This article is part of The Poynter 50 , a series reflecting on 50 moments and people that shaped journalism over the past half-century — and continue to influence its future. As Poynter celebrates its 50th anniversary, we examine how the media landscape has evolved and what it means for the next era of news.

PolitiFact started out of discontent with our own field of political journalism. We thought journalists parroted far too many talking points and messages they knew were not true, primarily out of deference to authority.

It was a time after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when there was more deference to the government and official statements, but the problem went back decades, to the bare-knuckled political campaigns and misleading TV commercials of the 1980s. There was too much horse race coverage in political journalism and not enough accountability.

When PolitiFact started fact-checking in 2007, we wanted to show how journalists could gather and present evidence to definitively refute falsehoods.…