PolitiFact, Providence Journal launch PolitiFact Rhode Island
PolitiFact® Moves North to Rhode Island
The Truth-O-Meter™ is heading north to Rhode Island, just in time for the 2010 elections. Expanding its national network of affiliate sites, PolitiFact.com, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking Web site of the St. Petersburg Times, has launched PolitiFact Rhode Island in a partnership with The Providence Journal. The site can be accessed at www.politifact.com/rhode-island/
"We know that the Truth-O-Meter works as well in state and local politics as it does at the national level,” said PolitiFact Editor Bill Adair. "There are some spirited campaigns in Rhode Island this year, so we know the meter will be busy."
PolitiFact® Rhode Island has the same journalistic approach and reader-friendly design as PolitiFact. It is integrated with the national site and uses PolitiFact’s distinctive Truth-O-Meter to rate the accuracy of statements by public officials in the state.
Veteran Providence Journal editor Timothy S. Murphy is heading the PolitiFact Rhode Island team, which includes staff writers C. Eugene Emery Jr. and Cynthia Needham.
"Our expansion in Rhode Island continues the St. Petersburg Times’ commitment to PolitiFact as a promising new form of journalism that harnesses the power of the Web," said Neil Brown, the Times' editor. The Times is offering affiliate opportunities to news organizations in other states.
The Rhode Island partnership is the fourth in a national network of affiliate sites. PolitiFact Georgia also launched this month in a partnership with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. PolitiFact Texas, a partnership with the Austin American-Statesman, and PolitiFact Florida, an expansion of the Times partnership with The Miami Herald, began earlier this year.