Fact-checking the fact-checkers

[snopes]

Of course, the reason Snopes.com is more often accused of bias by conservatives than by liberals is that facts have a notoriously liberal bias.

The FactCheck fact checkers found plenty of evidence that the Mikkelsons are serious if not obsessive researchers, not exactly a revelation to fans of the site, such as yours truly. As for hiding their identities, the first of countless press mentions of Snopes dates back to a 1995 article in the Los Angeles Times that named David Mikkelson.

Bottom line: You can go on trusting Snopes.com as much as you'd trust any other source of information on the Internet (and, no, that's not meant to be back-handed).

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...icleId=9131711

[Steve Eisenberg]

Of course, the reason Snopes.com is more often accused of bias by conservatives than by liberals is that facts have a notoriously liberal bias.

On the snopes message board, most of the charges of media bias I recall come from Ramblin' Dave, who charged mainstream media with a conservative or pro-Republican bias. Is this evidence that facts have a conservative bias? I don't think so.

There are many possibilities other than that facts have a liberal bias.

It hasn't even been established that the people who make claims of liberal bias actually have read much on the snopes site. More likely, they are captives of a false UL about a UL-focused web site.

[effo5231]

Originally Posted by Steve Eisenberg

On the snopes message board, most of the charges of media bias I recall come from Ramblin' Dave, who charged mainstream media with a conservative or pro-Republican bias. Is this evidence that facts have a conservative bias? I don't think so.

There are many possibilities other than that facts have a liberal bias.

It hasn't even been established that the people who make claims of liberal bias actually have read much on the snopes site. More likely, they are captives of a false UL about a UL-focused web site.

Originally Posted by Stephen Colbert

Reality has a well known liberal bias!

and some extra letters

[snopes]

Of course, the reason Snopes.com is more often accused of bias by conservatives than by liberals is that facts have a notoriously liberal bias.

I didn't actually say that we were "more often accused of bias by conservatives than by liberals." What I told the FactCheck writer was that because the overwhelming preponderance of political e-mails are anti-liberal/anti-democratic, people often mistakenly assume that's all we choose to write about.