Sources
Notes on sources of information to Persagen
The following content details primary sources of information to Persagen.com { accepted | accepted with warnings | excluded }.
Contents
News aggregators
19th News, The [19th News]
β οΈ 60 Minutes
β οΈ Agence France-Presse (AFP)
π Alternet
π American Conservative, The
β οΈ American Oversight
American Prospect, The
American Public Media
Associated Press, The
Association of Alternative Newsmedia
π Atlas Obscura
β οΈ Atlantic, The
π Axios
π Baltimore Sun
π Bangor Daily News
β οΈ BBC
β οΈ Bloomberg News
Boston Globe, The
π Breitbart | Breitbart News
π Business Insider [now: Insider]
π Bulwark, The
π BuzzFeed (web) | BuzzFeed News (investigative reporting)
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) | CBC News | CBC.ca
β οΈ Canadian Dimension
Canadian Press
π Capital Research Center
Carbon Brief
Center for Economic and Policy Research, The
β οΈ Center for Media and Democracy
Center for Public Integrity
Center for Responsive Politics, The (Open Secrets)
β οΈ Chronicle Herald, The
π CNET
π CNN
Common Dreams [CommonDreams.org]
Conversation, The
C-SPAN
CTV News
π Daily Beast, The
π Daily Caller
Daily Dot, The
π Daily Kos
π Daily Mail
π Daily Telegraph, The ["The Telegraph"]
π Daily Wire
DCReport.org
β οΈ Debrief, The
Democracy Now! | DemocracyNow.org
DeSmog.com
π Disclose TV
π Dispatch, The
β οΈ Economist
Engadget
π Epoch Media Group
π Facebook News
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
π Federalist, The
π Financial Post, The
Financial Times
FiveThirtyEight
Floodlight
π Forbes
Fortune Magazine
π Fox News
β οΈ Georgia Straight, The [Straight | Straight.com]
Global News
π GlobalResearch.ca
β οΈ Globe and Mail, The
Go.com
β οΈ Google News
π Gray Zone
Grist
π Guardian, The
π Hill, The
π HillReporter.com
π Human Events
π HuffPost (The Huffington Post)
π Independent, The (U.K.)
π InfluenceWatch.org
π Insider [formerly: Business Insider]
π Intercept, The
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
β οΈ International Fact-Checking Network [Poynter Institute]
Inter Press Service
In the Public Interest
In These Times
β οΈ iPolitics.ca
Jacobin
π KeyWiki.org
LA Times (Los Angeles Times)
π LA Weekly
Law & Crime
β οΈ Lever, The
Logically.ai
π Lowy Institute
β οΈ Macleans Magazine
π Maple, The
β οΈ Markup, The
Metabunk
Miami Herald
π Mint Press News
MIT Technology Review
Montreal Gazette
β οΈ Mother Jones
Nation, The
Narwhal, The
β οΈ Nation of Change
National Observer
π National Post
π National Review
π New Civil Rights Movement, The
New Republic, The
New Statesman
News & Observer, The [Raleigh, N.C.]
π News Corp
Newsday
π Newsmax
π Newsweek
β οΈ New Yorker, The
β οΈ New York Magazine
π New York Post
β οΈ New York Times, The
π New Tang Dynasty Television | NTD | NTD.com
β οΈ NNDB
π North99.org
NPR (National Public Radio)
π Observer, The
π One America News Network
β οΈ Ohio Capitol Journal
OpenSecrets.org
π Ottawa Citizen
π Penske Media Corporation
β οΈ PolitiFact.com [Poynter Institute]
π Politico
Popular Information
π Postmedia Network
β οΈ Poynter Institute for Media Studies
Post Millennial
PressProgress.ca
PR Newswire
ProPublica
π Project Veritas
Quanta Magazine
π Quillette
π Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft [Responsible Statecraft]
π Rabble.ca
π Raw Story, The
Real News Network, The
π Reason Magazine
π Rebel News
Register, The
π Regnery Publishing
π Responsible Statecraft [Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft]
Reuters
Revolving Door Project
Rewire News Group
π Ricochet.com ["dot com"]
Ricochet.media ["dot media"]
Right Wing Watch
π Rolling Stone
π RT.com
π Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings
π Salem Media Group
π Salon
β οΈ SaltWire Network
Science Daily
π Semafor
β οΈ Shadowproof.com
β οΈ Sky News (U.K.)
β οΈ Slate
Sludge
π SourceWatch.org
π South China Morning Post
π Sun News Network | Sun News | Sun Media
π Sun Media
β οΈ Talking Points Memo
β οΈ Tampa Bay Times [Poynter Institute]
Texas Observer, The
Texas Tribune, The
Thomson Reuters | Thomson Reuters Corporation
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Time Magazine
TomDispatch.com
π Toronto Star | Toronto Sun
β οΈ Torstar
Trace, The
β οΈ True North Research
Truthout.org
Tyee, The
U.S. News & World Report
β οΈ Vanity Fair
π Variety
π Verge, The
Vancouver Observer, The
Vice Media | Vice.com
π Vox | Vox Media
π Wall Street Journal, The
π Walrus, The
π Washington Examiner
β οΈ Washington Post, The
π Washington Times, The
π Weekly Standard, The
π Western Journal, The
π Western Standard
β οΈ Wikipedia
Wikitia
Wired [Wired.com]
Yahoo! News
π Zero Hedge
Additional Reading
Critical News Literacy
Critical literacy is the ability to find embedded discrimination in media. This is done by analyzing the messages promoting prejudiced power relationships found naturally in media and written material that go unnoticed otherwise by reading beyond the author's words and examining the manner in which the author has conveyed his or her ideas about society's norms to determine whether these ideas contain racial or gender inequality. ...
Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the world. Media literacy is not restricted to one medium and is understood as a set of competencies that are essential for work, life, and citizenship. Media literacy education is the process used to advance media literacy competencies, and it is intended to promote awareness of media influence and create an active stance towards both consuming and creating media. Media literacy education is part of the curriculum in the United States and some European Union countries, and an interdisciplinary global community of media scholars and educators engages in knowledge sharing through scholarly and professional journals and national membership associations. ...
The Association of College & Research Libraries defines information literacy as a "set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning". ...
Digital literacy refers to an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information through typing and other media on various digital platforms. It is evaluated by an individual's grammar, composition, typing skills and ability to produce text, images, audio and designs using technology. The American Library Association (ALA) defines digital literacy as "the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills." ...
Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue. ...
The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, based in Washington, D.C., that provides resources for educators, students, and the general public to help them learn to identify credible information, recognize misinformation and disinformation, and determine what they can trust, share, and act on. ... As an academic discipline, news literacy is widely considered a subset of media literacy and information literacy. The American Society of News Editors' Youth Journalism Initiative defines news literacy as "the acquisition of 21st-century, critical-thinking skills for analyzing and judging the reliability of news and information, differentiating among facts, opinions and assertions in the media we consume, create and distribute. It can be taught most effectively in cross-curricular, inquiry-based formats at all grade levels. It is a necessary component for literacy in contemporary society." ...
Additional Reading: Critical News Literacy
[Fortune.com, 2023-02-15] Trust in media is so low that half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them. | discussion: Hacker News: 2023-02-16
Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting. The survey - released Wednesday (2023-02-15) by Gallup, Inc., and the Knight Foundation - goes beyond others that have shown a low level of trust in the media to the startling point where many believe there is an intent to deceive.
Asked whether they agreed with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, 50% of survey respondents said they disagreed. Only 25% agreed, the study found. Similarly, 52% of survey respondents disagreed with a statement that disseminators of national news "care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners," the study found. It said 23% of respondents believed the journalists were acting in the public's best interests.
"That was pretty striking for us," said Sarah Fioroni, a consultant for Gallup. The findings showed a depth of distrust and bad feeling that go beyond the foundations and processes of journalism, Sarah Fioroni said. Journalists need to go beyond emphasizing transparency and accuracy to show the impact of their reporting on the public, the study said. "Americans don't seem to think that the national news organizations care about the overall impact of their reporting on the society," said John Sands, the Knight Foundation's senior director for media and democracy.
In one small consolation, in both cases Americans had more trust in local news.
The ability of many people to instantly learn news from a device they hold in their hand, the rapid pace of the news cycle and an increased number of news sources would indicate that more Americans are on top of the news than ever before. Instead, an information overload appears to have had the opposite effect. The survey said 61% of Americans believe these factors make it harder to stay informed, while 37% said it's easier.
[ ... snip ... ]
[ProjectCensored.org, 2022-08-19] The Alex Jones Playbook. Jones and Legacy News Media Hate Each Other, but They Often Use the Same Playbook.
Preface
This "sources" list is comprehensive, but not authoritative: some source inclusions / exclusions are not listed. It is mostly a compendium of information (i.e. a quick reference).
In rare instances (e.g. when a trusted author posts to a questionable site), their source material may be used. In those cases, an explanatory comment is usually attached.
Nevertheless, in all instances the suitability of the source material (trust, accuracy, truth, ...) is carefully considered prior to curating / excluding that content.
Editorial practices at Persagen.com
Standard practices
Abbreviations
To assist the reader, abbreviations may be occasionally redefined - e.g. " ... the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently ...". Abbreviations may be entirely replaced with the actual term, if used infrequently.
Persagen.com is fully supportive of human rights and liberties - including the right to self-identity and self-expression - and non-discriminatory viz-a-viz minority groups.
For simplicity, "LGBT" (or sometimes it's LGBTQ. LGBTQ+, ... variants) is generally used; however, in all instances "LGBT" should be interpreted as an umbrella term encompassing the full rainbow of sex, gender, self-identifying and self-expressing variant persons (intersex; queer; questioning; two-spirit; ...).
Character encoding
UTF-8 ("unicode") character encoding is used. UTF-8 is a variable-length character encoding standard used for electronic communication. Defined by the Unicode Standard, the name is derived from Unicode (or Universal Coded Character Set) Transformation Format - 8-bit. UTF-8 is capable of encoding all 1,112,064 valid character code points in Unicode using one to four one-byte (8-bit) code units. UTF-8 was designed for backward compatibility with ASCII: the first 128 characters of Unicode, which correspond one-to-one with ASCII, are encoded using a single byte with the same binary value as ASCII, so that valid ASCII text is valid UTF-8-encoded Unicode as well.
For consistency and other concerns, the default coding for text on Persagen.com. is UTF-8.
Dates
Dates follow the yyyy-mm-dd format (e.g. 2023-04-27), and may be edited to this format. Similarly, "February 2023" may be edited as "2023-02".
To assist readers' understanding of dates mentioned in articles and text, where possible dates are added to date-related material. Where references to occurrences in past weeks are uncertain from the provided text, the date may be generally provided as a month (in yyyy-mm format). If there is some uncertainty, a question mark may be appended to the date. For example:
"... at the meeting Thursday, the council ..." would be edited to read
"... at the meeting Thursday (2023-04-27), the council ..."
... at the meeting last week, the council ..." would be edited to read
"... at the meeting last week (2023-04), the council ..."
"... anti-transgender legislation has surged this year, versus last year." would be edited to read
"... anti-transgender legislation has surged this year (2024), versus last year (2023).".
"... since then, anti-transgender legislation has surged ..." would be edited to read
"... since then (2023 ?), anti-transgender legislation has surged ...".
Grammar
Egregiously poor grammar may be lightly corrected - taking care to faithfully preserve the author's original content and intent.
Other practices
Obvious errors are summarily corrected.
Supplementing sourced material and to assist reader comprehension, links to external sources are sometimes added. For example:
"Matt Walsh, who has supported the racist great replacement theory, wrote ... " might be edited to read
"Matt Walsh, who has supported the racist great replacement theory [Wikipedia: Great Replacement], wrote ... ".
Named entities and coreference resolution
In information extraction, a named entity is a real-world object - such as a person, location, organization, product, etc. - that can be denoted with a proper name. Examples of named entities include Barack Obama, New York City, Volkswagen Golf - or anything else that can be named.
Coreference resolution is the task of finding all expressions that refer to the same entity in a text. To derive the correct interpretation of a text, or even to estimate the relative importance of various mentioned subjects, pronouns and other referring expressions must be connected to the right individuals.
To assist human and machine comprehension of sourced text - particularly where fragments of text are retrieved (e.g. individual sentences or paragraphs in summaries) - named entities (persons; places; organizations; ...) are explicitly stated in the edited materials, when indirectly referred to in the source material. Likewise, personal names are fully stated. While this may appear overly-redundant to human readers, the interpretation of the content is more explicit, and this practice will assist downstream natural language processing - improving, for example, the accuracy of relationship extraction. and knowledge graph construction.
Examples:
"Victoria Stuart lives in Vancouver. She used to live in Halifax. In 2008, Victoria returned from North Carolina to her current home." would be edited to read
"Victoria Stuart lives in Vancouver. Victoria Stuart used to live in Halifax. In 2008, Victoria Stuart returned from North Carolina to her current home (Vancouver)."
[Here is a more involved example, in which all named entities (note particularly proper names: Leonard Leo; Grazie Pozo Christie; ...) are explicitly provided.]
"... Leonard Leo - a far right lawyer, and the architect of the conservative U.S. Supreme Court takeover - has personally advised Ron DeSantis on his Florida state court selections. A key cog in Leonard Leo's apparatus, the "Judicial Crisis Network" (JCN; now the Concord Fund), contributed $500,000 directly to Ron DeSantis' 2022 gubernatorial campaign and another $250,000 to a group that attacked his opponent in the race. Ron DeSantis' biggest donor for that election was also the Republican Governors Association, a 527 nonprofit group which also took in $2.5 million from Judicial Crisis Network, and contributed an immense sum of over $17 million to Ron DeSantis' campaign from 2021-2022. Chris Jankowski - the CEO of a new pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC "Never Back Down" - is also listed as the settlor of Marble Freedom Trust, a massive trust helmed by Leonard Leo which received a $1.6 billion donation from Barre Seid in 2021.
"Grazie Pozo Christie has been on the board of The Catholic Association (TCA), a 501(c)(4) religious right group whose stated mission is to activate Catholics in the public sphere, since as far back as 2013. Grazie Pozo Christie has been listed as a director on the tax filings of TCA and its 501(c)(3) arm - The Catholic Association Foundation (TCAF) - since 2018. Between 2019 and 2021, Grazie Pozo Christie received a total of over $205,000 from TCAF, while working just five hours per week as the group's director, secretary and treasurer. TCA has funded efforts to deny the right to marry for same-sex couples.
"Alongside a flotilla of other Leonard Leo groups, TCAF has also filed amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases, such as the Dobbs v. Jackson case that overturned Roe (for which Grazie Pozo Christie co-authored the group's brief); a case arguing against employee access to contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act; and a case arguing that religious-tied social service organizations should be allowed to violate nondiscrimination laws. The Catholic Association (TCA) / The Catholic Association Foundation (TCAF) are core groups in Leonard Leo's dark money network. Leonard Leo sat on the board of TCA in 2012 and for TCAF in 2012 and 2013.
"Both groups also have deep ties to Neil Corkery, a key Leonard Leo ally who has held the books for many groups in Leonard Leo's network. Neil Corkery was president of the board at TCAF until 2014 and treasurer of TCA until 2014. While no longer on the board of either group, Neil Corkery has been listed as keeping the books for TCAF in its most recent 990 form. Another longtime Leonard Leo ally, Daniel Casey - who helped launch Judicial Crisis Network, held various leadership roles in the TCA/TCAF from 2012 to 2019. TCAF has also paid nearly $1 million to Leonard Leo's for-profit business - CRC Advisors, where Neil Corkery is also CFO - between 2016 and 2020. In 2018 and 2019, TCAF paid an additional $240,000 to Leonard Leo personally for consulting.
