PolitiFact announces Fact-Check-A-Thon calling out misleading TV ads in 2016 primaries
March 8, 2016
This week, our partners at PolitiFact are hosting a “Fact-Check-A-Thon” of political TV ads collected on the Political TV Ad Archive:
“Our first TV Ad Fact-Check-A-Thon kicks off this week and features as many fact-checks of TV commercials from candidates and super PACs as we can finish.
To do it, we’re teaming up with PolitiFact partners in states like Florida, Texas, Colorado, Ohio and Nevada as well as the Political TV Ad Archive, a new project of the Internet Archive that records political commercials and documents how often and where they air in eight states.
Check back throughout the week, because we’ll be adding more fact-checks here as they are posted.”
Here are the first three ad fact checks from the Fact-Check-A-Thon:
This ad from the pro-Marco Rubio super PAC Conservative Solutions claims that Donald Trump “bans disabled veterans from his high rise.” Factcheck.org, also a partner of the Political TV Ad Archive, reported this claim “may leave a misleading impression.” Trump has not outright banned veterans, but rather, he has lobbied local politicians to ban street vendors, including those with special disabled veteran’s licenses, from operating on the street where Trump Tower is located. The super PAC changed the wording in the ad after FactCheck.org published its story and PolitiFact reporters started asking questions. The audio now says: “bans veterans from in front of his high rise.”
Sponsored by Right to Rise, the super PAC that supported Jeb Bush, this ad, which aired widely in South Carolina leading up to the primary there, claims that Rubio has “one of the worst attendance records in the Senate.” It also compares his attendance record to that of then-Senator Barack Obama, finding them similar. PolitiFact rates this claim as “True.”
An ad sponsored by a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz charges, “Marco Rubio skipped 18 defense votes, including one to arm the Kurds to fight ISIS.” “Half True,” rules PolitiFact: “[T]his ad this ad doesn’t tell viewers that all of Rubio’s skipped votes pertain to one bill. Also, Rubio voted for the overall bill, and Cruz voted against it.”
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