The White House website has a page titled “Fact Sheets,” with article after article of compiled information and statements that read more like an opinion section of a paper, one with far less professional standards. The White House has been releasing these pieces on its website since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s term. These quasi-press-release-style articles cover the major events of the week, Trump’s messaging and outlook on certain topics and executive orders signed.

These articles are published almost daily, flooding the website page with new content as quickly as it can be generated. While called “Fact Sheets,” they are far from it. There are no hyperlinks to any study, article, number, quote or event referenced in any of the articles, making it incredibly difficult to investigate claims further. This is a blatant disregard for professionalism, communication and government ethics, and is an attempt to present these statements as ultimate fact, as there is nowhere else to look for the same information without spending hours combing through documents.

The White House purposely leaves references out to avoid fact-checking. These “Fact Sheets” are unreliable, referring to numbers and studies that are incredibly difficult to find. With no direct link when citing figures found in a study or report, it can take hours to track down what is being referenced. This is not possible for everyday people, those who do not have multiple hours of free time to dedicate to checking sources. 

It implies that the highest reference point is the White House, that they alone are supplying an adequate mode of proper information communication. It is basic communication and research practices 101 to cite your sources.

These “Fact Sheets” are written in an opinion format, not as a collection of facts to better inform the public. 

Take one of the more recent ones, for example: “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Develops New Strategy to Counter Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” The page covers the National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) that Trump signed in September. The NSPM will require various measures to combat what is referred to as political violence in the article, or activities that meet the criteria for domestic terrorist organizations. 

The article references assassination attempts of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Trump, as well as the fatal shooting of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk. It also references the shooting of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, even though he was not a part of the right-wing political realm. 

It conveniently leaves out the assassination of Minnesota Rep. Mellissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted assassination of Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.

The page goes on to reference multiple numbers with no hyperlink or citation to show where the information is coming from. It is written in an opinion format with claims made about Trump’s character listed in bullet points at the end, saying he has “promoted patriotism” and “strengthened free speech.” 

This may very well be some people’s opinion, but it does not make it a fact, and certainly should not be included in something titled “Fact Sheet.” Many of the sheets on the White House website end the articles with claims like these, typically praising Trump and tearing down political opponents.

Some of the sheets are more outright in conjecture than others. Going back to some of the first ones released, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Ends DEI Madness and Restores Excellence and Safety Within the Federal Aviation Administration” is filled with opinion-style writing. It falsely claims that the Biden Administration started an initiative to hire people with “‘severe intellectual’” disabilities, psychiatric issues and complete paralysis over other individuals who sought to work for the FAA. 

The FAA employs thousands of people in a wide array of positions, from administrative roles to critical safety-oriented ones. The initiative referenced can be found on the FAA’s website as early as 2013, and could be found on the website during the entirety of Trump’s first term in office. Not only is this an example of the blatant misinformation found on these “Fact Sheets,” but a viewer could click on any one of the sheets and find opinion after opinion rather than a collection of information.

These articles attempt to fix the claims made in them as the ultimate truth by appeal to authority. If it’s the government telling you it’s a fact, why look further into it? It’s in a “Fact Sheet,” and therefore must be a fact, right?

There are a few ways someone could look at this in a positive light; they would be wrong to do so, but one could spin this to say that those who write the Fact Sheets don’t mean to leave out things purposely. 

This claim would argue that all the compilers of these articles are simply not detail-oriented enough, and apparently have never written any kind of research paper for school, to cite their references. This would mean they are all incompetent to the point of egregious unprofessionalism and complete lack of concern for research ethics or integrity.

The other view someone could have is that these articles are completely reliable and therefore do not need to have references listed since the government is the ultimate reference. 

This is a troubling view to take. Even if we suppose every claim made is correct, it is still widely unprofessional, unethical and a complete disregard for research and media communication ethics to publish something titled “Fact Sheet” without any clue of how these facts were actually found besides the White House’s word. Beyond this, it is illogical to blindly trust any higher authority. These articles are basically saying, “trust me, bro.”

The White House Fact Sheets are not reliable since there are no references listed at any point. This is done on purpose to discourage further investigation into the claims made, to depict the White House as the highest reference point, encouraging blind faith and is written with absurd amounts of conjecture rather than a collection of factual information. In no way, shape or form can these articles realistically be called Fact Sheets.

Rose Woelm is a senior philosophy and journalism double major. You can reach her at rosewoelm@dailynebraskan.com