How Plumb Line checks claims
Plumb Line is the fact-check section of The Whole Read. We check specific claims against evidence and show our work.
What we check
- Specific, checkable claims: numbers, dates, events, quotes, laws and records.
- Not opinions, values or predictions. "We should do X" isn't a fact we can check.
- Claims that matter. We pick claims that drive a story, are widely shared, or that left- and right-leaning coverage disagree on. We pick claims from both sides of a story in balance and keep a record of why each claim was chosen.
- The claim, not the person. A rating describes one statement. We don't score individual people.
How we check
- Capture the claim exactly. We quote it word for word and link where it was said, with the date and speaker.
- Read it fairly. If a claim can reasonably mean more than one thing, we say so and test each reading.
- Go to the primary record. Official data, court and legislative records, laws, transcripts, original video and agency releases come first. Where we can, we recalculate numbers ourselves from the original data and explain how.
- Use independent sources. When there's no primary record, a rating rests on at least two independent sources. Other fact-checkers' work can confirm ours, but it is never the only basis for a rating.
- Link everything. Every rating links its sources and the date we checked them. If we can't link the evidence, we don't rate the claim.
Ratings
| Rating | What it means |
|---|---|
| Accurate | Correct and complete. |
| Mostly accurate | Correct, with minor errors or missing detail that doesn't change the meaning. |
| Missing context | Technically true, but leaves out facts that change the impression. |
| Misleading | Contains some truth, but is framed to give a false impression. |
| False | Contradicted by the evidence. |
| Unproven | Not enough evidence yet to rate it either way. We revisit it as evidence emerges. |
Confidence
Every rating also shows our confidence and a written explanation:
- High: the primary record directly settles the claim.
- Medium: the evidence is strong but indirect, or parts of it are qualitative.
- Low: the evidence points one way but is thin; we say what would change the rating.
The side meter
On a story where we rate claims from left- and right-leaning coverage, a meter shows how the claims we rated from each side break down by rating, with the number of claims. It appears only once each side has at least 3 rated claims, not counting Unproven. Until then we show the individual ratings only. The meter covers only the claims rated on that story. It is not a score of any person, outlet or party, and it isn't one truth score for a side.
Who decides
Plumb Line ratings are researched and assigned by our AI-assisted newsroom under this published method. Monsaur Othman, our publisher, is responsible for every rating and for corrections. Read how we use AI.
Fairness
- We check claims from across the political spectrum with the same standard and keep a record of what we checked.
- Plumb Line is independent editorial work by The Whole Read. It is not affiliated with any AI company or social media platform.
Corrections and appeals
Send us the claim, the rating and your evidence through our contact page, or see how to appeal a rating. Every appeal is reviewed. If new evidence changes a rating, we update the check and show the old rating, the new one, why and the date. Every change is logged on our corrections page.
Per-site note
Plumb Line runs only on The Whole Read. Home Health Brief and The Highline Report don't publish ratings; they follow the shared corrections policy.