"Since 2016, Leonard Leo's known assets have skyrocketed as funding for the groups he is tied to has also dramatically increased, since Leonard Leo became "volunteer" to Donald Trump on judicial nominations. Leonard Leo's nonprofit groups have routinely paid large sums to Leonard Leo's CRC, as reported by Heidi Przybyla at Politico. Following this bombshell, the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability called for an IRS investigation into seven of Leonard Leo's groups which have paid over $73 million to his for-profit firms from 2016-2021.
"Grazie Pozo Christie is also an "associate scholar" for the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) - the 501(c)(3) arm of its better-known 501(c)(4) sister organization, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) - which is devoted to destroying Roe and legal access to abortion care in the U.S. ..."
[Source: (Truthout.org, 2023-04-24, DeSantis' Board of Education Nominees Are Steeped in Far Right Dark Money. The dark-money funded extremists appointed to the board by Ron DeSantis will wield power over Florida's K-12 schools.]
Spelling
American spelling is generally preferred. Misspellings will be corrected or explicitly indicated; e.g.: " allmost (sic)".
Transliteration
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters in predictable ways, such as Greek β¨Ξ±β© β β¨aβ©, or Latin β¨Γ¦β© β β¨aeβ©.
In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes or letters are joined to form a single glyph. Examples are the characters Γ¦ and Ε used in English and French, in which the letters 'a' and 'e' are joined for the first ligature and the letters 'o' and 'e' are joined for the second ligature. For stylistic and legibility reasons, 'f' and 'i' are often merged to create 'fi' ...
To assist information search and retrieval, transliteration is often applied, replacing ligatures and other less common characters are often replaced with their plain-text versions. Likewise, plain-text copies of accented words may be indicated, solely for information indexing, search and retrieval. Examples: " A protΓ©gΓ© (protege) is an apprentice ..."; "Jean Γcalle (Jean Ecalle; born 1947) is a French mathematician ...".
To aid searching, key words and terms with accented letters are sometimes addended with the plain-text version (parenthesized); e.g.:
"... - ProtΓ©gΓ© (non-accented, for searches: Protege) ..."
Em-dashes, en-dashes, and other less common ligatures are also replaced with their plain-text versions - again to assist searching.
Visual aids
To aid the reader in discerning adjacent yet distinct internet links, compounded URLs are separated by double spaces; e.g.:
Lorem ipsum dolor link 1 link2 sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
URLs are not underlined unless hovered over with the cursor.
URLs within the Persagen.com domain are colored green.
In more recent practice, links external to the Persagen.com domain are indicated with the external link icon. Links to mail and PDF files are similarly indicated.
Editorial Practices at Persagen.com concerning Wikipedia-sourced material
While Wikipedia is a valuable source of material, the crowdsourced content is subject to adversarial editing - particularly on controversial topics - by factions advocating different points-of-view. For example, note the following items.
[CBC.ca, 2021-08-19] Canadian Nobel scientist's deletion from Wikipedia points to wider bias, study finds. Physicist Donna Strickland's case wasn't unique: A new study suggests why women's profiles get erased.
[EcoWatch.com, 2021-12-24] Volunteers Work to Keep Climate Deniers off of Wikipedia.
[NewRepublic.com, 2023-05-03] Vivek Ramaswamy Paid Wikipedia Editors to Erase His Soros Fellowship and Covid Work. He announced his 2024 bid after making sure his Wikipedia page was edited. ... After some back-and-forth with other Wikipedia contributors, information noting Ramaswamy's Soros fellowship was later added back to Vivek Ramaswamy's Wikipedia page. ...
...
Accordingly, material sourced from Wikipedia (and other sources) - replicated on Persagen.com - is subject to the following editorial practices.
Comments are added (where particularly needed), e.g. to clarify content (e.g., disambiguation of named entities; coreference resolution; improved comprehension by both humans and machines), improve or correct poor grammar, make corrections, or address omissions. For example:
Regarding omissions in Wikipedia content: Troy Lanigan worked at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for 26 years 7 months - including 10 years as President. Nonetheless, except for one inconsequential reference, as of 2021-11-25 there is no mention of Troy Lanigan on the lengthy Wikipedia entry for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation - nor does Troy Lanigan have a Wikipedia page.
Replicated text is often gently edited, for example by adding links to referenced entities and material, and to facilitate the addition of metadata (and it's subsequent programmatic use, e.g. using natural language processing). In all instances, the original semantic meaning of the original text is preserved (and generally enhanced).
While minor edits to scraped Wikipedia content may not be indicated, substantial edits are clearly indicated as as comments inserted in or appended to the original (source) Wikipedia article.
Infrequently, blocks of sourced content may reorganized for improved continuity and readability. Likewise (very rarely) sourced sentences may be simplified (e.g. split into two sentences), to improve grammar and understanding.
References to named entities in Wikipedia and other articles may be edited to resolve coreferences and to clarify semantic content. Sentence structure may at times also be slightly edited, for better readability.
While the liberal replacement of pronouns with their referent forms (e.g. personal names) needlessly increases repetition for the Reader, those substitutions greatly disambiguate the text providing greater clarity for the Reader as well as facilitating more robust and accurate machine-based natural natural language processing (named entity recognition; coreference resolution; machine reading and comprehension; ...).
Unlike other sourced material on Persagen.com, Wikipedia references - which are crowdsourced and may be very numerous - are not vetted. This file ("Persagen: Sources") contains notes on various news sources - many of which are otherwise excluded on Persagen.com, but are nevertheless used by the internet community when authoring Wikipedia articles. Because of this - and more practically, to improve readability to humans and machines - Wikipedia references are omitted on Wikipedia content replicated on Persagen.
Rationale: Wikipedia articles are used:
to provide general background information and knowledge;
to identify and connect broad areas of knowledge (entities and concepts); and,
to provide a structural framework for addition of vetted, non-Wikipedia sourced material.
In all cases, Readers should refer to the main Wikipedia article for those references and draw their own conclusions regarding the accuracy and reliability of that content.
Key named entities in the article are identified and linked to other relevant content, textually / ontologically / graphically (graphical model: semantic property graph; ...).
"Additional reading" (news articles, ...) subsections containing content relevant to the article are appended at the bottoms of those articles. Those additions contain well-sourced material that is generally more recent that the content appearing above it on those pages - free of the adversarial editing practices that occur on Wikipedia.
While the editorial decisions above improve the informational content of Wikipedia articles, the Reader should note the dates of additions of Wikipedia content, additionally referring to the main Wikipedia page for the most recent ("raw") content.
Editorial practices at Persagen.com concerning Wikipedia-sourced material: Exemplar
Ostensively defended as protecting the unborn fetus, United States anti-abortion / pro-life movements opportunistically conflate that issue with other issues aligned with Christian Right and socially conservative movements. These include the following, generally meticulously planned and well-coordinated strategies.
Erosion of women's rights and attacks on feminist movements (rights to self-determination).
Erosion of the separation of church and state (e.g. introducing religious doctrine in schools).
Anti-LGBT agendae (homophobia; transphobia; same-sex marriage; rights to self-determination).
Attacks on the transgender community, largely based on pseudoscience, stereotypes, ignorance, prejudice, and disinformation.
A broadly deployed strategy is the use of anti-transgender wedge issues / wedge attacks - refined by attacks the partition and separate the "T" from the "LGB" - but also broadly amenable to partitioning and attacking the LGBT community as a whole.
Examples of wedge tactics include attacking the participation of trans women in sports, and the fear-mongering "bathroom predator" myth (meme).
Conscientious objections or moral objections to providing services (healthcare, etc.) based on religious convictions.
Whenever and wherever anti-abortion activity take hold, erosions of women's rights and anti-LGBT attacks (particularly on the relatively smaller, more stigmatized and vulnerable transgender community) invariably follow.
In that regard, this 2021-11-04 Thomson Reuters Foundation news item, OPINION: LGBT+ rights in Poland are at a tipping point, contains the following paragraph.
"... It's not just suppression of LGBT+ activists that is troubling. So-called 'family charters' ['Marriage is a natural institution to which the mission of reproduction is entrusted.' - i.e., heterosexual unions] adopted by municipalities seeking to limit marriage to heterosexual couples, the establishment of 'LGBT-free zones' by these same municipalities, attempts to block sex education classes and government moves to limit the sale of contraception, are all characteristics of the current government. ..."
As of 2021-11-04 - despite international condemnation [local copy] of the nearly absolute abolition of abortion and LGBT rights in Poland - the lengthy Wikipedia entry for Poland does not mention any of the following terms.
"gay";
"gender" (hence, no mention of "gender identity");
"LBGT";
"LGBT"; or,
"trans" (hence, no mention of "transgender", etc.)".
The sole mentions of "abortion" or "sexuality" in Wikipedia's article on Poland are in the following paragraph (at the end of the Law subsection).
"Abortion is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger. Congenital disorder and stillbirth are not covered by the law, forcing some women to seek abortion abroad, and others to seek the assistance of psychiatrists willing to testify on the negative psychological impact of stillbirth. Poland does not criminalize homosexuality, and its legality was confirmed in 1932. The Polish Constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman."
Absence of discussion of anti-abortion and anti-LGBT issues (affecting millions of people directly and indirectly) in Wikipedia's Poland article reflect censorship by omission. Accordingly, while Wikipedia is an important source of information, per Editorial practices at Persagen, content sourced from Wikipedia is:
scrutinized for content, errors, and omissions; and,
supplemented with additional content relevant to that content.
As a further example, as of 2021-11-04 neither of the Wikipedia articles Google or Censorship by Google mention former employee Timnit Gebru. In December 2020, Timnit Gebru's employment with Google as technical co-lead of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team ended after higher Google managers asked her to either withdraw an as-yet-unpublished paper, or remove the names of all the Google employees from that paper. That issue received wide coverage in the popular and technical press, yet the aforementioned Wikipedia articles on Google (even the Censorship by Google) fail to mention Timnit Gebru.
Editorial practices at Persagen.com concerning machine-generated material
Keywords: ChatGPT [GPT-3-based] | large language models: GPT-{2,3,4} | synthetic {data; media} | transformer-based language models, e.g. GPT-3-generated large language models
artificial intelligence (AI):
Synthetic content - easily generated by AI (ML; NLP) - is excluded from sources of information on Persagen.com due to use of generative models (i.e. machine learning / natural language processing) to generate content - leading to multiple issues including misinformation.
Generative models - such as large language models - are trained on vast quantities of text (e.g. all news media; all of Wikipedia; social media; encyclopediae; ...) and images / video (for those applied to computer vision-based applications - e.g. DALL-E). When presented with new inputs, these "pretrained" models probabilistically generate responses based on the preceding word or character - building the response based on the highest probability match from the context within the pretrained model data. The key phrase here is generative model - based on the pretrained model, the output from prompted text is wholly probabilistically determined - void of any understanding of the meaning of the text.
While large language models have been spectacularly successful at generating facsimile documents, stories, technical and scientific papers, computer code, etc., the generated content may or may not be factual.
[MIT Technology Review, 2020-08-22] GPT-3, Bloviator: OpenAI's language generator has no idea what it's talking about Tests show that the popular AI still has a poor grasp of reality. | discussion (2020-08-22): reddit.com/r/MachineLearning
[2021-02-05, hai.Stanford.edu] How Large Language Models Will Transform Science, Society, and AI. Scholars in computer science, linguistics, and philosophy explore the pains and promises of GPT-3. | local copy
[arXiv.org, 2023-01-23] AI model GPT-3 (dis)informs us better than humans. ... Our results show that GPT-3 is a double-edge sword, which, in comparison with humans, can produce accurate information that is easier to understand, but can also produce more compelling disinformation. ...
The probabilistic (generative; hallucinative; hegemonic) of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, GPT-3, and GPT-4 are problematic insofar as the data these models are trained on include misinformation, disinformation, and other biases. While these LLMs can be prompted (prompt engineering) to provide more factual information, the same approach can be used to tailor generated content to specific purposes (e.g. right-wing populist rhetoric). However, an encouraging trend is the use of augmented LLMs - particularly those (e.g. Meta's Toolformer) which can use APIs to independently search, retrieve, and edit LLM responses. Finally - to date (2023-04-29) - LLM largely remain black box models - with little factual or theoretical knowledge of how they work, and less so any emergent properties they might possess.
Furthermore, large language and deepfake models may be weaponized.
Synthetic data - which looks real and is authoritatively presented - has the potential to cause irreparable societal harm (algorithmic bias | culture wars | filter bubbles | identity politics). This is particularly concerning given the ease of online access to large language models such as ChatGPT [Β§ Features and limitations], and their use by activists in the political domain - analogous to how Citizens United v. FEC unleashed the scourge of dark money exacerbating political corruption of American politics and legislation.
Consequently, sources known to rely on generative models are excluded as sources of data on Persagen.com.
Recent media discussion on machine-generated content
Wikipedia statement on large language models.
[Vice.com, 2022-07-07] AI Trained on 4Chan Becomes 'Hate Speech Machine'. After 24 hours, the nine bots running on 4chan had posted 15,000 times. | Wikipedia entry
[theVerge.com, 2022-06-08] YouTuber trains AI bot on 4chan's pile o' bile with entirely predictable results. Yes, you can make a toxic AI bot, but to what end?
A YouTuber named Yannic Kilcher has sparked controversy in the AI world after training a bot on posts collected from 4chan's Politically Incorrect board (otherwise known as /pol/). The board is 4chan's most popular and well-known for its toxicity (even in the anything-goes environment of 4chan). Posters share racist, misogynistic, and antisemitic messages, which the bot - named GPT-4chan after the popular series of GPT language models [GPT-3] made by research lab OpenAI - learned to imitate. After training his model, Yannic Kilcher released it back onto 4chan as multiple bots, which posted tens of thousands of times on /pol/. "The GPT-4chan model was good, in a terrible sense," says Yannic Kilcher in a video on YouTube describing the project. "It perfectly encapsulated the mix of offensiveness, nihilism, trolling, and deep distrust of any information whatsoever that permeates most posts on /pol/." ...
[reddit.com/r/ControlProblem, 2022-12-04] I gave ChatGPT the 117 question, eight dimensional PolitiScales test. | discussion: Hacker News: 2022-12-06
[2022-12-12, arXiv.org] "I think this is the most disruptive technology:" Exploring Sentiments of ChatGPT Early Adopters using Twitter Data.
[2022-12-13, Reason.com] Where Does ChatGPT Fall on the Political Compass?. We asked the hot new artificial intelligence system to take four popular political quizzes. Guess what we found... | discussion: Hacker News: 2022-12-30
[2023-01-05, arXiv.org] The political ideology of conversational AI: Converging evidence on ChatGPT's pro-environmental, left-libertarian orientation.
[2023-01-13, arXiv.org] The moral authority of ChatGPT.
[CNN.com, 2023-01-26] BuzzFeed says it will use AI to help create content, stock jumps 150%. | discussion: Hacker News: 2023-01-27 | COMMENT (2023-01-27): BuzzFeed is already red-flagged / excluded as a source of information on Persagen.com.
[Truthout.org, 2023-01-31] BuzzFeed's AI-Produced Content Experiment Is a Glimpse Into a Bleak Future. We can expect a media universe where a shrinking labor force is exploited to feed ChatGPT so it can churn out clickbait.
[arXiv.org, 2023-02-06] A Categorical Archive of ChatGPT Failures. ... Ten categories of failures, including reasoning, factual errors, math, coding, and bias, are presented and discussed. The risks, limitations, and societal implications of ChatGPT are also highlighted. ...
[MIT Technology Review, 2023-02-14] Why you shouldn't trust AI search engines. ... Approximately two seconds after Microsoft let people poke around with its new ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine, people started finding that it responded to some questions with incorrect or nonsensical answers - such as conspiracy theories. Google had an embarrassing moment when scientists spotted a factual error in Google's own advertisement for its chatbot - Bard - which subsequently wiped $100 billion off Google's share price. ...
