Tweaking the PolitiFact machine

Major changes afoot?  PolitiFact asks:

 Should Barely True be changed to Mostly False?

Excuse me while I laugh.

PolitiFact suffers from longstanding problems with selection bias, uneven application of standards and even lapses in basic reporting skills.  And editor Bill Adair is focused on changing "Barely True" to "Mostly False"?

Adair's story explaining PolitiFact's consideration of the change provides yet more evidence of the organization's difficulty in following its own standards.  PolitiFact Ohio graded a statement by a conservative group "Barely True."  The group reacted with a story proclaiming that PolitiFact had rated its claim true.  So PolitiFact rated that claim "Pants on Fire."

But according to PolitiFact's rating system--if we pretend for a moment that it's supposed to be an objective system and not a facade for subjective declarations--there was an element of truth to the conservative group's original claim, so it follows that an element of truth existed in the second claim as well.

After hearing so many complaints about Barely True over the years, that episode was a key moment in our thinking about Barely True. We think it might be time for a change.

My take:  PolitiFact keeps receiving messages from its predominantly liberal readership expressing various forms of outrage over "Barely True" claims, including various repetitions of the claim that "Barely True" means "Mostly False."  So PolitiFact mulls the change as a sop to its liberal audience.

It's ridiculous.  PolitiFact could call the category "Penfold" and it shouldn't matter.  The key to the proper understanding of the ratings emerges from the definitions, not from the terms themselves.  And PolitiFact can't keep the definitions straight to begin with, so this proposed cosmetic change amounts to a farce.

If you want to make PolitiFact better, Mr. Adair, then start with an objectively justifiable rating system and follow that up with consistent application of the system.

If, on the other hand, you want to play to your predominantly liberal audience then changing "Barely True" to "Mostly False" stands as a fine idea.  Go for it.