Washington, D.C. (Aug. 20, 2024) — The newsrooms of PolitiFact and Capital B will collaborate this election season on fact-checks and analyses of issues that are important to Black Americans. The partnership will focus on providing accurate information about the topics driving social conversations in Black communities, ensuring that Black voters have the knowledge they need to navigate the political landscape and make informed decisions.
This collaboration combines the PolitiFact newsroom’s prowess for fact-checking politicians and countering online mis- and disinformation with Capital B’s dynamic storytelling on issues affecting Black communities.
Through this partnership, PolitiFact will share content and resources with Capital B, including fact-checks rated on PolitiFact’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Truth-O-Meter, which rates the accuracy of statements made by elected officials and influencers of political dialogue. PolitiFact’s fact-checking reporting and research will appear across Capital B’s digital platforms, including social media accounts. Capital B will collaborate on coverage and serve as a thought partner on election issues — the economy, criminal justice, health — that are on top of Black voters’ minds. The news organizations will also explore opportunities to co-produce content.
“We’re excited to share our election coverage with Capital B’s engaged audience through rated fact-checks, in-depth explainers and social media video,” said Katie Sanders, editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, which is owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute. “This partnership will help us find new ideas, deepen our reporting on race and equity, and serve a new audience in a critical year.”
“We’re quickly approaching a presidential election that will decide the trajectory of the country, and we’re continuing to see Black communities regularly targeted and fed political disinformation,” said Akoto Ofori-Atta, co-founder and chief audience officer of Capital B. “Combating this disinformation is one of Capital B’s key missions. This partnership with PolitiFact helps us separate facts from fiction, and gives our audience the information they need to navigate their choices this election and understand what’s at stake for our communities.”
About Capital B
Capital B is a local-national nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices, audience needs and experiences, and partners with the communities they serve. Its national team produces in-depth journalism on topics of crucial importance to Black people across the country, such as, politics, health, criminal justice, the environment, and rural issues.
About PolitiFact
PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning website, started in 2007 as an election-year project of the Tampa Bay Times (then the St. Petersburg Times). Since 2018, PolitiFact has been part of the Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism that is also home to the International Fact-Checking Network, the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership and the MediaWise digital media literacy project. Learn more at politifact.com.
About the Poynter Institute:
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is the gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all members of the Poynter organization. Support for Poynter and our entities upholds the integrity of the free press and the U.S. First Amendment and builds public confidence in journalism and media — an essential for healthy democracies. Learn more at poynter.org.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Orsi
Vice President, Publishing and Local News Initiatives
jorsi@poynter.org