[MIT Technology Review, 2023-03-14] How AI could write our laws. ChatGPT and other AIs could supercharge the influence of lobbyists - but only if we let them. ... Nearly 90% of the multibillion-dollar federal lobbying apparatus in the United States serves corporate interests. In some cases, the objective of that money is obvious. Google pours millions into lobbying on bills related to antitrust regulation. Big energy companies expect action whenever there is a move to end drilling leases for federal lands, in exchange for the tens of millions they contribute to congressional reelection campaigns. But lobbying strategies are not always so blunt, and the interests involved are not always so obvious. ...
What would happen if such legal-but-sneaky strategies for tilting the rules in favor of one group over another become more widespread and effective? We can see hints of an answer in the remarkable pace at which artificial-intelligence tools for everything from writing to graphic design are being developed and improved. And the unavoidable conclusion is that AI will make lobbying more guileful, and perhaps more successful.
It turns out there is a natural opening for this technology: microlegislation. "Microlegislation" is a term for small pieces of proposed law that cater - sometimes unexpectedly - to narrow interests. Political scientist Amy McKay coined the term. Amy McKay studied the 564 amendments to the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") considered by the Senate Finance Committee in 2009, as well as the positions of 866 lobbying groups and their campaign contributions. She documented instances where lobbyist comments - on health-care research, vaccine services, and other provisions - were translated directly into microlegislation in the form of amendments. And she found that those groups' financial contributions to specific senators on the committee increased the amendments' chances of passing. Her finding that lobbying works was no surprise. More important, McKay's work demonstrated that computer models can predict the likely fate of proposed legislative amendments, as well as the paths by which lobbyists can most effectively secure their desired outcomes. And that turns out to be a critical piece of creating an AI lobbyist. ...
[arXiv.org, 2023-04-21] The Dark Side of ChatGPT: Legal and Ethical Challenges from Stochastic Parrots and Hallucination.
With the launch of ChatGPT, Large Language Models (LLMs) are shaking up our whole society, rapidly altering the way we think, create and live. For instance, the GPT integration in Bing has altered our approach to online searching. While nascent LLMs have many advantages, new legal and ethical risks are also emerging, stemming in particular from stochastic parrots and hallucination. The E.U. is the first and foremost jurisdiction that has focused on the regulation of AI models. However, the risks posed by the new LLMs are likely to be underestimated by the emerging EU regulatory paradigm. Therefore, this correspondence warns that the European AI regulatory paradigm must evolve further to mitigate such risks.
Bender, E.M., Gebru, T., McMillan-Major, A., and S. Shmitchell. (2021-03) "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? π¦". In: Proceedings of the 2021 ACM conference on fairness, accountability, and transparency (pp. 610-623).
[ ... snip ... ]
... Β§6. STOCHASTIC PARROTS. In this section, we explore the ways in which the factors laid out in Β§4 and Β§5 - the tendency of training data ingested from the Internet to encode hegemonic worldviews, the tendency of LMs to amplify biases and other issues in the training data, and the tendency of researchers and other people to mistake LM-driven performance gains for actual natural language understanding - present real-world risks of harm, as these technologies are deployed. After exploring some reasons why humans mistake LM output for meaningful text, we turn to the risks and harms from deploying such a model at scale. We find that the mix of human biases and seemingly coherent language heightens the potential for automation bias, deliberate misuse, and amplification of a hegemonic worldview. We focus primarily on cases where LMs are used in generating text, but we will also touch on risks that arise when LMs or word embeddings derived from them are components of systems for classification, query expansion, or other tasks, or when users can query LMs for information memorized from their training data. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
[CTVNews.ca, 2023-05-02] Dozens of websites generating low-quality 'clickbait' content using AI: study. A new study from NewsGuard revealed dozens of websites around the world are using artificial intelligence to generate low-quality 'clickbait' articles in order to make money off of advertisements. NewsGuard identified 49 websites that appear to be almost entirely generated by artificial intelligence software - producing high volumes of articles relating to a variety of topics such as politics, health, entertainment, finance and technology. ...
[Economist.com, 2023-05-04] Artificial intelligence is remixing journalism into a "soup" of language. The rise of the robot reporter implies profound changes to the nature of the news.
(arXiv.org, 2023-05-08) A Drop of Ink Makes a Million Think: The Spread of False Information in Large Language Models.
... The experimental results show that:
False information will spread and contaminate related memories in LLMs via a semantic diffusion process, i.e., false information has global detrimental effects beyond its direct impact.
Current LLMs are susceptible to authority bias, i.e., LLMs are more likely to follow false information presented in trustworthy styles such as news reports and research papers, which usually cause deeper and wider pollution of information.
Current LLMs are more sensitive to false information through in-context injection than through learning-based injection, which severely challenges the reliability and safety of LLMs even when all training data are trusty and correct.
The above findings raise the need for new false information defense algorithms to address the global impact of false information, and new alignment algorithms to unbiasedly lead LLMs to follow essential human values rather than superficial patterns.
Editorial practices at Persagen.com concerning social media [Google; Meta (Facebook); Reddit; ...]
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Social media platforms such as Google, Meta (Facebook), Twitter, Reddit, ... are excluded as primary sources of information.
Robertson, C.E. et al. (2023) Negativity drives online news consumption. Nature Human Behaviour. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01538-4 | Discussion: Hacker News: 2023-03-17
Abstract
Online media is important for society in informing and shaping opinions, hence raising the question of what drives online news consumption. Here we analyse the causal effect of negative and emotional words on news consumption using a large online dataset of viral news stories. Specifically, we conducted our analyses using a series of randomized controlled trials (Nβ=β22,743). Our dataset comprises ~105,000 different variations of news stories from Upworthy.com that generated βΌ5.7 million clicks across more than 370 million overall impressions.
Although positive words were slightly more prevalent than negative words, we found that negative words in news headlines increased consumption rates (and positive words decreased consumption rates). For a headline of average length, each additional negative word increased the click-through rate by 2.3%. Our results contribute to a better understanding of why users engage with online media.
[ ... snip ... ]
Discussion
[ ... snip ... ]
Understanding the biases that influence people's consumption of online content is critical, especially as misinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories proliferate online. Even publishers marketed as "good news websites" are benefiting from negativity, demonstrating the need for a nuanced understanding of news consumption. Knowing what features of news make articles interesting to people is a necessary first step for this purpose and will enable us to increase online literacy and to develop transparent online news practices.
[2022-10-23, theWire.in] The Wire Retracts Its Meta Stories. Given the discrepancies that have come to our attention via our review so far, The Wire will also conduct a thorough review of previous reporting done by the technical team involved in our Meta coverage. | Discussion: Hacker News: 2022-10-23 | Comment: "Apparently this is a different "Wire" from India, which has nothing to do with "Wired" the popular magazine.
[Truthout.org, 2022-11-17] Facebook Will No Longer Fact-Check Trump Now That He's a Presidential Candidate.
Fact Checking Resources
Comment on Independence of Fact-Checking Websites (Persagen.com)
Regarding sources of information for Persagen.com, this file annotates web sites that are regularly encountered by Persagen or other users. All sources need to be carefully and continually scrutinized for accuracy and bias. Informational sources requiring additional inspection are flagged as follows.
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness.
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to ownership by ...
Suggestions for assessing β οΈ yellow-flagged sites include examining the author(s), author affiliations, explicit and implicit biases, etc.
Note: due to it's breadth of coverage, depth of analyses, and categorization of bias and ranking of credibility I rely extensively on Media Bias/Fact Check as a first line of analysis regarding suitability of informational sources for inclusion on Persagen.com. HOWEVER, even Media Bias/Fact Check is biased; accordingly, their reviews and conclusions must be studied, analytically. As an example, as of 2021-10-30 Media Bias/Fact Check assigned a "HIGH CREDIBILITY' rating to National Review, despite stated failed fact checks and sourcing of information from known disinformation sources. Hence, I β οΈ -flag Media Bias/Fact Check, for increased scrutiny of it's content, analyses, and ratings.
Challenges to sourcing and distributing newsworthy information include attacks on journalists / journalism, the decline of local journalism, monopolization of news domains, misinformation and disinformation, and disproportionate influence of extreme wealth.
Regarding the influence of wealth, wealthy corporations and billionaires - in addition to owing major news sources such as Bloomberg News (Michael Bloomberg) and The Washington Post (Jeff Bezos) - fund charitable organizations such as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society [billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundations, ...
In the worst cases, Machiavellian billionaires such as Charles Koch have funded otherwise reputable fact-checking sites such as Poynter Institute - which despite claims of independence must be closely scrutinized for neoliberal biases that benefit the Koch plutocracy. The Poynter Institute has also received funding left-wing billionaire George Soros. Of note regarding this discussion, the Poynter Institute also established the highly-regarded and used International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
As a further example, the fact-checking The Trust Project from highly influential and questionable entities Google, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the Markkula Foundation, and Facebook. The Markkula Foundation is a nebulous entity lacking a Wikipedia entry - which given its influence, is a "yellow flag." Likewise eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Wikipedia page does not mention the Democracy Fund - a charitable foundation created by Pierre Omidyar which partially funds The Trust Project. Although not without some controversies, the highly-regarded and influential investigative journalism site The Intercept is partially funded by Pierre Omidyar's media company, , a non-profit media organization focused on entertainment studios, consumer businesses, and journalism. Omidyar initially committed $250 million and continues to support it through First Look Media.
We now live in a post-truth society - fueled by misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories propagated on mass media sites such as Fox News and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With recent advances in artificial intelligence including machine learning and natural language processing, hyper-realistic fake content is easily and abundantly generated by specialists and novices alike. Neural networks can effortlessly generate deepfake videos, while deep contextualized language models such as BERT, GPT-3, and other natural language processing language models. Furthermore, even well-engineered neural networks are prone to algorithmic bias. Recognizing, appreciating and understanding those phenomena requires expert knowledge of the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence and mass media domains.
Ultimately - even given fact-checking services (such as IFCN and curated informational sources such as Persagen.com - you must ultimately use your experience and common sense to partition fact from fiction, and truth from non-truth. While there is no perfect solution, recommendations [local copy, 2021-10-21] from the Library at the University of California - Merced) provide a reasonable approach.
General Recommendations
Ultimately, selection and fact-checking of sources and information is an individual responsibility. These recommendations [local copy, 2021-10-21] from the Library at the University of California - Merced) provide a reasonable approach.
Ballotpedia.org
Ballotpedia, an online encyclopedia about U.S. political and judicial systems, published by the Lucy Burns Institute.
FactCheck.org
FactCheck.org (Wikipedia).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, Factcheck.org is a least biased credible fact-checker that is Very High for factual reporting due to impeccable sourcing of information.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: VERY-HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Factcheck.org is a nonprofit website that describes itself as a non-partisan "consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Factcheck.org has won four Webby Awards in the Politics category in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Funded by / Ownership
The Annenberg Foundation owns and funds Factcheck.org. The Annenberg Foundation receives grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Analysis / Bias
Factcheck.org provides well-sourced unbiased fact-checking. Quite simply, Factcheck.org can be trusted to provide accurate fact checks with minimal bias. Factcheck.org is used by Media Bias Fact Check as a resource to check claims when reviewing sources. They are on our Top 10 Fact Checker list.
Failed Fact Checks
None. They are an IFCN Fact Checker.
ICANN
ICANN (domain name registry; check, verify domain ownership, ...)
Wikipedia entry (2021-10-22):
List of Fact-Checking Websites (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia: List of fact-checking websites (bookmarked at "North America" subsection).
Media Bias/Fact Check
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness.
Media Bias/Fact Check (stylized Media Bias/Fact Check) | MBFC | MediaBiasFactCheck.com
Due to it's breadth of coverage, depth of analyses, and categorization of bias and ranking of credibility I rely extensively on Media Bias/Fact Check as a first line of analysis regarding suitability of informational sources for inclusion on Persagen.com. HOWEVER, even Media Bias/Fact Check is biased; accordingly, their reviews and conclusions must be studied, analytically. As an example, as of 2021-10-30 Media Bias/Fact Check assigned a "HIGH CREDIBILITY' rating to National Review, despite stated failed fact checks and sourcing of information from known disinformation sources. Hence, I β οΈ -flag Media Bias/Fact Check, for increased scrutiny of it's content, analyses, and ratings.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com
Wikipedia: Media Bias/Fact Check, 2021-10-21
Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) is an American website founded in 2015 by editor Dave Van Zandt. Sites are rated on a 0-10 scale by Van Zandt and his team using categories such as biased wording and headlines, factuality and sourcing, and story choices. The Poynter Institute notes, "Media Bias/Fact Check is a widely cited source for news stories and even studies about misinformation, despite the fact that its method is in no way scientific." The Columbia Journalism Review describes Media Bias/Fact Check as an amateur attempt at categorizing media bias and Van Zandt as an "armchair media analyst". The site has been used by researchers at the University of Michigan to create a tool called the "Iffy Quotient", which draws data from Media Bias/Fact Check and NewsWhip to track the prevalence of "fake news" and questionable sources on social media.
Disambiguation: Media Bias/Fact Check's Dave M. Van Zandt
Autobiography: MediaBiasFactCheck.com/about/
"Dave Van Zandt is a registered Non-Affiliated voter who values evidence-based reporting. Since High School (a long time ago), Dave has been interested in politics and noticed as a kid the same newspaper report in two different papers was very different in their tone. This curiosity led him to pursue a Communications Degree in college; however, like most 20-year olds he didn’t know what he wanted and changed to a Physiology major midstream. Dave has worked in the healthcare industry since graduating from college but never lost the desire to learn more about bias and its impacts.
"The combination of being fascinated by politics, a keen eye to spot bias before he even knew what it was called, and an education/career in science gave Dave the tools required for understanding Media Bias and its implications. This led to a 20-year journey where Dave would read anything and everything he could find on media bias and linguistics. He also employed the scientific method in the development of a methodology to support his assessments.
"After years of people telling him to launch a website, in late 2015, Mediabiasfactcheck.com was born from a combination of many different experiences and exhaustive research. For the last 5+ years, Dave and his team have refined their methods and improved their reviews to the point where the website receives consistent high traffic levels and is considered a top authority in rating media bias and credibility."
Frequently Asked Questions: Who in the heck is Dave Van Zandt?
"Dave M. Van Zandt obtained a Communications Degree before pursuing a higher degree in the sciences. Dave currently works full time in the health care industry. Dave has spent more than 20 years as an arm chair researcher on media bias and its role in political influence. For the record, he [David M. Van Zandt | Media Bias/Fact Check ] also is not the President of The New School, that is a different David E. Van Zandt who is the head of a liberal college in New York City. I am an unaffiliated voter from North Carolina."
As a critical (hence judgemental) fact-checking website, Media Bias/Fact Check has attackers that unfairly try to discredit Media Bias/Fact Check. For example, the opaque Hucksters.net website - flying the banner "Exposing fraud, corruption, and censorship" - nonetheless claims that Media Bias/Fact Check's Dave M. Van Zandt is David E. Van Zandt - the latter a former president of The New School, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Here is the Hucksters.net webpage [local copy, 2021-10-21].
Dave M. Van Zandt is likely David Minard Van Zandt (b. 1969-01; residing in Greensboro, NC), which appears to be corroborated (1) at MyLife.com - which lists him as "owner at Van Zandt Webs (self-employed), and (2) RationalWiki.org [local copy, 2021-10-21], which provides much additional information.
NewsGuard
π STOP! Excluded from sources over concerns of funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (which holds disproportionate wealth and influence), associations of co-founder Gordon Crovitz with The Wall Street Journal (owned by the disreputable ownership by Rupert Murdoch), revenue sourced from advertisers, other concerns.
Type: browser extension; mobile application.
