TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph and a claim, classify it this way: If the claim contradicts the evidence present in the paragraph, classify the claim as '0'. If the claim has multiple supporting *AND* contradicting evidences, classify the claim as '1'. If the claim has supporting evidence and the paragraph is in overall favor of the claim, then classify the claim as '2'.
PROBLEM: Paragraph: "On Nov. 27, 2013, a Madison-based liberal advocacy group used a mass email to promote protests that were planned against Walmart stores for two days later -- Black Friday. The demonstrations aimed to ""expose Wal-Mart’s shameful labor practices and support workers,"" according to One Wisconsin Now, which then made this claim: ""The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined."" That reminded us of a March 2011 claim by filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore. He said in a Madison speech that 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. Based on online hits, it became one of our most popular fact-checks ever. So we wondered about the Walmart claim. Wealth, not income In the days before and after Black Friday, leaders no less prominent than President Barack Obama and Pope Francis decried the extent of income disparity in the United States and around the world. Obama called the growing income gap a ""defining challenge of our time."" The pope said that while the earnings of a minority ""are growing exponentially, so, too, is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few."" Walmart, of course, is a big target. According to Forbes, as of May 2013 the international retailer had $469 billion in sales and 2.2 million employees, including 1.3 million in the United States. The corporation has been criticized for low wages; and in December 2012, PolitiFact National rated as Mostly  a claim that more Walmart employees are on Medicaid and food stamps than other companies. But let’s be clear up front: Although income and wealth are related, they’re not the same. Wealth is commonly measured in terms of net worth -- the value of a person’s assets minus liabilities. So, things like savings and retirement accounts, minus what is owed on a home mortgage, credit cards, etc. That means a person with heavy debt can have little wealth, or negative wealth, even while earning a six-figure income. One more point before we get to the wealth figures. Walmart was founded by the late Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Arkansas in 1962. Walmart incorporated in 1969 and became a publicly traded company a year later. So, Wal-Mart is not family owned, but rather owned by its stockholders; on the other hand, according to Bloomberg and other news reports, the Walton family members still have control of the company, owning about half of the shares. Group's evidence Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now's executive director, told us his evidence to back his group’s claim is a July 2012 article by economist Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the liberal Economics Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Bivens wrote that in 2010, the wealth of six Walton family heirs was $89.5 billion, 22 percent higher than in 2007. Meanwhile, the median wealth of American families in 2010 was $77,300, nearly 39 percent lower than three years earlier. (Median wealth refers to the American family that is exactly wealthier than half of all families and less wealthy than half.) As for measuring one against the other, Bivens said the Walton family wealth in 2010 was as large as the wealth of the bottom 48.8 million families in the United States, or 41.5 percent of all American families. Rounded up, 41.5 percent would be 42 percent, the figure One Wisconsin Now claims. But let's keep shopping around a little. Similar claim It turns out that a statement nearly identical to the one made by One Wisconsin Now was uttered in July 2012 by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats. Sanders said the Walton family owns ""more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of America,"" a claim PolitiFact National rated . Our colleagues found that Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at the University of California, Berkeley, compared the Waltons’ cumulative net worth with that of the overall population, as cited in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. That survey was published in August 2012. Allegretto found that the Waltons’ wealth in 2010 was valued at $89.5 billion -- equal to the entire bottom 41.5 percent of American families. The 2010 figures are the latest available for doing comparisons with the net worth of the overall population. But we found, using the Forbes 400 list for 2013, that the wealth of six of Sam Walton’s descendants has continued to grow. Here are their rankings and their wealth: No. 6 Christy Walton (daughter-in-law), $35.4 billion No. 7: Jim Walton (son), $33.8 billion No. 8: Alice Walton (daughter), $33.5 billion No. 9: S. Robson Walton (son), $33.3 billion No. 95: Ann Walton Kroenke (niece), $4.7 billion No. 110: Nancy Walton Laurie (niece), $4 billion Total Walton family wealth: $144.7 billion. A note before we close: Allegretto told us the housing crisis is a key reason that the gap between the Walton family wealth and the wealth of other American families has grown. More Americans were left with ""negative wealth"" because they lost their biggest asset -- their home -- and often significant amounts of their savings, as well, she said. Our rating One Wisconsin Now wrote: ""The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined."" For comparison purposes, the latest data available, for 2010, the figure is 41.5 percent. To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website." Claim: The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined.

