PolitiFact, the political fact-checking website, has dropped former Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., as a reader advocate after facing backlash for naming him to the position.
The website, a project of the Tampa Bay Times, announced Thursday that Grayson and former Florida Rep. David Jolly, a Republican, would work with PolitiFact to respond to its fact checks.
“Big news! Former Florida U.S. Reps. @DavidJollyFL and @AlanGrayson have agreed to serve as reader advocates for PolitiFact. They’ll be critiquing our work and publishing on http://PolitiFact.com . Read why we’re doing this, and let us know what you think,” PolitiFact tweeted Thursday.
“We’ve asked @DavidJollyFL and @AlanGrayson to critique our fact-checks as part of our broader effort to improve trust and credibility in fact-checking. We hope to learn from them, and we hope all our readers learn as well,” the site said in a second tweet.
But PolitiFact faced backlash not long after the fact-checking site made its announcement due to Grayson’s history.
Grayson faced accusations of domestic violence from his ex-wife, who said the former congressman threatened to kill her. Lolita Grayson had alleged her husband abused her for over 20 years.
The former congressman denied the incidents and accused his ex-wife of making false allegations.
Grayson then threatened to have a Politico reporter arrested when the reporter attempted to ask the then-congressman about the domestic violence allegations. He also accused the reporter of assaulting him.
After Twitter users raised concerns about Grayson’s background, PolitiFact reversed its decision to have Grayson serve as a reader advocate hours after its initial announcement.
“We sought out a Democrat and Republican to critique our work in order to try to improve the trust and credibility in fact-checking and PolitiFact. It has become clear our choice of Alan Grayson did not meet that threshold to many,” Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact’s executive director, said in a statement. “I called Aaron a short while ago and informed him that we would be canceling our agreement for him to write on PolitiFact.”
We sought out a Democrat and Republican to critique our work in order to try to improve the trust and credibility in fact-checking and PolitiFact. It has become clear our choice of Alan Grayson did not meet that threshold to many. pic.twitter.com/uJuoHhiObI
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) February 1, 2018
We called Alan a short while ago and informed him that we would be canceling our agreement for him to write on PolitiFact. We remain committed to this experiment, however, and will be seeking out a Democrat to replace Alan. If you have a good suggestion, please reach out.
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) February 1, 2018
Jolly will remain in the role.