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate NewsGuard Least Biased based on neutral wording and the use of a credible methodology. We also rate them High for factual reporting based on proper sourcing of all information.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 2018, NewsGuard is a browser extension that displays the credibility and transparency of media sources. Steven Brill and Louis "L." Gordon Crovitz are the Co-Founders. Brill founded The American Lawyer, Court TV, and the Yale Journalism Initiative. L. Gordon Crovitz was the publisher and columnist of The Wall Street Journal.
Funded by / Ownership
NewsGuard is a for-profit company that began with $6 million dollars of seed funding. Investors include the two co-founders, as well as notable groups such as the Knight Foundation and Cox Investment Holdings. A full list of the seed donors can be found here. NewsGuard generates revenue through licensing of its ratings to advertisers, who use these ratings when determining what sites are safe to place their advertising. They have also formed a partnership with Microsoft Corporation by having their extension built into the Microsoft Edge. NewsGuard is currently seeking more partnerships and licensing agreements.
Analysis / Bias
NewsGuard reviews and rates media and information sources using a 100 point scale. Each source is rated on 9 different criteria and with each criterion having a different weight that totals 100 for a perfect score. Any source that scores a 60 or above will be given a green shield and those below 60 will receive a red shield. NewsGuard also provides, what it calls a "Nutrition Label", to explain how they came to their conclusions. The nutrition label is well-sourced and provides examples to support their claims.
In review, NewsGuard reviews media websites and rates them according to the criteria listed above. The information provided on their nutrition labels is thorough and sourced properly. They also do not use loaded words and maintain a neutral tone in their reviews. We found that there are many sources given a green shield rating, that we rate Mixed for factual reporting. This simply indicates that they have a different standard in their ratings. Perhaps a yellow shield would be appropriate for sources that are transparent, but occasionally publish misleading information, or as we rate them "Factually Mixed." NewsGuard does not factor bias into their ratings, though they will mention it on their nutrition label. The primary focus of the ratings is on transparency and lack of deception, such as labeling advertising and separating opinion from news pieces.
NewsGuard has faced both criticism and praise. The number one criticism of NewsGuard, is that some sites that many perceive as being untrustworthy, were given a green shield and some sources that people find trustworthy were given a red shield (Al Jazeera). NewsGuard has been criticized by Breitbart News [notorious disinformation source; note also past associations with Steve Bannon] as "the establishment media's latest effort to blacklist alternative media sites" NewsGuard denies this claim.
In general, NewsGuard provides evidence-based information that is well-sourced and adheres to established criteria.
OpenSecrets.org
See main entry (below).
PolitiFact.com
See main entry (below).
RationalWiki
π STOP! Excluded from sources; RationalWiki is a combative (trolling) wiki-styled website presenting highly-biased points of view that - despite being ideologically opposed to conspiratorial / alternative medicine / fundamentalist Christian / ... content favored at self-described American conservative and fundamentalist ChristianConservapedia - diminishes readers' confidence in RationalWiki content. [ As a general recommendation, it is probably best to avoid highly-biased, combative sources of information.]
RationalWiki main page:
Wikipedia entry (2021-10-22):
RationalWiki is a wiki whose stated goals are to "analyze and refute pseudoscience and the anti-science movement, document "crank" ideas, explore conspiracy theories, authoritarianism, and fundamentalism, and analyze how these subjects are handled in the media." RationalWiki was created in 2007 as a counterpoint to Conservapedia after an incident in which contributors attempting to edit Conservapedia were banned.
History
Origin
In April 2007, Peter Lipson, a doctor of internal medicine, attempted to edit Conservapedia's article on breast cancer to include evidence against Conservapedia's claim that abortion was linked to the disease. Conservapedia is an encyclopedia established by Andy Schlafly [son of notorious conservative activist and lawyer Phyllis Stewart Schlafly] as an alternative to Wikipedia, which Andy Schlafly perceived as suffering from a liberal and atheist bias. Andy Schlafly and Conservapedia administrators "questioned Peter Lipson's credentials and shut down debate". After they were blocked, "Lipson and several other contributors quit trying to moderate the articles [on Conservapedia] and instead started their own website, RationalWiki."
RationalMedia Foundation
Prior to 2010, RationalWiki's domains were registered to Trent Toulouse, and the wiki was hosted from a server located in his home. In 2010, Trent Toulouse incorporated a nonprofit organization, the RationalWiki Foundation Inc., to manage the affairs and pay the operational expenses of the website. In July 2013, the RationalWiki Foundation changed its name to the RationalMedia Foundation, stating that its aims extended beyond the RationalWiki site alone.
Content
RationalWiki differs in several ways from the philosophy of Wikipedia and some other informational wikis. It is written from a self-described "snarky point of view" and "scientific point of view" rather than a "neutral point of view," and publishes opinion, speculation, and original research.] Many RationalWiki articles mockingly describe beliefs that RationalWiki opposes, especially when covering topics such as alternative medicine or fundamentalist Christians.
A significant fraction of activity on RationalWiki used to be critiquing and "monitoring Conservapedia". RationalWiki contributors, many of whom are former Conservapedia contributors, are often highly critical of Conservapedia, and according to an article published in the Los Angeles Times in 2007, RationalWiki members "by their own admission" vandalize Conservapedia. Lester Haines of The Register stated: "Its entry entitled 'Conservapedia:Delusions' promptly mocks the claims that 'Homosexuality is a mental disorder', 'Atheists are sociopaths', and 'During the 6 days of creation G-d placed the Earth inside a black hole to slow down time so the light from distant stars had time to reach us'."
Both Hao Yan et. al 2019 and Markus Knoche et al., two articles about classifying a writer's biases via text analysis, asserted that Conservapedia was "conservative" and RationalWiki was "liberal
.
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate RationalWiki Left-Center biased based on the use of loaded language against conservatives and High for factual reporting due to pro-science reporting coupled with proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in April 2007 by Peter Lipson, a doctor of internal medicine, RationalWiki analyzes and refutes pseudoscience and the anti-science movement, documenting the full range of crank ideas, explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism, analysis and criticism of how these subjects are handled in the media.
From a historical perspective, RationalWiki was created as a response to Conservapedia, which is routinely critical of liberals and atheists. MBFC lists Conservapedia as a Questionable source based on the publication of right-wing Christian Propaganda, as well as false reports.
Funded by / Ownership
RationalWiki is owned by the RationalMedia Foundation and is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, RationalWiki is a wiki site that is open source and editable by anyone. RationalWiki is different from Wikipedia in that they openly use loaded language to describe conservatives and those who promote conspiracies and pseudoscience. In general, RationalWiki does not attempt to hide their bias as they routinely poke fun at conservatives. This has led to them being labeled leftists. Perhaps RationalWiki leans left, but in the end, they are a pro-Science source. In general, all information is sourced to credible sources of evidence, much like Wikipedia.
A factual search reveals RationalWiki has not failed a fact check.
Snopes.com
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to past issues of plagiarism by Snopes owner David Mikkelson and other senior management issues, associations with Facebook, ...
Snopes
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: we rate Snopes Left-Center biased based on news story selection that slightly favors a liberal perspective. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting rather than High due to an investigation that indicates a co-founding editor engaged in plagiarism. The plagiarism was not related to Fact-Checks and they remain credible for fact-checking.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1994 by Barbara Mikkelson and David Mikkelson, Snopes.com, also known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, was one of the first online fact-checking websites. It is a resource for validating and debunking such stories in American popular culture. Snopes ownership has said that the site receives more complaints of liberal bias than conservative bias but insists that the same debunking standards are applied to all political claims and urban legends.
On 8/13/2021, a BuzzFeed investigation revealed that co-founder David Mikkelson plagiarized over 50 news stories between 2015 and 2019.
Plagiarism by Snopes Co-founder David Mikkelson
On 2021-08-13, BuzzFeed News published an investigation by reporter Dean Sterling Jones that showed David Mikkelson had used plagiarized material from different news sources in 54 articles between 2015 and 2019 in an effort to increase website traffic. Mikkelson also published plagiarized material under a pseudonym, "Jeff Zarronandia". The BuzzFeed inquiry prompted Snopes to launch an internal review of Mikkelson's articles and retracted 60 of them the day the Buzzfeed story appeared. Mikkelson admitted to committing "multiple serious copyright violations" and apologized for "serious lapses in judgment." He was suspended from editorial duties during the investigation, but remains an officer and stakeholder in the company. [Source; Wikipedia: Snopes: Plagiarism by co-founder David Mikkelson, 2021-10-22.]
Funded by / Ownership
According to their about page, Snopes.com is an independent publication owned by Snopes Media Group. They derive funding from online advertising as well as donations. They fully disclose funding and expenses, as well as listing any donation over $10,000. For example, they list that Facebook paid them $100,000, and the James Randi Educational Foundation awarded them $75,000 in the past. In 2020, they received a donation of $10,030 from Wei-Hwa Huang and Trisha Brooke Huang. Snopes offers full transparency with funding.
Analysis
In 2012, FactCheck.org reviewed a sample of Snopes' responses to political rumors regarding George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama and found them free from bias in all cases. Critics of the site have made the false claim [ note: The New York Times article] that the website is funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, which has been debunked many times as they are funded through advertising and donations, which they disclose.
Snopes was previously a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) that the Poynter Institute runs. Snopes was independently verified by the IFCN, which lists its core principles as: "non-partisanship and fairness, transparency of sources, transparency of funding and organization, transparency of methodology, and open and honest corrections policy." They met these criteria, along with 80+ other fact-checkers worldwide. However, in 2019 they left the IFCN.
Further, Snopes always openly source their information and avoid emotional wording, though they occasionally publish news stories that offer some opinions. Snopes is frequently accused of liberal bias by some on the right. For example, the Daily Express of the U.K. [see Daily Mail entry] and the Daily Caller [Daily Caller] have criticized them for fact checks they felt were wrong or biased against the right.
Bias
According to research performed by Real Clear Politics in the article: "Snopes and Editorializing Fact Checks," they determined that out of the six fact-checkers working with Facebook, "that Snopes is the least likely to fact-check matters of opinion." This is important because opinion is something that cannot be fact-checked. The article went on to say, "We have found that since we started our project, Snopes has fact-checked opinions only 2 percent of the time. In other words, 98 percent of the time, it sticks to matters of verifiable fact. Such an achievement is even more remarkable given that during this period, they produced the second-most articles of the six fact-checking outfits."
In 2021, Snopes' fact-checks remain properly sourced and factual. We have also found a reasonable balance between fact checks on the right and left as a new Democratic administration makes statements subject to fact-checking.
Finally, the Snopes website also features news reports from other sources such as The Associated Press. From an editorial perspective, the news stories they choose to publish are slightly more favorable to the left, such as this: "Founders: Removal from office is not the only purpose of impeachment." This story is republished from The Conversation. Original reporting such as this: "Is Trump Withdrawing Deportation Protections for Families of Active Troops?" is low biased, factual, and properly sourced to left-leaning sources such as NPR and The New York Times, as well as government sources. In general, Snopes' original reporting and news curation hold a left-of-center bias.
Failed Fact Checks
Snopes.com is a Fact-Checker.
Trust Project, The
Trust Project | Wikipedia entry
The Trust Project is a complex international consortium involving approximately 120 news organizations working towards greater transparency and accountability in the global news industry, including The Economist, The Globe and Mail, the Independent Journal Review, Mic [failed fact checks], Italy's La Repubblica, Il Sole 24 ORE, and La Stampa.
The Trust Project was started in 2014 by Sally Lehrman, a journalist and former director of Santa Clara University's journalism ethics program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and launched in November 2017. Richard Gingras, head of Google News is a co-founder. The Project is funded by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark's Philanthropic Fund, Google, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the Markkula Foundation, and Facebook. [Source: Wikipedia, 2021-10-21.]
Sally Lehrman (Chief Executive, The Trust Project )
Sally Lehrman [local copy, 2021-10-21], an award-winning journalist, founded and leads The Trust Project, an international collaboration that she began building in 2014 to strengthen public confidence in the news through accountability and transparency. The consortium, which involves about 100 news organizations, has created a set of digital standards called "Trust Indicators" that help the public and news distribution platforms easily identify reliable news sites. Lehrman provides vision and strategy, guiding the effort as it implements the news industry's first-ever transparency standards for users to see and machines to read, also overseeing collaborative implementation and scaling among newsrooms around the world. Sally Lehrman was named one of MediaShift's Top 20 Digital Innovators in 2018 for this work.
Major news distribution platforms including Google, Facebook and Bing [Microsoft Bing] are external partners to the effort and use the Trust Indicators in various ways, such as in search results, news feeds and display on user screens.
Sally Lehrman is an award-winning reporter on medicine, biotechnology and science policy. Her honors include a Peabody Award, Peabody/Robert Wood Johnson Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Programming, and Columbia/Du Pont Silver Baton (The DNA Files); the SPJ Wells Key (the Society of Professional Journalists' highest honor); various other reporting and writing awards; and the John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. Byline credits include Scientific American, Nature, Health, The Atlantic, Natural Medicine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Salon.com, and The DNA Files, distributed by NPR.
[ ... snip ... ]
News aggregators
In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and video blogs (vlogs) in one location for easy viewing. The updates distributed may include journal tables of contents, podcasts, videos, and news items.
Benefits. Depending on how they are configured, news aggregators can scrape a large swaths of the internet for information, countering a state of intellectual isolation known as a filter bubble (information bubbles).
[arXiv.org, 2023-01-26] Evolution of Filter Bubbles and Polarization in News Recommendation.
Recent work in news recommendation has demonstrated that recommenders can over-expose users to articles that support their pre-existing opinions. However, most existing work focuses on a static setting or over a short-time window, leaving open questions about the long-term and dynamic impacts of news recommendations.
In this paper, we explore these dynamic impacts through a systematic study of three research questions:
(1) How do the news reading behaviors of users change after repeated long-term interactions with recommenders?
(2) How do the inherent preferences of users change over time in such a dynamic recommender system?
(3) Can the existing SOTA static method alleviate the problem in the dynamic environment?
Concretely, we conduct a comprehensive data-driven study through simulation experiments of political polarization in news recommendations based on 40,000 annotated news articles.
We find that users are rapidly exposed to more extreme content as the recommender evolves. We also find that a calibration-based intervention can slow down this polarization, but leaves open significant opportunities for future improvements
Concerns. Depending on how they are configured, news aggregators generally provide unsupervised content, that must be carefully scrutinized for errors. omissions and facts.
RECOMMENDATION. The use of news aggregators is discouraged in favor of the pursuit of knowledge from a cross-section of reputable sources - ideally, primary sources.
News aggregation websites include: Facebook News, Google News, Drudge Report, HuffPost, Fark, Zero Hedge, Newslookup, Newsvine, Twitchy (a Twitter aggregator), World News Network, and The Daily Beast.
19th, The [19th News]
Wikipedia: The 19th entry
U.S. IRS Form 990: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: 19th News
Schedule A Part II of The 19th News' 2022 IRS Form 990 lists $41,320,779 gifts, grants, contributions, and membership fees received (not including any "unusual grant," - if any). Schedule B of that tax form lists financial contributors as "RESTRICTED" (i.e. declines to name them).
Venable LLP, Venable.com, 2018-07-18] Disclosure of Donors on Form 990 Filings No Longer Required for Most Non-Charities
On Monday, July 16, 2018, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organizations, among others, will no longer be required to disclose their large donors on their annual Form 990 filings.
The issue of disclosing donors of $5,000 or more on Schedule B of the Form 990 series filings submitted by nonprofit organizations each year has long been a sensitive one. Nonprofits worry about other organizations poaching their donors. And many donors, when giving to a sensitive or controversial cause, do not want their names publicly known. This latter issue has been exacerbated by the greatly increased use of section 501(c)(4) by organizations that want to make independent expenditures in political campaigns since the Citizens United Supreme Court case in 2010 made that possible [Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010)]. Much debate about the IRS' need for donor information has ensued. In making Form 990 filings available to the public, the IRS has redacted (and permitted nonprofits themselves to redact) the names and addresses of contributors. Nonetheless, information has been mistakenly released by the IRS from time to time, and pressure for change has been building.
