Checking the Fact-Checkers in 2008: Predicting Political Ad Scrutiny and Assessing Consistency

Which types of political ads are most likely to draw criticism from fact-checkers? Are fact-checkers consistent in their evaluations of political ads? Examining general election television ads from the 2008 U.S. presidential race, and based upon the evaluations of FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, and the Washington Post's Fact Checker, this study demonstrates it was the attack ads from candidates that were most likely to draw scrutiny from the fact-checkers. Most importantly, a high level of agreement between the fact-checkers indicates their success at selecting political claims that can be consistently evaluated. While political advertisers are increasingly using evidence to support their claims, what may be more critical in drawing evaluations from fact-checkers is the verifiability of a claim. The implications of consistent fact-checking on the public, political actors, journalism and democracy are discussed. With the revelation that fact-checking can be consistently practiced, localized efforts at fact-checking need encouragement, particularly as political TV ads increasingly drown out other potential sources of information for the public and increasingly are used in downballot races, local initiatives, referendums and judicial races.     

State environmental regulators: perspectives about trust with their regulatory counterparts

Although numerous studies explore the regulatory enforcement styles of regulators and the regulated community's compliance motivations, existing research does not provide adequate insight into regulatory interactions themselves. We use data from a nationwide survey of more than 1200 state environmental regulators to empirically assess the role of trust in regulatory interactions. We find statistical support of trust in these regulatory interactions and find that trust appears to be a function of cooperative behavior, information sharing, respect, perceptions of motivations, and proactive assistance seeking. These findings could support the increasing calls for a fundamental restructuring of environmental regulation in favor of a next‐generation approach to environmental policy that calls for more collaborative working relationships between regulators and their regulatory counterparts. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating political party positioning over time: a proposed methodology

In this article, we propose a methodology in order to measure political positioning and constituent perception. Political leaders should be able to effectively define the distinctive characteristics of their political brand and to subsequently utilize the most appropriate mechanisms of communication to promote an accurate perception of political image in the market. The specific aim of this research is to explore interrelations between a political party's positioning in two different periods in order to discover possible discrepancies and changes over time. The official blog of a political party, containing both official communication and the people's feedback, represents a perfect place in which to observe the concepts and the values on which both the political brand identity and image are founded. Leximancer, a content analysis tool, was utilized to analyze communications between a political party leader and his or her constituents. Illustrating the methodology, the blog of Beppe Grillo, founder of the Movimento 5 Stelle is analyzed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

L'affaire Groupaction: un cas de politisation de la Fonction publique fédérale?

Sommaire: l affaire Groupaction met en relief deux formes de politisation de la Fonction publique fédérale: l'une partisane, l'autre structurelle. La politisation de type partisan et I'intégration de personnel politique au sein de la Fonction publique via l'article 39 de laLoi sur la Fonction publique sont devenues des phénoménes plus répandus au cours des demiéres années. La notion de politisation structurelle sou‐ligne comment la Fonction publique canadienne n'est pas politiquement neutre face à ceux et celles qui veulent dé‐faire l'ordre fédéral. Même si elle ne constitue pas une excuse justifiant le type de comportement observé dans l'affaire Groupaction, la politisation structurelle founit le contexte pour comprendre pourquoi certains fonc‐tionnaires ont pené qu'il pouvait être légitime de contourner les régles pour préServer I'unité nationale. Abstract: The Groupadion affair draws attention to two forms of politicization in the federal public service, one partisan and the other structural. Partisan politicization and the integration of political staff within the public service through Sedion 39 ofThe Public Service Employment Act have become more common in recent years. The concept of structural politicization underlines how the Canadian public service is not politically neutral in the face of those wishing to undo the federal order. While it does not constitute an excuse that could justify the type of behaviour observed in the Groupaction affair, structural politicization provides a context for understanding why some public servants thought it could be legitimate to circumvent the rules in order to preserve national unity. L'auteur remercie son assistant de recherche, Michael Dumoulin, pour son efficacité et son esprit de détective.Il remercie également Leslie A. Pal, Herman Bakvis et André J. Béanger pour leurs commentaires sur la premiére version de ce texte présenté au congrés annuel de I'Association canadienne de science politique à Halifax en mai 2003. Il remercie enfin Madame Jocelyne Bourgon et les évaluateurs anonymes de la Revue. L'auteur se dit seul responsable de I'interprétation donnée aux événements entourant cette affaire, qui faisait toujours I'objet d'enquêtes policiéres au moment de la révision finale de cet article. … les hauts fonctionnaires chargéS de la gestion des contrats ont manifesté un mépris flagrant à I'égard de la Loi…ils ont contourné b peu prés toutes les règles. Sheila Fraser, Vérificatrice généraie du Canada