: 142 (46.1%), Democrats/Liberals: 154 (50%), Neutral: 9)
2020/2021 (Total: 32)
Republicans/Conservatives: 11
Democrats/Liberals: 18
Neutral: 3
2019 (Total: 17)
Republicans/Conservatives: 8
Democrats/Liberals: 9
2018 (Total: 26)
Republicans/Conservatives: 8
Democrats/Liberals: 18
2017 (Total: 27)
Republicans/Conservatives: 11
Democrats/Liberals: 16
2016 (Total: 36)
Republicans/Conservatives: 14
Democrats/Liberals: 21
Neutral: 1
2015 (Total: 39)
Republicans/Conservatives: 17
Democrats/Liberals: 22
2014 (Total: 41)
Republicans/Conservatives: 25
Democrats/Liberals: 16
2013 (Total: 27)
Republicans/Conservatives: 13
Democrats/Liberals: 11
Neutral: 3
2012 (Total: 25)
Republicans/Conservatives: 19
Democrats/Liberals: 6
2011 (Total: 28)
Republicans/Conservatives: 12
Democrats/Liberals: 14
Neutral: 2
2010 (Total: 10)
Republicans/Conservatives: 7
Democrats/Liberals: 3
Half True
(Total: 331, Republicans/Conservatives: 163 (49.2%), Democrats/Liberals: 165 (49.8%), Neutral: 3)
2020/2021 (Total: 29)
Republicans/Conservatives: 16
Democrats/Liberals: 13
2019 (Total: 11)
Republicans/Conservatives: 7
Democrats/Liberals: 4
2018 (Total: 32)
Republicans/Conservatives: 20
Democrats/Liberals: 12
2017 (Total: 31)
Republicans/Conservatives: 14
Democrats/Liberals: 17
2016 (Total: 35)
Republicans/Conservatives: 16
Democrats/Liberals: 18
Neutral: 1
2015 (Total: 33)
Republicans/Conservatives: 17
Democrats/Liberals: 15
Neutral: 1
2014 (Total: 31)
Republicans/Conservatives: 13
Democrats/Liberals: 18
2013 (Total: 37)
Republicans/Conservatives: 16
Democrats/Liberals: 20
Neutral: 1
2012 (Total: 45)
Republicans/Conservatives: 23
Democrats/Liberals: 22
2011 (Total: 26)
Republicans/Conservatives: 12
Democrats/Liberals: 14
2010 (Total: 21)
Republicans/Conservatives: 9
Democrats/Liberals: 12
Mostly False
(Total: 325, Republicans/Conservatives: 182 (56%), Democrats/Liberals: 140 (43.1%), Neutral: 3)
2020/21 (Total: 39)
Republicans/Conservatives: 25
Democrats/Liberals: 13
Neutral: 1
2019 (Total: 18)
Republicans/Conservatives: 11
Democrats/Liberals: 7
2018 (Total: 38)
Republicans/Conservatives: 15
Democrats/Liberals: 23
2017 (Total: 29)
Republicans/Conservatives: 16
Democrats/Liberals: 13
2016 (Total: 20)
Republicans/Conservatives: 15
Democrats/Liberals: 5
2015 (Total: 27)
Republicans/Conservatives: 19
Democrats/Liberals: 8
2014 (Total: 28)
Republicans/Conservatives: 12
Democrats/Liberals: 16
2013 (Total: 22)
Republicans/Conservatives: 14
Democrats/Liberals: 8
2012 (Total: 38)
Republicans/Conservatives: 23
Democrats/Liberals: 15
2011 (Total: 42)
Republicans/Conservatives: 20
Democrats/Liberals: 20
Neutral: 2
2010 (Total: 24)
Republicans/Conservatives: 12
Democrats/Liberals: 12
False
(Total: 385, Republicans/Conservatives: 219 (56.9%), Democrats/Liberals: 159 (41.2%), Neutral: 7)
2020/2021 (Total: 53)
Republicans/Conservatives: 41
Democrats/Liberals: 11
Neutral: 1
2019 (Total: 17)
Republicans/Conservatives: 12
Democrats/Liberals: 4
Neutral: 1
2018 (Total: 15)
Republicans/Conservatives: 7
Democrats/Liberals: 8
2017 (Total: 22)
Republicans/Conservatives: 13
Democrats/Liberals: 9
2016 (Total: 32)
Republicans/Conservatives: 18
Democrats/Liberals: 14
2015 (Total: 28)
Republicans/Conservatives: 15
Democrats/Liberals: 12
Neutral: 1
2014 (Total: 46)
Republicans/Conservatives: 23
Democrats/Liberals: 22
Neutral: 1
2013 (Total: 25)
Republicans/Conservatives: 14
Democrats/Liberals: 10
Neutral: 1
2012 (Total: 55)
Republicans/Conservatives: 27
Democrats/Liberals: 26
Neutral: 2
2011 (Total: 65)
Republicans/Conservatives: 33
Democrats/Liberals: 32
2010 (Total: 27)
Republicans/Conservatives: 16
Democrats/Liberals: 11
Pants on Fire
(Total: 150, Republicans/Conservatives: 89 (59.3%), Democrats/Liberals: 60 (40%), Neutral: 1)
2020/2021 (Total: 37)
Republicans/Conservatives: 35
Democrats/Liberals: 2
2019 (Total: 7)
Republicans/Conservatives: 3
Democrats/Liberals: 4
2018 (Total: 6)
Republicans/Conservatives: 5
Democrats/Liberals: 1
2017 (Total: 6)
Republicans/Conservatives: 4
Democrats/Liberals: 2
2016 (Total: 9)
Republicans/Conservatives: 5
Democrats/Liberals: 4
2015 (Total: 7)
Republicans/Conservatives: 4
Democrats/Liberals: 3
2014 (Total: 7)
Republicans/Conservatives: 2
Democrats/Liberals: 5
2013 (Total: 10)
Republicans/Conservatives: 4
Democrats/Liberals: 6
2012 (Total: 15)
Republicans/Conservatives: 6
Democrats/Liberals: 9
2011 (Total: 31)
Republicans/Conservatives: 15
Democrats/Liberals: 15
Neutral: 1
2010 (Total: 15)
Republicans/Conservatives: 6
Democrats/Liberals: 9