The IRS released a new Revenue Procedure, Rev. Proc. 2018-38, which provides that Form 990 filers other than section 501(c)(3) organizations and section 527 organizations (which are political organizations, including political action committees) will no longer have to release the names and addresses of their donors. The requirement that section 501(c)(3) and section 527 organizations list their donors cannot be waived by the IRS, because it is statutory [Internal Revenue Code sections 6033(b) (for 501(c)(3) organizations), 6104(b) (for section 527 organizations)].
[ ... snip ... ]
Home page (19thNews.org): The 19th News
Media Bias Fact Check: The 19th News, 2021-03-29: overall, we rate The 19th News Left Biased based on editorial positions and advocacy for progressive causes. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to full transparency, proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2020 by Emily Ramshaw and Amanda Zamora, The 19th News is a nonprofit organization and website that serves women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. According to their About page they state "We're an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy." The name of the organization is based on the 19th Amendment [Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution], which gave women the right to vote. They add an asterisk at the end to indicate that work still needs to be done, as women and minorities continue to be disenfranchised at the ballot box.
Both Emily Ramshaw and Amanda Zamora were formerly on staff at the left-leaning The Texas Tribune.
Funded by / Ownership
The 19th is a nonprofit that was initially funded with 5 million dollars provided by Craig Newmark ($500,000), Kathryn Murdoch ($1 million), Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors [Rockefeller Foundation]'s Reproductive Health and Women's Rights Collaborative ($1 million) - and various amounts from The Ford Foundation, the Emerson Collective [see also: Axios | The Atlantic], the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Abigail Disney, Arnold Ventures, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Revenue is currently derived through donations and membership fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The 19th primarily reports news and commentary on government and politics as it relates to women, the LGBTQ community, and people of color. The 19th publishes original news reporting and often with minimally loaded wording such as "Law enforcement officers keep arresting Black women elected officials." This story like all the rest is properly sourced to credible media and information outlets such as The Associated Press, Rutgers.edu, PBS, and The Washington Post. Story selection favors the left covering topics such as climate change, human rights, and inequality.
Editorially, The 19th aligns with the Left as they frequently publish negative articles concerning conservatives and in particular former President Donald Trump such as "Trump wielded toxic masculinity as a weapon. It hurt America." In 2020 and 2021, The 19th reported on the coronavirus [COVID-19 pandemic] as it relates to women, persons of color, and the LGBTQ always taking a pro-science approach: "CDC study shows gender, racial gaps in COVID cases among young people." Further, The 19th support the consensus of science when it comes to climate change. In general, The 19th reports the news factually and with a consistent left-leaning progressive bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
[19thNews.org, 2024-01-26] The 19th turns four: What we've accomplished - and what's to come. On our anniversary, we're reflecting on the work that our readers have made possible and what's next in the consequential year ahead.
On our anniversary, we're reflecting on the work that our readers have made possible and what's next in the consequential year ahead. On January 27, 2020, when we first shared The 19th with the world, we were bracing for a wildly consequential presidential election, one that seemed to put our very democracy at stake. Our work - critical reporting at the intersection of gender, politics and policy - had never felt more needed. Our audiences - women and LGBTQ+ people, particularly those from underrepresented communities - had never felt more overlooked. But what we predicted would be a busy news cycle instead became a relentless one that would extend through our first three years.
A global pandemic. The killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The Capitol insurrection. The first woman - and first woman of color - vice president. The overturning of Roe v. Wade. The assault on LGBTQ+ rights nationwide. All of this happened against the backdrop of a fast-eroding news industry, with dramatic layoffs, heartbreaking closures, and far fewer reporters holding the powerful to account, let alone bringing diverse and representative coverage to American newsrooms.
Throughout it all, The 19th remains a true bright spot - thanks to the commitment and support of our readers and members. On our fourth birthday, we're reflecting on the work that you've made possible.
Our year in review
Over the past year, we published more than 600 stories, from accountability journalism that led an anti-abortion Arizona judge to recuse himself from a critical reproductive rights case, to a years-long investigation into allegations of druggings at a politically prominent Los Angeles LGBTQ+ club.
We won our first Online Journalism Award for breaking news coverage in the aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.
Our free distribution model led our stories to be republished hundreds of times, in national outlets like the PBS NewsHour and HuffPost; local outlets like MinnPost and Connecticut Mirror; and community- and issue-specific outlets like Capital B News and Inside Climate News.
[ ... snip ... ]
On that sustainability note: To date we've raised nearly $50 million in service of our journalism from more than 14,000 different donors. And we've continued to do our level best to care for our team, including providing six months of fully paid parental leave and four months of caregiver/elder care leave.
U.S. IRS Form 990: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: 19th News
[ ... snip ... ]
[19thNews.org] How to watch: The 19th's 'Breaking the News' film premieres on PBS. A documentary about The 19th's early days will be available nationwide. Here's where you can watch or stream it. | Independent Lens:sp Breaking The News | discussion: mastodon.social/@Persagen
When The 19th [Wikipedia: The 19th] went live on Jan. 27, 2020, "our work - critical reporting at the intersection of gender, politics and policy - had never felt more needed," CEO Emily Ramshaw wrote on The 19th's fourth anniversary last month [January 2024]. Now, several years, a pandemic and nearly 60 employees later, an award-winning documentary film about that period is available for 19th fans and readers who want to witness those early days for themselves.
"Breaking the News" (PBS) follows the inception, launch, and fledgling triumphs and challenges of The 19th's newsroom. It's a time capsule that spans major news events critical to The 19th's evolution: the coronavirus pandemic, the killing of Breonna Taylor, the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It also documents The 19th's internal struggles to overhaul age-old industry precedents while taking responsibility for its own shortcomings.
[ ... snip ... ]
[19thNews.org, 2023-04-18] A documentary about The 19th makes its world premiere at Tribeca. "Breaking The News" follows our team through the trials and tribulations of start-up days to capture some of the biggest stories of our lifetimes.
The 19th is coming to the Tribeca Film Festival [Wikipedia: Tribeca Festival]! A feature-length documentary about our nonprofit newsroom's first three years, "Breaking the News," will premiere at the prestigious festival in mid-2023-06.
The film Breaking the News" - made independently by a fleet of Emmy Awards-nominated and Academy Awards-nominated directors and producers, including Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston, Chelsea Hernandez, and Diane Moy Quon (Diane Quon - follows The 19th team through the trials and tribulations of The 19th's early start-up days. The film documents some of the biggest stories of our lifetimes - from the COVID-19 "she-cession," to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, to the voter suppression and police killings that roiled an already consequential election year (2022), to the attacks on LGBTQ+ rights nationally. The film also follows our search for culture, equity and capital amid a news business in crisis - as well as our efforts to balance our personal lives, children, and of course, dogs, with the pressures of launching a start-up in a pandemic.
It took courage for The 19th team to let our guard down and allow cameras into our personal and professional lives - knowing our mistakes, our challenges, our emotions would be visible to the world. The film is sometimes raw, always candid and unquestionably vulnerable. Most of all, we hope it is a service to our industry: a lucid picture of what it takes to challenge the status quo and break the mold in American media. "Breaking the News" will be screened multiple times at Tribeca, which takes place 2023-06-{07-18) in New York City.
(19thNews.org, 2023-06-07) The 19th partners with Digital Women Leaders to provide mentorship to Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellows. As part of the partnership, each of the The 19th's five Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellows will be paired with a mentor who specializes in the concentration the fellow is focused on.
The 19th is excited to announce a new partnership with Digital Women Leaders (DWL), a free mentorship program for women and non-binary people working in news aimed at addressing gender disparities in journalism leadership. DWL was created by Katie Hawkins-Gaar, co-founder of the Poynter Institute's Leadership Academy for Women in Media. Katie Hawkins-Gaar will design a specific mentorship program for The 19th's fellows.
As part of the partnership, each of The 19th's five Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellows will be paired with a mentor who specializes in the concentration the fellow is focused on: reporting, audience engagement or product. Fellows will have access to 1:1 mentorship for the second half of the fellowship and the months following the end of the program as they transition to work beyond The 19th.
"Digital Women Leaders has transformed the careers of some of the most accomplished women in U.S. journalism and I'm thrilled that our fellows will be able to tap into this incredible network even beyond their time with us," said Kari Cobham, The 19th's director of fellowships.
60 Minutes
β οΈ CAUTION: generally factual but sometimes potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Notable examples include fluffy pieces by 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl.
Wikipedia, 2023-04-03:
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, 60 Minutes was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard - who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. In 2002, 60 Minutes was ranked number six on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time." In 2013, 60 Minutes was ranked number 24 on TV Guide's list of the "60 Best Series of All Time". The New York Times has called 60 Minutes "one of the most esteemed news magazines on American television".
[ ... snip ... ]
Controversies
60 Minutes has been praised for landmark journalism and received many awards. However, 60 Minutes has also become embroiled in some controversy, including (in order of appearance) ...
[ ... snip ... ]
60 Minutes: Questionable Lesley Stahl's interviews
[Advocate.com, 2021-05-24] 60 Minutes Story Focuses on Transition Regret, Gets Slammed. A controversial segment gave credence to those who question trans identity.
60 Minutes is being excoriated for a story on transgender health care because of 60 Minutes' emphasis on people who regret transitioning. The story - which aired Sunday (2021-05-23), - saw Lesley Stahl interview four people who regretted going through gender transition and two health care professionals who said they support trans people's right to gender-affirming care, but think these procedures are sometimes undertaken without sufficient consideration.
"It greatly concerns me where the field has been going," psychologist Laura Edwards-Leeper told Lesley Stahl. "I feel like what is happening is unethical and irresponsible in some places." One of the detransitioners who appeared - Grace Lidinsky-Smith - is a cofounder of several organizations, including the Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (GCCAN) - which has been repudiated by another cofounder.
The 60 Minutes piece also featured Dr. Lee Savio Beers - [past-]president of the American Academy of Pediatrics - which opposes bills proposed in several states that would ban gender-affirming treatment for minors. One such anti-trans bill has become law in Arkansas, and a more limited bill has been signed in Tennessee. "These are not experimental treatments," Lee Savio Beers said. "They're really based in scientific literature, they're based in decades and decades of expert experience, and they're backed by a number of major medical organizations."
And Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Alphonso David appeared briefly, saying trans people "are being further marginalized and victimized by elected officials, by anti-equality forces." But 60 Minutes gave much less screen time to Lee Savio Beers and Alphonso David, than to those who regretted or questioned transition.
GLAAD (@GLAAD) responded with a seven-point tweet.
Tonight @60Minutes @LesleyRStahl aired a shameful segment fearmongering about trans youth. Parents of trans youth could walk away with the false belief that young people are being rushed into medical transition. That is simply untrue. (1/7)
... As the 60 Minutes piece noted, every major medical association supports affirming, age-appropriate care for trans youth and the guidelines for that care are safe and well-established. And yet, the majority of the story was devoted to "raising concerns" about youth accessing that care. (2/7)
... The segment also wrongfully implied that trans YouTubers and online communities which affirm trans youth are somehow brainwashing kids and turning them trans. That is dangerous and at the same time ridiculous. Aren't we past arguing that media can turn people gay or trans? (3/7)
... At a time when over 30 states have introduced bills targeting trans people, #60Minutes spotlighted the real harm such bills will have, but also chose to platform activists who try to sow doubt about the need for trans-affirming healthcare. (4/7)
... Furthermore, failing to disclose that a person profiled in the story is the president of a group that actively seeks to limit affirming transition-related healthcare is poor journalism and a disservice to viewers. (5/7)
... #60Minutes heard concerns from several trans leaders and, after spending months on the segment, they delivered a piece which still promulgates the same anti-trans dog whistles that we hear from anti-LGBTQ activists and in state legislatures like Arkansas. (6/7)
... Learn more about how to support and affirm trans youth from actual medical authorities at the ineAmerican Academy of Pediatrics | @AmerAcadPeds (7/7)
Chase Strangio - deputy director for trans justice at the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT and HIV Project - tweeted about the story as well.
@60Minutes, Lesley Stahl, Alexandra Poolos, and Collette Richards knew exactly the harm they were causing with last night's segment. They knew it was the wrong moment and a dangerous, unaccountable and limited angle. But they did it anyway. That's on all of you. -- Chase Strangio (@Chase Strangio)
The Human Rights Campaign did not respond directly to the 60 Minutes story, but sent out a press release detailing facts about gender-affirming and transition-related care - noting such care is lifesaving, that what it entails is different for every person, and that regret and detransitioning are extremely rare.
60 Minutes Overtime - an online program featuring material not included in the 60 Minutes broadcast - did have these comments from Alphonso David:
"I have a number of concerns about a story that talks about detransitioning without really focusing on the larger context of the trans experience. ... We also have to talk about the people who successfully transition -- the vast majority of people who do. And I'm concerned about that young person who is facing stigmatization and discrimination at home and at school, and they may attempt suicide because society has told them that they're worthless.
"I'm concerned about a population that has already been victimized and marginalized, and how a story that is taken out of context could further victimize and marginalize this community. ... Bringing a story to light about detransitioning without talking about the vast majority of people who positively transition, would cause concern because it sends a message. We need to also elevate the positive stories of people who successfully transition."
Some other critiques of the story:
Mx. D.E. Anderson: Hi, here's more about the detransitioner who appeared on 60 Minutes last night without 60 Minutes disclosing that she's the president of a detrans advocacy group that seeks to limit care to trans people in general, and has very questionable ties to conversion therapy. Grace Lidinsky-Smith has worked with Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics, Inc (ReIME) - a group that promotes anti-trans conversion therapy and "gender industry" conspiracy theories. ... -- Mx. D.E. Anderson (@Mx. D.E. Anderson)
THEE mj: @60Minutes you made a choice. At a moment when trans ppl are in particular danger in this country, when trans rights are being eroded at this very moment, you choose to amplify an anti-trans, right-wing talking point. We see you π‘
Zach Radcliff (he/they): #60minutes piece on #transhealth is horrible. They're focused on detransitioning instead of the issue of anti-trans legislation and more. Literally, an expect talks about how over fixation on detransitioners harms the trans community but they chose an anti-trans narrative
Zach Ford (he/they): Oh wow that @60Minutes segment focusing on detransitioning is about as dangerous and one-sided as it could have been. Trans regret rates top out at 5%. Telling a story only about detransitioners with only skeptical providers is spreading anti-trans propaganda. -- Zack Ford (@Zack Ford)
[2023-04-03, NewRepublic.com] What on Earth Was 60 Minutes Thinking With That Marjorie Taylor Greene Interview?. This was a masterclass in how not to interview someone on the far-right.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for a "national divorce" [secession]; lied about the 2020 election; spread conspiracy theories about 9/11, the 2018 Parkland shooting, and Jewish space lasers setting forests on fire in California; and repeatedly expressed support for fatal violence against Democrats [Wikipedia: Marjorie Taylor Greene: Advocacy based on conspiracy theories]. And Marjorie Taylor Greene was given an open platform on 60 Minutes. On Sunday (2023-04-02), the radical member of U.S. Congress - Marjorie Taylor Greene - joined CBS' Lesley Stahl for an exclusive and much-promoted interview special, in which the duo were seen walking the halls of Congress and Marjorie Taylor Greene was filmed showing off her CrossFit skills.
