` `

The Washington Post Never Stopped Fact-Checking the Biden Administration

Rebecca Bowen Rebecca Bowen
Politics
3rd May 2021
The Washington Post Never Stopped Fact-Checking the Biden Administration
The Post continues to hold the president accountable (Getty Images).

The Claim

The Washington Post will no longer fact-check President Biden.

Emerging story

On April 26, Washington Post fact-checking editor and writer, Glenn Kessler tweeted, “Here’s the Biden database--which we do not plan to extend beyond 100 days.” His statement was quickly misinterpreted to imply that the Post would stop fact-checking Biden altogether.

A supporting image within the article body

Facebook user Brandon Tatum soon shared a post stating, “Washington Post ends fact checking for Biden for the remainder of his presidency.”

A supporting image within the article body

The post garnered significant attention and the news began spreading to other platforms.

A supporting image within the article body
A supporting image within the article body
A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation discovered that The Washington Post will continue fact-checking President Biden, and hold his statements accountable. In fact, two days after Kessler issued the tweet which caused the ruckus, The Washington Post fact-checked Biden’s speech to Congress. Our analysis discovered that misinformation is what fueled the false claims about the Post.

In the article linked by Kessler he offers several fact-checks of which have proven that some of Biden's statements have been falsehoods. The Post found that Biden had falsely claimed that Georgia would be shortening voting hours, that he had exaggerated by calling the laws “Jim Crow on steroids,” and that vaccinations had been given for months when they had only been available for a single month. The database is the only part that will not be continued.

Kessler later clarified in another tweet that The Washington Post has every intention of continuing to fact-check President Biden, but is closing a database where they had previously compiled their fact-checks. The database had been established during the Trump administration in response to large amounts of misinformation. The Post claims that closing the database will not impact how rigorously they hold the president accountable.

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Classification

Fake

Misbar’s Sources

Read More

Most Read