Progressive Fact Check Sites Represented As 'Trusted' On Michigan Government Website
Secretary of State calls controversial features 'trusted, verified nonpartisan information'
The Michigan Secretary of State is representing progressive fact-checking sites as “trusted” sources on its government website.
Under a heading of “Finding The Truth: Trusted Information,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's department has posted the fact-checking sites Snopes.com, FactCheck.org and Politifact, characterizing them as “trusted, verified nonpartisan information.”
Two of the three sites have center-left leanings and are funded by progressive sources.
FactCheck.org receives the majority of its funding from the Annenberg Foundation and Facebook.
Facebook has recently been in the news as a big funder of attempts by far left and progressive causes to influence elections.
The Annenberg Foundation is “known to fund many left-of-center political groups and causes,” according to InfluenceWatch.org, a website created to report the funding and influences of foundations and progressive organizations that claim to be watchdogs and fact-checkers.
The Annenberg Foundation has given grants to, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union, EarthJustice, the Equal Justice Initiative, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, various Planned Parenthood organizations and the Sierra Club.
Politifact was started by the Tampa Bay Times, a liberal newspaper that has endorsed a Democratic for president for the last 11 elections going back to at least 1980. The Poynter Institute purchased Politifact in 2018. The Poynter Institute accepted a $5 million grant from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark's foundation. The Craig Newmark Foundation that was described by InfluenceWatch.org as supporting "left-of-center journalism ... and suppress right-of-center narratives in the news. ... Newmark's philanthropic work focuses on ... advancing left-of-center narratives in journalism ..."
Snopes made news in 2019 when it started labeling humor posts by the Christian satire site Babylon Bee as "fake news." Kyle Mann, the top editor for the Babylon Bee, said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed the only time Snopes fact-checked his site was when they poked fun of liberals.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.