Aside from the odd "day in the life" aesthetic of the interview, Lesley Stahl's interview of Marjorie Taylor Greene - and perhaps CBS' edits of it - displayed a shocking deference to Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and her dangerous ideas. One moment in particular embodied the shortcomings of the interview: just enough pushback to show an effort, not enough to prove that the effort meant anything at all. Lesley Stahl asked Marjorie Taylor Greene about things Marjorie Taylor Greene has said in the past, like: "The Democrats are a party of pedophiles." "I would definitely say so," Marjorie Taylor Greene affirmed. "They support grooming children." "They are not pedophiles," Lesley Stahl responded. "Why would you say that?" "Democrats, Democrats support-- even Joe Biden, the president himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries," Marjorie Taylor Greene said. "Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children." "Wow. Okay," Lesley Stahl responded. "But my question really is why can't you fight for what you believe in without all that name-calling and without the personal attacks?"
That Lesley Stahl was unprepared to more directly confront for a major talking point among Republicans, and that Lesley Stahl reduced Republican's attacks on trans kids and gender-affirming care to "name-calling," speaks volumes about the folly of the entire 60 Minutesinterview. After an ensuing back-and-forth about name-calling, Lesley Stahl offered to move on. "Let me button this up and we'll move on," Lesley Stahl said, before asking about Marjorie Taylor Greene's hopes to bring America closer to her views, which include instituting a Christian government [theocracy], banning abortion nationally, defunding the FBI, and stopping immigration for four years. Lesley Stahl focused on the former [theocracy]. "The Constitution - the very First Amendment - prohibits having a religion in the government," Lesley Stahl pointed out. "Yet, the Founding Fathers quoted the Bible constantly and were driven by their faith," Marjorie Taylor Greene responded, somehow with the production leaving that as the last word. The 60 Minutes interview concludes almost like a foreboding movie trailer.
"As a fervent supporter of the now-indicted Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene was a featured speaker at Donald Trump's rally in Waco, Texas last weekend (2023-03-25). While Marjorie Taylor Greene is adored in Texas, the latest national poll has her approval rating at just 29 percent," a following voiceover read. A clip of Donald Trump follows. "Marjorie Taylor Marjorie Taylor Greene, you happened to be here," Donald Trump says. "Would you like to run for the Senate? I will fight like hell for you, I'll tell ya." "The question for her, and the country, is can Marjorie Taylor Greene expand her brash MTG brand beyond the right wing, populist base?" the voice-over finishes.
This half-critical, half-not approach characterized much of the interview. "Before Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene helped run the family construction company in Georgia," the interview's voice-over read in another part of the special on Marjorie Taylor Greene. The voice-over continued, describing Marjorie Taylor Greene as "known to be smart and fearless and has a history of believing in conspiracy theories." Why, exactly, Marjorie Taylor Greene is characterized as "smart" - and by whom - is not completely clear. And in a broader sense, calling Green "smart and fearless" is like calling The Simpsons' Mr. Burns "resourceful and bold."
The 60 Minutesproduction overall was too willing to move on - offering mere samplings of Marjorie Taylor Greene's issues paired with a touch of pushback. It embodied the sort-of journalism that insists on its merit by arguing that the best spokesperson for showing the wrongness of something is itself, rather than another observer explaining why exactly it is wrong. Lesley Stahl doesn't need to actually interrogate the absurdity or danger of something Marjorie Taylor Greene says; Lesley Stahl just needs to push back once to show the contrast, and then the viewers can just see for themselves.
In some sense, the production felt like a time-warp back to 2016; the special was a piece built for intrigue, a self-proclaimed holistic examination into someone who is neither intriguing nor enigmatic. And, though it should be needless to say, apparently it is not: providing such room for complexity about someone so simply unfit to represent this country is exactly how we got Donald Trump - and exactly how we'll keep getting more like him (heck, and maybe even more of him).
Agence France Presse (AFP)
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns regarding questionable content are due, in part, to ties to and funding from the French government. This concern is partly mitigated by virtue of the AFP Fact Check service - a department within Agence France Presse (AFP), a multi-lingual, multicultural news agency whose mission is to provide accurate, balanced and impartial coverage of news wherever and whenever it happens in the world on a continuous basis. As guaranteed by its founding statute, AFP speaks with an independent voice free from political, commercial or ideological influence. These commitments are reflected in AFP's Charter and editorial standards, which are detailed here.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate AFP Least Biased based on balanced story selection and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1835, Agence France Presse (AFP) is an international French news agency headquartered in Paris, France. French writer and translator Charles-Louis Havas founded Agence France Presse (AFP) as Agency Havas. In the early days, Charles-Louis Havas translated articles from foreign papers, selling the translations to bankers, traders, and politicians using carrier pigeons to dispatch news. Agence Havas was the first to start using the Morse Telegraph, which enabled them to transmit news quickly and became a primary means of distribution throughout France and Europe. Subsequently, Charles-Louis Havas transformed his company into a multinational advertising and public relations company.
Two of his employees, Paul Julius Reuter and Bernard Wolff, later founded their own news agencies, Reuters in London and Wolff in Germany. Following the liberation of Paris in 1944, Journalists of the French Resistance established AFP (Agence France Presse) as a wire service. The French government gave AFP the assets of Agence Havas, including the Paris building that became its headquarters.
As of April 2018, The Chairman & Chief Executive Officer is Fabrice Fries. Agence France Presse's Global Editor in Chief is Philip Chetwynd [local copy].
Funded by / Ownership
In 1981, the New Internationalist published an article called "The Big Four" (referring to the 'big four' news agencies United Press International, The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France Presse) in which they described Agence France Presse as "AFP is the only one which depends on subsidy from the government of its company - usually through official subscriptions by government offices. As a result, it is often regarded as the voice of the French government."
Currently, Agence France Presse (AFP) is still supported financially by the French state and gets up to 40 percent of its funding from the French government but maintains its editorial independence by parliament. In April 2018, AFP's chairman and CEO Emmanuel Hoog stepped down after failing to secure government support. The French state only controls three of the 18 seats on AFP's board; however, a CEO can't operate without its confidence since the French government, through its various agencies, is AFP's principal source of revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In review, AFP delivers news in video, text, photographs, multimedia, graphics, and video graphics. Agence France Presse (AFP) utilizes neutral headlines such as "Poland's Supreme Court top judge defies retirement law," and "Waves of strikes pound south Syria after talks fail." All information contained in news articles is sourced through quotations, links, and the use of field journalists covering stories. A factual search reveals that AFP has not failed any fact checks. In fact, AFP is considered a credible fact-checker in itself.
According to a Slate Magazine article, AFP first distributed and then tried to retract an unflattering photo of French President Francois Hollande, but this caused criticism as Slate states, "AFP had bowed to political pressure, thus causing some people to call into question the agency's credibility." Further, some organizations, such as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), claim that AFP has an anti-Israel bias. However, The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is a powerful Boston-based lobby group that tries to curb criticism of Israel in U.S. media. In other words, CAMERA has a strong pro-Israel bias.
Although we did not find substantial evidence of State bias in our review, it must be considered that 40% of their funding comes from the French government, which may influence reporting.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date. They are an IFCN fact-checker.
AlterNet
π STOP! Excluded from sources. AlterNet.org often lifts articles from Daily Kos and The New Civil Rights Movement - which due to questionable content is excluded from sources. Alternet also frequently lifts articles from Salon (and sometimes vice versa). While MediaBiasFactCheck.com rates Salon.com as "mostly factual," due to the overlap between content posted, shared, and reposted on DailyKos.com, AlterNet.org, The New Civil Rights Movement, Salon.com, ... I am excluding these three sources.
AlterNet.org landing page.
Wikipedia entry:
Alternet is a politically left-leaning website that was launched in 1998 by the non-profit now known as the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of The Raw Story. Some Alternet content is republished on Salon.
Clarification:
The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies [founded in 1987; now: Association of Alternative Newsmedia] founded the Institute for Alternative Journalism, which was incorporated in 1983-12.
AlterNet was founded in the fall of 1987 by the Institute for Alternative Journalism.
On 2018-04-09, it was announced that AlterNet was acquired by owners of The Raw Story, an online news organization, under the newly created company AlterNet Media. In an online statement, Raw Story founder John K. Byrne stated, "AlterNet will continue to carry content from the Independent Media Institute, its prior owner. Thus, much of the content you expect will remain the same. You will see articles by former AlterNet writers appearing with the Independent Media Institute byline." [Source: Wikipedia.]
See also:
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: left bias; Factual Reporting: mixed
Funded by / Ownership. Alternet is owned by the owners of The Raw Story under the name Alternet Media. The website is funded through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias.Overall, we rate Alternet far Left Biased based on story selection and wording that always favors the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to a few failed fact checks as well as the promotion of pseudoscience.
In review, Alternet publishes news with a far left bias through story selection and the use of emotionally loaded words such as these: "Trump goes off in an all-caps New Year's Eve Twitter meltdown: 'MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL,' and "The F Word: The Craven Right Wing Is Now Smearing Teenage School Shooting Survivors." The website also features a separate news category that focuses on negative reports about Donald Trump. When it comes to sourcing, Alternet typically uses known mainstream sources such as the New York Daily News and NBC News.
Alternet also frequently delves into pseudoscience with the promotion of anti-GMO propaganda, which is not consistent with the consensus of science. Alternet has consistently reported on the connection between cell phones and cancer, which is misleading as there is not a scientific consensus on whether radiation for cell phones causes cancer or not.
In general, Alternet consistently publishes pro-Left news stories and those that denigrate the right.
A factual search reveals that Alternet has a Mixed claim via Snopes and false claim from Check Your Fact.
Overall, we rate Alternet far Left Biased based on story selection and wording that always favors the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to a few failed fact checks as well as the promotion of pseudoscience. (5/13/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 12/30/2019)
AlterNet has received $25,000 from the Bauman Foundation, which has donated millions of dollars to left-of-center causes over the past decade. The Bauman Family Foundation also has ties to the Democracy Alliance.
Bauman Foundation: Grants, by Fiscal Year (July 01 - June 30) |
Data captured 2020-09-11. |
Grantee | Fiscal Year | Amount | Cumulative Amount |
AlterNet | 2008-09 | $25,000 | $25,000 |
American Conservative, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources: donor / funding information not disclosed; concerns over conservatism bias; Advisory Board includes the reprehensible Tucker Carlson [FOX News shill, conspiracy theorist, disinformationist]; ...
Wikipedia entry.
The American Conservative is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. The publication states that it exists to promote a conservatism that opposes unchecked power in government and business alike; promote the flourishing of families and communities through vibrant markets and free people; and embrace realism and restraint in foreign affairs based on America's national interests, otherwise known as paleoconservative. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has been bi-monthly.
The American Conservative was founded by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos in 2002 in opposition to the Iraq War. Daniel Strauss wrote:
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The American Conservative Right-Center Biased based on story selection that moderately favors the Right and does not hesitate to criticize Republicans (Trump) when not adhering to conservative policy. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2002 and published by the American Ideas Institute, The American Conservative is a bi-monthly journal of right-leaning opinion. According to their About page, they state "The American Conservative exists to promote a "Main Street" conservatism that opposes unchecked power in government and business; promotes the flourishing of families and communities through vibrant markets and free people; and embraces realism and restraint in foreign affairs based on America's vital national interests."
The American Conservative was founded by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos in 2002 in opposition to the Iraq War. The current editor is W. James Antle III.
Funded by / Ownership
The American Conservative is owned by the American Ideas Institute, a nonprofit organization that advances political conservationism. Sponsored content, advertising, and subscription fees generate revenue. The website does not disclose donor information.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The American Conservative has argued against American interventionism, against a debt-based fiscal policy, and against the intrusions on Americans' private lives by the institutions and mores that exist and the wisdom that underlies them. The American Conservative is a very well-written source with a libertarian perspective.
The American Conservative presents news and opinions with moderately loaded language: "What Happens When Kim Stands Trump Up at the Altar?" This story is very well sourced to Reuters and the National Interest. Although they are always opposed to Democratic Socialism, they also frequently report negatively on President Trump, especially as it relates to foreign policy. When it comes to science, The American Conservative supports the consensus of science with articles such as this: "A Judgement By Fire."
While they do not support the progressive agenda of a New Green Deal, they do acknowledge that action must be taken, albeit with a more free-market approach. Regardless of solutions, The American Conservative supports the consensus of science. However, during the 2020 United States presidential election, they have promoted election fraud information contrary to the findings of election experts. The article "Memorandum: How The 2020 Election Could Have Been Stolen" does not produce a single link to outside sources to verify the author's opinions.
Editorially, they support limited government, limited military presence in other countries, and general nationalism. In other words, this is a libertarian / paleoconservative organization. In general, they publish mostly opinion-based content that is mostly factual but sometimes uses poor sourcing techniques.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
American Oversight
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. American Oversight is a politically biased, 501(c)(3) nonprofit that won't disclose it's funding, donors - carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2022-02-11:
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Organization/Foundation | Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2017, American Oversight is a watchdog organization that uses litigation to access documents under FOIA (The ) protections. According to their about page, American Oversight is an "ethics watchdog and is the top Freedom of Information Act [Freedom of Information Act (United States)] litigator investigating the Trump Administration." American Oversight targets federal agencies such as Housing and Urban Development and Education departments [United States Department of Housing and Urban Development | United States Department of Education]. Austin Evers (Former Senior Counsel under the Obama Administration) is the Executive Director and founder of American Oversight, and the senior adviser is Melanie Sloan (a former Democratic Congressional aide and founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The American Oversight website lists the staff and their bios. American Oversight is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Funded by / Ownership
Revenue for American Oversight is primarily derived from donations. According to USA Today, American Oversight is organized "as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and doesn't plan to disclose its funding sources." Further, Melanie Sloan says, "We don't discuss our donors."
Analysis / Bias
American Oversight consists of the following sections: Investigation, States, Documents, and News. In 2018-04, American Oversight introduced its Parallel Investigations Initiative, and under the Documents section, you can filter through the numerous FOIA requests they file. On most days, they file multiple requests such as this: FOIA to DOI seeking records relating to mining leases held by a subsidiary of a company owned by Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner's Washington, D.C. landlord.
In review, American Oversight uses emotionally loaded language in its headlines, such as "Sessions Letter Shows DOJ Acted On Trump's Authoritarian Demand to Investigate Clinton" and "News Roundup: Trump Administration's Defiance of Congressional Subpoenas." American Oversight utilizes credible sources such as KFGO (radio station serving the metropolitan area), CBS News, The Hill, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico.
In general, American Oversight's sole purpose is to keep the former Trump Administration and its supporters accountable through document requests and lawsuits. In many ways, American Oversight is the left-leaning equivalent of Judicial Watch, minus Judicial Watch's numerous failed fact checks.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
American Prospect, The
Wikipedia
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The American Prospect Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that routinely favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1990, The American Prospect is a quarterly American political magazine and website dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, D.C., The American Prospect says it aims "to advance liberal and progressive goals through reporting, analysis, and debate about today's realities and tomorrow's possibilities." The magazine was founded by Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich, and Paul Starr, with Kuttner and Starr currently serving as editors.
Funded by / Ownership
The nonprofit The American Prospect Inc. owns The American Prospect. Donations, advertising, and subscription fees generate revenue. The website does not disclose donors.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The American Prospect reports original political news from a liberal perspective. Stories are well written, and headlines contain moderately loaded language that favors the left, such as this: ...
Editorially, The American Prospect favors liberal positions; however, they present factual and evidence-based information.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
American Public Media
Homepage: APMReports.org
Wikipedia (2022-01-20): American Public Media
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2021-12-25): American Public Media: overall, American Public Media is Left-Center Biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left but is always well-sourced and factually accurate.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2004, American Public Media is the second-largest producer and distributor of public radio programs in the United States after NPR. American Public Media produces content for NPR.
Funded by / Ownership
American Public Media Group is the parent company of American Public Media, Minnesota Public Radio, and Southern California Public Radio. American Public Media Group operates Public Radio Market under license from American Public Media.
