News

Politifact launches in Australia

Peter_FrayPeter Fray, the former publisher and editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald, has today launched his new political fact checking website PolitiFact Australia and says he is close to announcing a media partner for the site.

Politifact Australia is based on the format of its US counterpart, created by the Tampa Bay Times, and seeks to test political statements categorising them along a ‘truthometer’, with different ratings from true to half true to “pants on fire” for completely untrue statements.

“I’m absolutely stoked – it hasn’t been the longest lead up to a launch but as anyone who has been involved with a website launch will know, there are always those dark nights of the soul and its really a testament to the whole team.” said Fray, who is the editor-in-chief of Politifact Australia.

politicifacts“We’ve only got four statements on the site,” he said. “However, we will update the site later this morning and then we are looking forward to Budget week.”

Fray said he was very pleased with the initial reaction for the project, which he has funded himself, and told Mumbrella that he would shortly be announcing a media partner for the website.

“It’s a fantastic time to be launching and the tone from Facebook and Twitter has been very supportive,” said Fray.

“I have been putting a lot of my time and money into it but we are close to announcing a media partner and we are close to finalising that. We also have a capacity for donations and obviously advertising and sponsorships.”

The former editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald said he could not comment on who the media partner was however he indicated that an announcement would be made shortly.

“Ultimately the funding will come from multiple sources,” he said.

Fray left Fairfax Media last June as part of the company’s sweeping cost cuts.

Nic Christensen

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