The distribution of coronavirus vaccines begins a hopeful new phase of the pandemic, but most Americans will have to wait. The first doses are going to health care workers and at-risk populations. It may take until the spring or summer months, at the earliest, for the general population to receive their shots. Some parts of […]
There hasn’t been a shortage of falsehoods and misinformation this year, yet for PolitiFact readers, the Lie of the Year distinction goes to the false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that President Donald Trump won reelection. Typically, PolitiFact asks readers to cast their vote for Lie of the Year before we announce […]
PolitiFact awards the Lie of the Year to the most significant falsehood or exaggeration that worked to undermine an accurate narrative. The 2020 designation goes to downplay and denial about the coronavirus. Here’s a look back at the past 11 years of “winners.” 2019: Donald Trump’s claim that whistleblower got Ukraine call ‘almost completely wrong’ […]
PolitiFact has selected lies about the coronavirus as our Lie of the Year — the most significant falsehood of 2020, as chosen by our editors and reporters. We made our case in a special report, and now we’re asking readers to weigh in. Question: What do you think should be the Lie of the Year for […]
A Florida taxi driver and his wife had seen enough conspiracy theories online to believe the virus was overblown, maybe even a hoax. So no masks for them. Then they got sick. She died. A college lecturer had trouble refilling her lupus drug after the president promoted it as a treatment for the new disease. […]
President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden is back in the news. Hunter Biden put out a statement Dec. 9, saying that the U.S. attorney in Delaware is investigating his taxes. “I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately,” Biden said. Before […]
President-elect Joe Biden called for unity and healing while assailing President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempts to overturn the results of the election in a Dec. 14 speech. Biden delivered the address from Wilmington, Del., on the day electors from across the country cast their votes to seal Biden’s victory. It was a harsh rebuke of […]
Health care workers across the country on Dec. 14 became the first Americans to get the vaccine following trials, kicking off the country’s most ambitious effort ever to vaccinate hundreds of millions of Americans. In every state in the nation, journalists were watching the process and asking questions. The Poynter Institute and the American Medical […]
As members of the Electoral College certified Joe Biden’s win over President Donald Trump, a popular social media post claimed that election results from 2008 show that Biden’s 2020 victory is simply not plausible. The Dec. 10 Facebook post makes the case this way: “Biden won more votes in 2020 than Obama did in 2008? […]
President-elect Joe Biden has steadily added to his list of prospective Cabinet nominees. What reception can they look forward to in the Senate? In all likelihood, a rough one. “It’s going to be hard, hard, hard,” said Paul C. Light, a professor at New York University’s Robert Wagner School of Public Service. “Republicans will go […]
Social media has seen an uptick in anti-vaccination claims as the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine moves closer to emergency use in the U.S. Some Facebook users amplified a single data point in an FDA briefing document on the vaccine: Four of the vaccinated trial participants in a clinical study developed Bell’s Palsy, a form of temporary […]
With COVID-19 cases rising, and parts of California shutting down again, some economists say the COVID-19 recession is going to get worse. In a Nov. 29 Facebook post, Cori Bush made her own claim about the economy. Bush, a Democrat, was elected on Nov. 3 to serve Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. “Decades of incremental change […]