Analysis / Bias
In review, like NPR, American Public Media does not use loaded words, and all information is sourced correctly. Specifically, they use BBC as their primary news source, which is highly credible with a slight leftward bias in story selection.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Associated Press, The (AP)
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Associated Press borderline Left-Center Biased due to left-leaning editorializing, but Least Biased on the whole due to balanced story selection. We also rate them Very-High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
The Associated Press (AP) is a nonprofit news cooperative with a profit of $1.6 million in 2016. It also sells content to other media organizations. According to an article titled "AP reports loss on one-time accounting charges," The Associated Press lost $74 million in 2017, and it states the reason as "mostly due to one-time accounting charges related to the federal tax overhaul passed late last year." AP's Chief Financial Officer is Ken Dale.
Analysis / Bias
AP utilizes moderate-loaded language in their headlines in their political coverage, such as "AP Exclusive: Before Trump job, Manafort worked to aid Putin." However, the articles are always well-sourced. When it comes to their economic coverage, they maintain neutral language and least biased coverage: "U.S.-China tariffs: What's behind them, who stands to be hurt?" The AP also publishes well-researched and sourced articles such as "Science Says: How family separation may affect kids' brains," utilizing pro-science sources such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.
When it comes to reporting on the Trump administration, The Associated Press usually maintains a neutral voice. However, in some articles, the author demonstrates bias through loaded emotional language such as this: "PUSHED Ukrainian officials to investigate BASELESS corruption allegations against the Bidens." While this statement is factual, using "Pushed" and "Baseless" conveys Rudy Giuliani's negative emotions. In general, The Associated Press publishes low-biased, highly factual news and, in some cases, left-biased editorializing by their authors.
Failed Fact Checks
They are a certified IFCN fact-checker.
Association of Alternative Newsmedia
Source: Wikipedia, 2021-10-15.
The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (ANN), formerly known as the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, is a trade association of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. It was founded in 1978 in Seattle, Washington, with 30 newspapers from America's largest cities. Today, it provides services to many generally liberal or progressive weekly newspapers across the United States and in Canada. The association is made up of 131 newspapers which are published in 42 states, Washington D.C., and four Canadian provinces. States not represented are Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
In July 2011, the organization's name was changed from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies to the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, by a vote of members attending the group's annual meeting.
The Association of Alternative Newsmedia also operates AltWeeklies.com [2021: now redirects to main landing page AAN.org] - a Web portal that highlights the best news stories, features, arts criticism and political commentary from its member newspapers.
Members
See Wikipedia entry. 2021-10-15: AlterNet is not listed; The Raw Story is listed.
Independent Media Institute
Landing page | Mission ("About")
Clarification:
The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies [founded in 1987; now: Association of Alternative Newsmedia] founded the Institute for Alternative Journalism, which was incorporated in 1983-12.
AlterNet was founded in the fall of 1987 by the Institute for Alternative Journalism.
2018-04-09, it was announced that AlterNet was acquired by owners of The Raw Story, an online news organization, under the newly created company AlterNet Media.
Source: Wikipedia, 2021-10-15.
AlterNet was founded in the fall of 1987 by the Institute for Alternative Journalism, which was incorporated in December 1983 with a mission to serve as a clearinghouse for important local stories generated by the members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies [now: Association of Alternative Newsmedia]. The founding editor of AlterNet was Alan Green, who with his deputy, Margaret Engle, created print and electronic mechanisms to syndicate both the works of Association of Alternative Newsweeklies papers and freelance contributors, among them Michael Moore and Abbie Hoffman. Margaret Engle took over for Alan Green in 1989 and ran the news service until 1993, in that time dramatically expanding AlterNet's base of contributors and client newspapers. Upon her resignation, Engle was succeeded by Don Hazen, who had been hired by the Institute for Alternative Journalism in 1991 to be its first executive director. AlterNet publishes a combination of policy critiques, investigative reports and analysis, grassroots success stories, and personal narratives.
Christine Triano was Associate Director of the Institute for Alternative Journalism, in 1996.
Media Heroes are annual awards by the Institute for Alternative Journalism. Frederick Clarkson was named among the "Media Heroes of 1992" James Danky was named a Media Hero in 1993.
In 1995, Media Heroes awards went to Public Media Center, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Institute for Global Communications, Janine Jackson, Laura Flanders, CounterSpin, Gary Delgado, David Barsamian, Alternative Radio, Haiti Truth Team, Salim Muwakkil, John Schwartz, and Artists for a Hate Free America were presented in MediaCulture Review (January/February 1995).
In 1996, Leslie Savan was named one of "The Top Ten Media Heroes". Patricia Scott, and Julie Drizin were named to the "Top Ten Media Heroes of 1996" Paul Klite, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Media Watch, received a Media Hero Award from the Institute for Alternative Journalism in 1996. Amy Goodman, Bob Herbert, Detroit Sunday Journal, Gary Webb, Herbert Schiller, James Ridgeway, Karl Grossman, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Norman Solomon, and Urvashi Vaid received the 1997 Media Hero Award.
In 1997, Media Heroes awards were presented at the second Media & Democracy Congress. The Institute for Alternative Journalism named David Barsamian one of its Top Ten Media Heroes.
The Institute for Alternative Journalism became the Independent Media Institute some time before December 1999. After the sale of AlterNet to the new company - AlterNet Media in April 2018 - the Independent Media Institute launched a series of new programs including the Make It Right Project.
Atlas Obscura
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to fake articles (disinformation) - a consequence of reliance on user-generated content, such as fabricator Blair Mastbaum.
Home page: Atlas Obscura
Wikipedia, 2024-01-29: Atlas Obscura
Atlas Obscura is an American-based online magazine and travel company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via user-generated content. The articles on the website cover a number of topics including history, science, food, and obscure places.
Wikipedia, 2024-01-29" Blair Mastbaum
Blair Mastbaum (born January 24, 1979) is an American writer and a former model who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Mastbaum fabricated a series of stories published by Atlas Obscura. The articles were retracted after investigations found plagiarism, fabricated quotes and interviews, and misinformation.
Media Bias Fact Check: Atlas Obscura
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | MBFC's Country Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
2023-12-21: Overall, we rate Atlas Obscura as Least Biased based on non-political coverage and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record.
[π The Walrus (theWalrus.ca), 2024-01-26] Around the World in Eighty Lies. How a writer fabricated a series of stories for Atlas Obscura. | Discussion: Hacker News, 2024-01-29
Atlantic, The
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. The Atlantic has a history of publishing transphobic content - which warrants closer scrutiny: [theNation.com, 2023-02-23] I Signed The New York Times Open Letter. I Have More to Say. The New York Times is not alone in its obscene coverage of transgender people. ... Other prestigious publications like The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine have played their part in pushing forward narratives that put the lives of trans people in danger. ...
Wikipedia, 2021-09-27:
The Atlantic is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. ... After experiencing financial hardship and undergoing several ownership changes in the late 20th century, The Atlantic was purchased by businessman David G. Bradley, who refashioned it as a general editorial magazine primarily aimed at serious national readers and "thought leaders". In 2010, The Atlantic posted its first profit in a decade. In 2016, the periodical was named Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors. In 2017-07, David Bradley sold a majority interest in the publication to Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective [see also: Axios | The 19th].
TheAtlantic.com, provides daily coverage and analysis of breaking news, politics and international affairs, education, technology, health, science, and culture. theAtlantic.com's executive editor is Adrienne LaFrance, and the editor-in-chief is Israeli-American Jeffrey Goldberg.
The Atlantic legal journalist Andrew Cohen is a Senior Editor at The Marshall Project, and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice [local copy].
Disambiguation: The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen is not Andrew Zebulon Cohen (born 1955) - a Canadian journalist, author, and professor of journalism at Carleton University's School of Journalism, and Norman Paterson School of International Affairs - who has written widely on international affairs and on Canadian politics. ... As of 2021-11-18, Andrew Zebulon Cohen does not have a Wikipedia page.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2021-09-27: overall, we rate The Atlantic Left-Center Biased due to editorial positions and High for factual reporting based on excellent sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
LEFT-CENTER BIAS: these media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources. Overall, we rate The Atlantic Left-Center Biased due to editorial positions and High for factual reporting based on excellent sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
[theAtlantic.com, 2023-03-29] A Great Day for The Atlantic. The magazine won the top honor at the 2023 National Magazine Awards.
Axios
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to tampering of associated Wikipedia entry, founders' associations with { BuzzFeed | The Huffington Post | ... }, financial controversies; paid advertisers from neoliberal disinformationists { ExxonMobil | Koch Industries | proto-neo-fascism: Axios fires reporter who called Ron DeSantis' press release "propaganda" | ... }; ...
See also: Politico.
Wikipedia, 2021-12-16:
Axios is an American news website based in Arlington County, Virginia. It was founded in 2016 and launched the following year by former Politico journalists Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz. The site's name is based on the Greek: "αΌΞΎΞΉΞΏΟ" ("Γ‘xios"), meaning "worthy".
Axios' articles are typically brief and matter-of-fact; most are shorter than 300 words and use bullet points so they are easier to scan. In addition to news articles, Axios produces daily and weekly industry-specific newsletters (including Mike Allen's Axios AM, a successor to his popular Playbook newsletter for Politico), two daily podcasts and a documentary news series on HBO.
History
Jim VandeHei said he wanted Axios to be a "mix between The Economist and Twitter". The company initially covered a mix of business, politics, technology, health care, and media. Jim VandeHei said Axios would focus on the "collision between tech and areas such as bureaucracy, healthcare, energy, and the transportation infrastructure". At launch, Nicholas Johnston, a former managing editor at Bloomberg L.P., was named editor-in-chief.
In the summer of 2016, Axios secured $10 million in a round of financing led by Lerer Hippeau [see also: BuzzFeed discussion]. Backers include media-partner NBC News, Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective [see also: The 19th | The Atlantic], Greycroft Partners, and David Bradley and Katherine Bradley - owners of Atlantic Media.
Axios had raised $30 million as of 2017-11. Axios planned to focus on "business, technology, politics, and media trends". Axios generates revenue through short-form native advertising and sponsored newsletters. It earned more than $10 million in revenue in its first seven months. Its advertisers include ExxonMobil and Koch Industries.
In 2017-01 Axios hired as an executive vice president Evan Ryan, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and a former staffer for Vice President Joe Biden. As of 2017-03, the company said it had 60 employees with 40 working in editorial. Axios had 6 million visitors in 2017-09, according to Comscore. As of 2017-11, Axios said it had 200,000 subscribers to 11 newsletters, with an average open rate of 52%. The same month [2017-11], Axios said it would use a new $20 million investment to expand data analysis, product development, fund audience growth, and increase staff to 150, up from 89.
In 2019-03 and 2019-04, HuffPost and Wired reported that Axios had paid a firm to improve its reputation by lobbying for changes to the Wikipedia articles on Axios and Jonathan Swan (an Australian journalist who works as a political reporter for Axios | Jonathan Swan: controversy).
In July 2020, Axios received $4.8 million in federal loans from the Paycheck Protection Program for salary replacement during the COVID-19 pandemic. It later returned the money, with Politico journalists Jim VandeHei explaining that the loans had become "politically polarizing". In 2020-09, The Wall Street Journal reported that Axios was on track to be profitable in 2020 "despite the economic turmoil stemming from the COVID-19 coronavirus [COVID-19 pandemic] that led to broad layoffs and pay cuts at many media outlets."
In 2021-05 The Wall Street Journal reported that merger discussions between Axios and The Athletic had ended, with The Athletic opting to pursue a deal with The New York Times.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Axios just Left of Center biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left. They are High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and zero failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Axios Media or Axios is a news and information company started in 2016 by Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei, former Chief White House correspondent at Politico, Mike Allen, and former Politico Chief Revenue Officer Roy Schwartz.
Funded by / Ownership
In the summer of 2016, Axios secured $10 million in financing led by Lerer Hippeau [see also: BuzzFeed discussion]. Backers include media-partner NBC News; Laurene Powell Jobs (the widow of Steve Jobs)'s investment vehicle the Emerson Collective [see also: The 19th | The Atlantic]; Greycroft Partners; and David Bradley and Katherine Bradley - owners of Atlantic Media. 2017-11, Axios said that it had raised an additional $20 million. WndrCo, a media-and-technology firm founded by DreamWorks Pictures CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, is a new investor in the round. Axios Media Group owns Axios.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Axios covers news and mostly American politics. There is minimal use of loaded language in headlines such as this: "Go deeper: How the NRA's spending shows the shifting midterms landscape." Further, all articles are well sourced to credible media outlets and/or quotes people making official statements. An analysis of news stories reveals that more favor the left through wording and volume of stories.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
[Truthout.org, 2023-03-16] Axios Fires Reporter for Calling DeSantis Press Release "Propaganda" in Email. The termination is a show of how "neutral" media outlets inevitably prop up fascism.
News outlet Axios fired a reporter in Tampa, Florida, this week after he called a press release from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) administration "propaganda" in an email that Ron DeSantis officials posted online to smear the reporter.
In a reply to a press release about a Ron DeSantis event called "Exposing the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Scam in Higher Education" from the Florida Department of Education, reporter Ben Montgomery said, "This is propaganda, not a press release."
A screenshot of the email was posted on Twitter by Florida Education Department Communications Director Alex Lanfranconi almost immediately after it was sent, as timestamps on the email and the tweet suggest.
Hours later, on Monday evening (2023-03-13), Ben Montgomery received a call from Axios local executive editor Jamie Stockwell, Ben Montgomery says, per The Washington Post. Jamie Stockwell reportedly asked Ben Montgomery to confirm that he had indeed sent the email before the outlet fired him, saying that Ben Montgomery's "reputation in the Tampa Bay area" was "irreparably tarnished."
Ron DeSantis' press release is available online and is full of thinly veiled racism, which is nothing new from the DeSantis administration, especially in its attacks on education and the teaching of Black history and LGBTQ topics.
The press release reads like a far-right screed, railing on "divisive concepts such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives" and critical race theory. The press release suggests, as Ron DeSantis has implied in his actions and essentially outright said, that diversity initiatives in higher education are discriminatory against white people, playing into the far-right's white supremacist and completely fabricated conspiracy theories about the "Great Replacement" of white people in society by global elites.
"This sort of thing has a chilling effect. Nobody wants to have their life disrupted by this machine," Ben Montgomery said in an interview with Talking Points Memo. "They call it 'media accountability,' and it is not that. It's meaner than that, and more personal, and affecting. ... It has a quieting effect and that's a shame. It's sad for democracy, and sad for all of us."
Ben Montgomery's termination by Axios is a show of how supposedly "neutral" news outlets like Axioslegitimize and elevate fascists like Ron DeSantis as they plunge the U.S. further to the right. This is evidenced by how quickly Ben Montgomery was fired by Axios for a private communication, and by the fact that Axios would take such a drastic move against Ben Montgomery, whose "propaganda" comment was actually quite mild in describing Ron DeSantis and his war against civil rights and the free press.
Ron DeSantis and many other far-right politicians are highly aware of this weak spot in the corporate media, and openly take advantage of it in order to spread their propaganda. Donald Trump is a master in this art, and it has been deployed by other right-wing politicians like West Virginia Republican Governor Jim Justice, who recently pressured West Virginia Public Broadcasting into terminating a reporter over a story about disabled people being abused in West Virginia state facilities.
This sort of propagandizing, press complicity and political silencing is, in fact, a fixture of fascists throughout history; historians have documented the ways in which outlets like The New York Times uplifted Adolf Hitler during his rise to power, for instance - ultimately aiding Adolf Hitler in taking over as chancellor of Germany, and carrying out The Holocaust. Adolf Hitler - along with his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, whipped up support for The Holocaust through control of the media nationwide, including suppressing journalists who disagreed with Nazism.
[NPR.org, 2022-08-08] Axios agrees to sell to Cox for $525 million in cash.
Less than six years after launching its news site, Axios has struck a purchase deal with Cox Enterprises worth some $525 million, the two companies announced on Monday [2022-08-08]. The deal promises to meld two businesses that are distinctly different. Axios, the startup based in Arlington, Virginia is famous for its condensed, bullet-pointed stories. Cox Enterprises is a family-owned conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta that owns Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, along with substantial enterprises in broadband and other areas.
