PolitiFact gains nonprofit status with move to the Poynter Institute

The not-for-profit Poynter Institute is taking over direct ownership of PolitiFact, the political fact-checking website started by the Tampa Bay Times in 2007.

Poynter, the center for journalism education based in St. Petersburg, also owns the Tampa Bay Times.

This move will allow PolitiFact to function fully as a not-for-profit national news organization, putting it more squarely on footing with other nonprofit newsrooms like ProPublica and the Center for Public Integrity. PolitiFact's eight staffers become employees of the Poynter Institute, which is also home to the International Fact-Checking Network. PolitiFact won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2009.

PolitiFact isn't leaving the pages of the Tampa Bay Times. The fact-checking work will frequently appear in our news pages.