R0050/2026-03-31-02/Q001/SRC02

Research	R0050 — Journalism Disciplines
Run	2026-03-31-02
Query	Q001
Search	S01
Result	S01-R02
Source	SRC02

PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter methodology — six-point rating scale and editorial process

Source

Field	Value
Title	The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter: PolitiFact's methodology for independent fact-checking
Publisher	PolitiFact
Author(s)	PolitiFact staff
Date	2018-02-12
URL	https://www.politifact.com/article/2018/feb/12/principles-truth-o-meter-politifacts-methodology-i/
Type	Methodology document

Summary

Dimension	Rating
Reliability	High
Relevance	High
Bias: Missing data	Low risk
Bias: Measurement	Some concerns
Bias: Selective reporting	Low risk
Bias: Randomization	N/A — not an RCT
Bias: Protocol deviation	N/A — not an RCT
Bias: COI/Funding	Low risk

Rationale

Dimension	Rationale
Reliability	Primary source from the organization itself, publicly documented methodology
Relevance	Directly describes the most widely recognized structured claim-rating system in journalism
Bias flags	Measurement concern: the Truth-O-Meter is inherently subjective despite structured process — three editors vote, which introduces judgment variation

Evidence Extracts

Evidence ID	Summary
SRC02-E01	Six-point Truth-O-Meter scale rates claim truthfulness, not evidence quality