======BULL Hotline Guide======
This is a guide to questions that could come up on Hotline, Candidate Line, or any outward-facing emails (research@, comments@, etc.) about BULL. If the conversation progresses beyond these, and you’re not sure how to answer, transfer to the Officials Research Director or a Public Statements researcher. **Do not make promises to the caller about removing a fact-check from the site.**

>>==BULL Hotline Guide - Table of Contents==
=={{anchor target="whatisBULL" text="What is BULL?"}}==
=={{anchor target="whatisBULLnot" text="What is BULL not?"}}==
=={{anchor target="whatdoesBULLmean" text="What does BULL mean?"}}==
=={{anchor target="factcheckingpartners" text="Who are our fact-checking partners?"}}==
=={{anchor target="BULLcollectioncriteria" text="What are the criteria for Vote Smart’s BULL collection?"}}==
=={{anchor target="whyfalsestatements" text="Why only false statements?"}}==
=={{anchor target="rulingdisagreements" text="Questions or disagreements on rulings"}}==
=={{anchor target="scopeoflie" text="Questions on the scope of the fact-checks"}}==
=={{anchor target="partisanaccusations" text="Partisan accusations"}}==
=={{anchor target="missingstatements" text="Questions on statements we didn't take"}}==>>

{{anchor name="whatisBULL"}}==What is “BULL”?==
- A new [[FactcheckingData fact-checking]] tool that allows users to see when and how many times a politician has lied according to reputable fact-checking partners. Users can read the statements found to be inaccurate by PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and the Washington Post Fact Checker and can click a link to the fact-checker’s article questioning the statement.

{{anchor name="whatisBULLnot"}}==What is “BULL” not?==
- BULL is **not** a collection of every fact-checked article on a politician in our database, but rather a project focusing on exposing lies and misleading statements from politicians. Articles finding statements to be true, mostly true, or half-true have not been included-- we’re focusing on statements that have been found to be false or mostly false.
- Vote Smart researchers are **not** fact-checking **every statement** by **every politician**, but rather collecting fact-checked articles from our partners (see below). Any determinations on the accuracy of a statement have been provided by those partners.

{{anchor name="whatdoesBULLmean"}}==What does “BULL” mean?==
- It means what you think it means! It’s bullcrap-- statements from candidates lying to or misleading Americans.

{{anchor name="factcheckingpartners"}}==Who are our fact-checking partners?==
- Washington Post Fact Checker (factchecker@washpost.com)
- Politifact.org (truthometer@politifact.com)
- FactCheck.org (Editor@FactCheck.org)
- We do have permission from all three sources to link to their articles from our site.

{{anchor name="BULLcollectioncriteria"}}==What are the criteria for Vote Smart’s BULL collection?==
- A fact-check article from one of our partners (see above) that corresponds to data in the Vote Smart database. See more on the fact-check collection criteria on the [[FactcheckingData Factchecking]] wiki, and see the Public Statements regular collection criteria at [[SpeechesDataStandards Speeches and Public Statements Data Standards]].
- We collect statements from:
- The president
- The vice president
- Congress
- Governors
- Candidates running for these positions
- At least one fact-check partner has found the statement to be false or mostly false

{{anchor name="whyfalsestatements"}}==Why only false statements?==
- BULL indicates when a politician has lied to or misled voters, so we’re focusing on statements found to be false or mostly false.

{{anchor name="rulingdisagreements"}}==If someone disagrees with the ruling on the fact-check:==
- Explain that we’re not fact-checking in house, but rather providing a link to our partner’s fact-check of the statement
- Direct the user to the fact checker’s article for more context
- You can also direct them to contact the fact checkers at:
- PolitiFact: truthometer@politifact.com
- FactCheck.org: Editor@FactCheck.org
- Washington Post Fact Checker: factchecker@washpost.com
- Please note that we will not remove a link to a fact-check article from our partners-- don’t make promises here about removing anything from the site!

{{anchor name="scopeoflie"}}==If someone is confused about the scope of the “lie” (one part of the statement versus the entirety of the statement):==
- Skim the fact-check article (put the caller on hold if necessary)
- Direct the user to the fact-checker’s article for more context and identify the part of the statement identified as false, if applicable

{{anchor name="partisanaccusations"}}==Partisan accusations:==
-Related to specific BULL entries:
- Direct to the fact-check article on our partner’s website
- Explain collection criteria (see above)
-Related to partnering publications:
- Partners selected based on their nonpartisanship and quality of reporting
- In-depth investigations, covering politicians from all parties and political beliefs
- If the caller suggests an additional fact-checker, pass along to the Officials Research Director or a Public Statements researcher, but again, do not make promises about adding new fact-check sources

{{anchor name="missingstatements"}}==If someone asks about statements we didn’t take (ex. a tweet from someone in Congress but not a congressional leader):==
- Current resources in Public Statements allow us to collect:
- Official statements from .gov sites
- TV transcripts from select shows
- Tweets from the president, vice president, presidential candidates, and congressional leaders
- If you believe that we’re missing a fact check that fits our criteria, or if you or a user believe that we should step outside of our regular collection to take a fact check on a statement we wouldn’t regularly collect (a tweet from someone outside of congressional leadership, for example), let a Public Statements researcher and/or the Director of Officials Research know.