SOLUTION: 2

PROBLEM: Paragraph: Costs are not mentioned at all. The costs of acupuncture treatment can vary widely, but most people can expect to pay at least $60 per session (and often considerably more). Given that this study involved 16 sessions, and that not all health plans would cover acupuncture to treat ASD, the expense could be considerable. According to the news release, the researchers “identified the most positive outcome of the study as the high compliance rate, with all parents of the children ages 3-10 completing the intervention.” While it is good to know that the patients were able to complete the study, most readers probably wanted to know if the patients benefited from the treatment in any way. The release notes that “researchers measured the effects of the intervention on factors such as the children’s behavior, ability to pay attention, sleep, and aspects of parenting stress” — but doesn’t tell readers whether any of those things changed as a result of treatment. The closest the release comes to quantifying a benefit is when it states that “most parents reported that the intervention had a positive impact on their relationship with their child.” It’s not clear what they mean by “most parents,” how much their relationship improved, how it improved, or why it may have improved. In fairness, the release states that the goal of the study was “to determine if young children with autism spectrum disorder and their parents would tolerate and adhere to an office- and home-based acupuncture/acupressure intervention.” However, the release also says “While a small study, the tolerance and adherence with acupressure this pilot [sic] are both hopeful signs for families of those in their care with autism spectrum disorder.” Why should families be hopeful? Who knows? Given that there had been more than a dozen clinical trials involving acupuncture and children with ASD as of 2012, it’s not clear what questions this new study has answered. Potential harms aren’t discussed at all. To be clear, the risks here are low. As the Mayo Clinic notes, “The risks of acupuncture are low if you have a competent, certified acupuncture practitioner.” But, then again, the release also doesn’t mention the importance of finding a certified acupuncture practitioner. And even with certified practitioners, there are risks, from soreness and bruising to infections. In addition, individuals with bleeding disorders are not good candidates for acupuncture. The release offers very little information about the study. For example, while the release refers to it as a “pilot feasibility study,” it doesn’t even tell readers how many patients participated (there were 10). No disease mongering here. The release doesn’t mention who funded the work. In this case, the work was funded by Autism Speaks. Many people have strong feelings about Autism Speaks, one way or the other, making the funding organization particularly worth mentioning here. It also doesn’t mention any conflicts of interest but there don’t appear to be any. The release doesn’t describe potential benefits for ASD patients, so it’s not clear what alternatives are relevant in this context. Alternatives to what? Ergo, we’ll rank this as not applicable. The release doesn’t address availability at all. While many (or most) readers are aware that acupuncture therapy exists, they may be less familiar with how widely available it is. Readers may not be aware of pediatric acupuncture at all, much less pediatric acupuncture for children with ASD. Is there a special certification for pediatric acupuncture therapy? What about for pediatric ASD acupuncture therapy? The release doesn’t tell us. Acupuncture research related to ASD is not new. Here’s a systematic review of the relevant literature from 2011, and another from the same year. The Cochrane review, among the collection of studies included in the reviews above, concludes that: “We need high quality trials of larger size and longer follow-up as the evidence base at present has many limitations.” But the study described here tackles the subject in a new way, that of the feasibility of being able to complete therapy. Prior studies haven’t shown that it’s feasible for families to commit to longer term acupuncture therapy. The release doesn’t rely on sensational language. We do caution that when a news release includes a quote that says a study offers “hopeful signs for families,” it should be obvious why those families should be hopeful. This release doesn’t do that, because it is not clear how or whether these patients were better off at the end of the study than they were at the beginning. It’s not as egregious as releases (or news stories) that claim amazing results based on limited data, but no release (or news story) should leave readers no wiser at the end than they were at the beginning. Claim: New study from KKI shows feasibility of acupuncture in young children with ASD

SOLUTION: 0

PROBLEM: Paragraph: More than 115,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Italy since the outbreak was discovered in its wealthy northern regions on Feb. 21 and almost 14,000 have died, the highest death toll in the world. But daily tallies of new infections and fatalities have been steady in recent days, which experts hope points to a decline soon. Pressure is growing to find out who has been exposed to the virus and whether some people have developed immunity, in order to soften the severe lockdown measures the government has imposed to curb the contagion. Franco Locatelli, the head of Italy’s Higher Health Council, said a reliable antibody testing system to use at the national level had still to be identified, though various products had already been proposed. Locatelli told reporters that government scientists were working hard to analyse the tests and hoped to have a result “in a few days”. He added that it would probably then take another month before the health authorities are able to roll out recommendations on a nationwide testing procedure. Some badly hit Italian regions have already started buying some of the tests already on the market. Speaking at the same news conference, health officials said the lockdown had prevented a potentially ruinous spread of the contagion from its northern epicentre to less developed southern regions. “The social distancing measures adopted on a national scale have meant that where the number of infections was relatively low, it remained low,” said Giovanni Rezza, director of infectious diseases at the national health institute. The government said this week that curbs on movement and business activities introduced nationwide on March 9 would stay in place until at least April 13. The head of the Civil Protection Agency, Angelo Borrelli, said on Friday he expected them to remain beyond May 1. Claim: Italy experts say reliable coronavirus antibody test may be ready soon.

SOLUTION:
2