LISA DESJARDINS: On this New Year's Eve, we're looking back at this unprecedented political year that saw a flood of claims and misinformation.

For the past 15 years, the fact-checkers at the nonprofit PolitiFact have sorted through hundreds of statements by politicians to name the number one lie of the year.

But, this year, the editors have done something a little different, instead dubbing 2025 the year of the lies.

I recently explored this decision with PolitiFact editor in chief Katie Sanders.

And a warning: This conversation contains images of starvation that some viewers may find disturbing.

Katie, let's start with that change.

Why is this the year of the lies?

KATIE SANDERS, Editor in Chief, PolitiFact: Well, we have been doing this for a long time.

And the volume and severity of the inaccurate claims was just overwhelming.

And we felt that it was insufficient to name just one our lie the year.

So we wanted to catch people's attention and take stock of the times we're in.

And so we thought renaming it and giving it a different purpose might do that.

LISA DESJARDINS: As you're implying, there were almost too many lies for you to talk about just one.

Many of them revolved around President Trump and his administration, everything from words about tariffs to the Venezuelan boat strikes.

But we're going to try and focus on a couple here, starting with health misinformation.

President Trump and his health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

talked about vaccine safety at some points.

They also had a news conference in September in which they said that pregnant women should not use Tylenol.

To this day, the White House Web site says it's a -- quote -- "fact" that Tylenol is linked to autism.

What are the facts?

KATIE SANDERS: It's not.

This is another example of the administration running with associations and unproven research that has not been corroborated elsewhere.

And we have spoken to numerous health groups and medical professionals and experts since that September news conference who have stuck to what the research conclusions are, which is that this is one of the few over-the-counter medications that are available to pregnant women to manage pain during pregnancy.

This one really stuck out in a year of countless statements about health and health policy that were not rooted in fact and created a lot of confusion, frustration among providers and patients on the ground.

LISA DESJARDINS: On to immigration.

This has been a big part of this Trump administration.

Deportations.

The Trump administration has said that they are focused on the worst of the worst.

Does that claim hold up?

KATIE SANDERS: I think that, when you look at the data, it is pretty clear that that impression is not reflected.

They are arresting violent criminals, but the majority of people who are being detained and then deported are people who are in the country illegally, but did not commit criminal activities.

I think almost 73 percent of people who have been detained did not have criminal convictions.

So it's clear that the Trump campaign and the Trump administration has been framing it one way, but, when you look at the statistics and you read countless anecdotes and videos of people who are being affected by this policy, it's clear that this is not true.

Most people who are being affected are not what they had described as violent criminals shorthanded as the worst of the worst.

LISA DESJARDINS: You also allowed readers to vote for what they saw as the number one lie of the year, and they chose some words by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from July, in which he said at that time that there was no starvation in Gaza.

What's the context for that?

KATIE SANDERS: The context was, over the summer, there were a lot of visuals coming out of Gaza showing people who were emaciated.

And this wasn't just visual evidence, but there were human rights organizations and other influential groups that were documenting starvation in that part of the world as a result of the Israeli actions.

And so that got a Pants on Fire rating from us, because it was not only wrong.

It was ridiculous.

It was contrary to all available evidence.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, you are aware that there is a conversation coming from President Trump about whether there is media bias against him.

He says that there is.

And most of your claims here that you have looked at or that you say are lies or falsehoods are from the Trump administration and others in power.

How do you gut-check yourself to make sure that you're not biased or you're not being fed a narrative that you're following?

KATIE SANDERS: We check ourselves a few ways.

We check both sides of the political debate.

There were examples of Democratic officials, Hakeem Jeffries, Governor J.B.

Pritzker in Illinois, who were on our readers choice ballot for saying some things that were clearly false.

So we call it both ways.

And I would just say, as the editor of PolitiFact, we receive a number of pitches from what the Trump administration is saying on a daily basis.

And we're very selective in what we choose to pursue.

We can't get to everything.

And so I think there is a serious volume difference coming from the White House and other places, but we have been covering President Trump as a candidate or an official for a decade.

And so that's not very different from our experience.

LISA DESJARDINS: Thinking about this idea of the year of the lie, what are the stakes about facts in this country right now?

KATIE SANDERS: The stakes are high for facts and the erosion of information integrity.

And one of the points I made in my opening column was that, yes, we're spotlighting several statements from the Trump administration, but the lows of the year for political rhetoric and influential speech are not the White House's alone.

And we're contending with a really fraught online information environment, where A.I.

slop is abundant, misleading, out-of-context narratives abound, and you just can't believe what you see.

And we worry that people are too numb to the drumbeat of misinformation.

They have tuned it out.

And that is very dangerous, frankly, for us to be in.

And so I hope that our year of the lies catches people's attention and reminds them why it's important to improve media literacy and pause before taking everything at face value.

LISA DESJARDINS: And this is why we're so happy that you're talking to us and why we will clearly pay attention to your work next year as well.

Katie Sanders of PolitiFact, thank you so much.

KATIE SANDERS: Thank you.