Everyone can easily see that the so-called "independent fact-checkers" work hand in glove with the so-called "mainstream media" in targeting Republicans as the people no one should trust in positions of power. Both groups preposterously claim that they are "fact-based" outlets that hold all sides accountable.
On New Year's Eve, PolitiFact Executive Editor Katie Sanders appeared on the PBS News Hour. The PBS-PolitiFact partnership underlines our point about their mutual goals. When PBS interviewer Lisa Desjardins asked Sanders about allegations of bias, she denied that was a fact.
But a NewsBusters analysis of all the "Truth-O-Meter" ratings of elected or appointed officials in 2025 showed a dramatic tilt, as we've reported all year. From January 1 through December 31, Republicans were deemed "Mostly False" or worse in 124 of 146 fact checks (84.9 percent). The Democrats were tagged as "Mostly False" or worse in just 17 of 49 checks (34.6 percent).
So if you compare the numbers of "False" warnings, the party breakdown is 124 to 17, or 7.3 to 1. The number of checks are roughly 3 to 1.
But notice who PBS cites as the source of bias allegations: not the public, not conservatives in general, but Trump himself, because they believe Trump is the least credible critic of media bias, since he is their Public Enemy No. 1:
LISA DESJARDINS: Now, you are aware that there is a conversation coming from President Trump about whether there is media bias against him. He says that there is.
And most of your claims here that you have looked at or that you say are lies or falsehoods are from the Trump administration and others in power. How do you gut-check yourself to make sure that you're not biased or you're not being fed a narrative that you're following?
KATIE SANDERS: We check ourselves a few ways. We check both sides of the political debate. There were examples of Democratic officials, Hakeem Jeffries, Governor J.B. Pritzker in Illinois, who were on our readers choice ballot for saying some things that were clearly false. So we call it both ways.
They did put claims from the left on their list -- four of the 12 selections -- and all four came on the bottom of the readers' poll. The readers are overwhelmingly liberal: they chose Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu denying there's starvation in Gaza as the number-one lie, followed by seven checks on Republicans.
Sanders also tried to claim they show restraint in checking Trump (since their liberal readers inundate them with pitches):
SANDERS: And I would just say, as the editor of PolitiFact, we receive a number of pitches from what the Trump administration is saying on a daily basis. And we're very selective in what we choose to pursue. We can't get to everything.
But Trump drew 63 fact checks in 2025, and 58 of them were "Mostly False" or worse (92 percent). The other five were "Half True" ratings, meaning he was rated "True" or "Mostly True" on exactly zero occasions.
Even vice presidents prove the tilt. Vice President J.D. Vance was pinned as "Mostly False" or worse 89 percent of the time (eight out of nine), while Vice President Kamala Harris in her first year was only 50/50 (two of four).
Sanders will admit between the lines that there's an imbalance here in volume, but believes it's fully justified:
SANDERS: And so I think there is a serious volume difference coming from the White House and other places, but we have been covering President Trump as a candidate or an official for a decade. And so that's not very different from our experience.
This is why they decided to call 2025 the "Year of the Lies" instead of offering their traditional selection of "Lie of the Year." They're mourning Trump's return to power with that complaint.