The two companies' leaders say they're united by a shared goal: boosting local journalism, at a time when the internet has laid waste to news outlets across the U.S. "We have found our kindred spirit for creating a great, trusted, consequential media company that can outlast us all," Axios CEO and co-founder Jim VandeHei said, in a statement posted by Cox. "Our shared ambitions should be clear: to spread clinical, nonpartisan, trusted journalism to as many cities and as many topics as fast as possible." "Local watchdog journalism is so important to the health of any community, and no one is more focused on building that out nationally than Axios," Cox chairman and CEO Alex Taylor said, in a separate announcement posted by Axios.
[ ... snip ... ]
Baltimore Sun
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to January 2024 purchase by notorious right-wing millionaire / Trumpist David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group - a donor to far-right political messaging machines like π Project Veritas, and π Turning Point USA [main page]
[Popular.info, 2024-01-17] Right-wing media mogul David D. Smith buys the Baltimore Sun. David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair), purchased the Baltimore Sun - the largest newspaper in Maryland - for an undisclosed sum.
David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair), purchased the Baltimore Sun - the largest newspaper in Maryland - for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition means another powerful media outlet will be under the control of a wealthy conservative businessman with a history of using local media outlets to push an ideological agenda. Smith is the son of Sinclair founder Julian Sinclair Smith and, along with his brothers, controls the company. Sinclair, a publicly traded company, owns or operates 185 local television stations across 86 markets.
A 2018 study published in the American Political Science Review found that stations purchased by Sinclair "coverage of national politics at the expense of local politics" and undergo "a significant rightward shift in the ideological slant of coverage." Sinclair regularly requires its local affiliates to run segments pushing right-wing talking points. In 2018, Sinclair affiliates were required to have local anchors read a script warning views about "fake stories" being published by other media outlets "to push their own personal bias and agenda." The trend was described as "extremely dangerous to a democracy." The argument, which included no actual examples, matched then-president Donald Trump's rhetoric about the media. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Sinclair stations were also required to run political commentary from Boris Epshteyn, who previously served as a Trump advisor and surrogate. Sinclair hired Epshteyn as its chief political analyst. Epshteyn's segments for Sinclair were mostly indistinguishable from his work for the Trump campaign. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and advisor, said that in 2016, the Trump campaign provided Sinclair stations with extensive access to Trump in exchange for friendly coverage that did not include fact-checking. The history of using Sinclair-owned stations to push a right-wing agenda predates Trump. In 2004, "Sinclair ordered its stations to broadcast an hour-long documentary - preempting prime-time programming - titled Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal that blamed Democratic nominee John Kerry for the torture of American prisoners of war in Vietnam." ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Smith did not purchase the Baltimore Sun alone. He brought along one partner: Armstrong Williams, a right-wing pundit and operative. Williams has his own syndicated show on Sinclair stations. His social media accounts are full of incendiary statements about Democrats and liberals. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Armstrong served as an advisor to former presidential candidate and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson. He claims to have paid for Justice Clarence Thomas' wedding reception. In 2005, Armstrong lost his syndicated column after it was revealed that he had been paid $240,000 by the George W. Bush administration to promote their signature education initiative, No Child Left Behind. FOLLOW THE MONEY. Smith has used his vast wealth to support a variety of far-right causes. The Baltimore Banner reports that since 2015, Smith, through his family foundation, has donated large sums to Young Americans for Liberty ($581,000), Project Veritas ($536,000), Turning Point USA ($150,000), and Moms for Liberty ($121,000). ...
[ ... snip ... ]
In 2022, Smith backed a successful ballot initiative to impose term limits on Baltimore's elected officials. Currently, Smith is "underwriting Renew Baltimore, a ballot drive to cap and lower the property tax rate." Now, Smith has a new tool in his arsenal to shape Baltimore's politics: the city's paper of record.
[NewRepublic.com, 2024-01-17] Baltimore Sun's New Right-Wing Owner Kicks Things Off by Insulting Everyone on Staff. David Smith, of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, is laying out a dangerous vision for Maryland's largest daily newspaper.
The Baltimore Sun's new owner doesn't seem to be on the same page as the paper's staff. David D. Smith, the chairman of the monopolistic, conservative, local media empire Sinclair Broadcast Group, scooped up Baltimore's hometown legacy paper last week for an unspecified, nine-figure dollar point - but his outsize ideas and a crude first impression might have just slapped a damper on the partnership from the get-go. During a contentious two-hour meet and greet with staff on Tuesday, Smith said he had read the daily paper - which has been a staple in the Baltimore market since its inception in 1837 - just four times, according to NPR's David Folkenflik. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
It's clear what Smith's aim is with his purchase of Maryland's largest daily newspaper. His TV empire's local Baltimore station has been keen on a series of coverage blaming the city's Black, Democratic mayor, Brandon Scott, for a flurry of local issues, including ongoing gun violence and education-related issues. And Smith's tax records, obtained by the Associated Press, paint a clearer picture of the multimillionaire's political affiliations, with donations to far-right political messaging machines like Project Veritas and Turning Point USA. Campaign contributions by the 73-year-old have also generally veered Republican for the last couple decades, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Like most legacy papers around the nation, The Baltimore Sun has been gutted and gutted again by decades of cycling corporate ownership that have drained resources, cut salaries, and depleted staff for the sake of inflated executive bonuses. The Sun's last change of hands came in May 2021, when the hedge fund Alden Global Capital purchased Tribune Publishing for $633 million, snatching The Baltimore Sun and nearly 200 other local U.S. newspapers, including The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, in the process.
[NewRepublic.com, 2024-01-19] The Baltimore Sun's New Owner Isn't Exactly a Paragon of "Family Values". David Smith, of the conservative Sinclair Broadcasting Group, has a very, very different past.
David Smith, the longtime chairman of Sinclair Broadcasting Group who recently scooped up the Sun in an undisclosed nine-figure deal, has lived a salacious private life at odds with his conservative media empire. In August 1996, the Sun reported that Smith was caught by police in an undercover sting while receiving oral sex from a sex worker in a company-owned Mercedes. The Baltimore-based businessman was then detained overnight in the city's Central Booking Center. According to the paper, police said the sex worker broke off conversation with an undercover police officer when she saw "her regular date driving in the area." She then ran over to a 1992 Mercedes, registered to Sinclair, and got in on the passenger side. But that was just the one time Smith "got caught," according to one unidentified friend of the media mogul who spoke with GQ in 2005. ...
Bangor Daily News
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to historical right-wing bias towards conservatism and the Republican Party, and historical revisionism (e.g. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech.
Website: Bangor Daily News
Wikipedia: Bangor Daily News, 2023-01-18:
The Bangor Daily News is an American newspaper covering a large portion of central and eastern Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine. The Bangor Daily News was founded on 1889-06-18; it merged with the Bangor Whig and Courier in 1900. Also known as the News or the BDN, the Bangor Daily News is published by the Bangor Publishing Company - a local family-owned company. The Bangor Daily News has been owned by the Towle-Warren family for four generations; current publisher Richard J. Warren is the great-grandson of J. Norman Towle, who bought the paper in 1895. Since 2018, the Bangor Daily News has been the only independently owned daily newspaper in Maine.
History
[ ... snip ... ]
In 2018, the Bangor Daily News became the state's only independently owned daily newspaper in Maine, after MaineToday Media, owned by Reade Brower, acquired additional newspapers in Maine. MaineToday now owns seven of Maine's eight daily newspapers:
the Portland Press Herald,
the Maine Sunday Telegram,
the Times Record of Brunswick, Maine,
the Journal Tribune of Biddeford, Maine,
the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, Maine,
the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Maine, and
the Coastal Journal in Bath, Maine.
Although Reade Brower's company does not own the Bangor Daily News, it does provide printing services for the Bangor Daily News.
As of 2020, about half of the Bangor Daily News's journalists were based in Bangor, with the other half spread across Maine.
In 2022-05, the newsroom staff unionized with the Maine NewsGuild, and won recognition from management.
[ ... snip ... ]
Editorial stance
The Bangor Daily News's editorial stance has traditionally leaned toward conservatism and the Republican Party [Republican Party] - in contrast to the Portland Press Herald, which was regarded as having a more liberal, pro-Democratic [Democratic Party] editorial stance. The Bangor Daily News historically endorsed Republican candidates for office, such as Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election - but has also sometimes endorsed Democratic candidates. In the 1974 Maine gubernatorial election, the Bangor Daily News endorsed independent candidate James B. Longley: "The newspaper had always endorsed Republicans, so backing an independent was stunning." The endorsement was a major boost to James B. Longley's candidacy. The Bangor Daily News also backed independent candidate Herman "Buddy" Frankland, and Republican candidate Susan Collins.
The Bangor Daily News's editorial board endorsed Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election, but endorsed Democrat John Kerry over George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. In 2008, the Bangor Daily News endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president, Republican Susan Collins for Senate, and Democrats Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree for Maine's congressional seats. The Bangor Daily News's editorial board endorsed Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: Bangor Daily News, 2022-03-18:
Overall, we rate the Bangor Daily News Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that slightly favor the left and High for factual reporting.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Newspaper | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 1889, the Bangor Daily News is an American newspaper covering a large portion of rural Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine.
Funded by / Ownership
The Bangor Daily News is owned and published by the Bangor Publishing Company. The Bangor Daily News is the only independently owned daily newspaper in Maine. Funding comes through advertising and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
The Bangor Daily News publishes local news through journalists and national news through the republication of The Associated Press news. There is minimal use of loaded language, and all information is sourced properly. Editorially, the paper leans left and typically endorses Democratic Party candidates. Further, the Bangor Daily News has never failed a fact check. In general, the Bangor Daily News holds a left-leaning editorial bias and reports news factually.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
[NPR.org, 2023-01-18] Maine newspaper apologizes for running a redacted version of 'I Have a Dream' speech.
This is the offending article: [BangorDailyNews.com, 2023-01-15] Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream | local copy
A Maine newspaper has apologized for publishing a heavily redacted version of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech [Wikipedia: I Have a Dream] on Sunday (2023-01-15), after a deluge of backlash from readers, on social media, and even a cable news show host criticized the Bangor Daily News for whitewashing the Black civil rights leader's legacy on what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 94th birthday.
The Bangor Daily News's editorial board has run the edited speech on and off since 2011. While some readers condemned the Bangor Daily News for omitting the parts of the speech that explicitly address the links between systemic racism [institutional racism] and poverty, this is the first year the Bangor Daily News says it has been the target of such impassioned anger.
"For years, we have published the same editorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Typically, this abridged version of one of the great pieces of American oratory, Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 'I Have a Dream' speech, receives little fanfare. That was not the case this year," (2023-01-15) the editorial board of the Bangor Daily News said on Tuesday (2023-01-17).
After some introspection, and a conversation with an unnamed Portland, Maine city council member who expressed their own dismay, the board said it has seen the error of its ways. It explained that the Bangor Daily News often recycles editorials on holidays when readership tends to be low and that the entirety of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech is simply too long to print in full. "The thinking has been that an abridged version was a way to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy." The board continued: "It is clear that this institutional stagnation was a mistake on our part and that our thinking needs to be revisited, especially in light of recent ."
But the board did not offer an explanation as to why the original author or authors of the piece stripped the sections of the speech that directly addressed the violence of racial suppression and white supremacy at the time - sections that illustrate the radical and leftist views that made Martin Luther King Jr. such a controversial figure.
Among the parts that were excised over the last decade are roughly five paragraphs in which Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about America giving "the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.' "It also includes the section in which Martin Luther King Jr. touched on "the unspeakable horrors of police brutality," and the degrading Jim Crow laws of the South [Southern United States], as well as the complicity of the North [Northern United States].
In another edit, the board removed the phrase, "vicious racists" from the following sentence, and changed "down in Alabama" to "the state of Alabama":
"I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of 'interposition' and 'nullification' - one day right there in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."
Martin Luther King Jr. was considered divisive in the 1960s
Historian and professor Kevin M. Kruse was among those who lambasted the Bangor Daily News for running the cut-down speech that he said presents a "sanitized and sterilized" version of the Black leader (Martin Luther King Jr.) - while the Bangor Daily News also prefaced it with a message calling on readers to "take a step away from our divisive politics and recall his defining speech." Kevin Kruse on Twitter posted an image of the Bangor Daily News's 1963 editorial about the march in Washington, D.C. [March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963-08-28]. The editorial called for an end to all civil rights marches. Kevin Kruse noted that Martin Luther King Jr. was considered divisive at the time.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s own daughter - Bernice King - on Monday (2023-01-16) also tweeted about the controversy surrounding her father during his lifetime. "My father's 'dream' wasn't palpable to the white masses, including politicians," Bernice King wrote in a post. "He challenged militarism and sought to eradicate it. He worked to end poverty, as caused by extreme capitalism and materialism. We need to know the authentic King ... The Inconvenient King."
On Tuesday (2023-01-17) the Bangor Daily News's editorial board noted that during the summer of 2020 - when protests over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer swept the nation [Murder of George Floyd] - the Bangor Daily News "turned to Martin Luther King Jr.'s ' Letter from a Birmingham Jail' [Wikipedia: Letter from Birmingham Jail] to help understand the protests and national debate after police murdered George Floyd in Minnesota, and to reflect on how little many things have changed in the last 60 years."
In revisiting Martin Luther King Jr.'s criticisms about white moderates and their "appalling silence", the editorial board of the Bangor Daily News acknowledged, "We also are literally white moderates, racially and often politically. But we don't want to be those white moderates Martin Luther King Jr. described, and we strive not to be when writing about racial inequality in Maine and across the country." The board ended the apology saying, "Today, for us, doing right means admitting we were wrong to simply reprint an old editorial, and pledging to continue our work of being a voice for equality, freedom and justice."
BBC
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include entrenched conservatism. As an example, the BBC, like The New York Times, irritatingly employs pronouns when referring to persons: Mr. * ; Mrs. *; ... - unilaterally enforcing binary gender assignment.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the BBC Left-Center biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information. Although they have failed a fact-check, they appropriately issued a correction.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
The BBC operates under a Royal Charter, which is renewed every 10 years. The Royal Charter abolished the BBC Trust, and the regulatory functions of the BBC Trust were transferred to The Office of Communications or Ofcom in 2017. The operations of the BBC are governed by a board of directors consisting of thirteen people. Currently, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England David Clementi is the Chairman of the BBC, and Tony Hall is the Director-General of the BBC (Editor-in-Chief ). The BBC is financed by consumer license fees on broadcasting receivers (1947 Wireless and Telegraphy Act) which enables BBC's U.K. services to be free of advertisements and independent of shareholder and political interests.
Analysis
In review, both sides of the political spectrum have accused the BBC of either having a liberal or conservative bias. For example, an Evening Standard article based on an interview with a former BBC employee describes the BBC as a "Nest of Lefties promoting a progressive agenda and political correctness." According to a Times of London article, the BBC is biased against Israel; therefore, it has a left bias. The BBC states in their editorial guidelines that they are impartial and free from both political and commercial influence.
The BBC also has an Executive Complaints Unit in which the Daily Mail published an article regarding how the complaints unit works. The article states, "There was also a sharp increase in accusations of political bias and religious prejudice." The BBC then wrote a response to the Daily Mail article: "The Mail also said that the figures 'showed the level of dissatisfaction over issues such as left-wing bias, offensive content, and inaccuracy'. In fact, there is an extensive range of reasons why people complain. For example, we often get complaints of 'bias' about the same program from two or more opposing sides of the many issues we cover, not just 'left-wing'."
Bias
According to the New Statesman's research, examining the impartiality of the BBC's reporting shows that they lean right in certain areas, such as business, immigration, and religion. Examples of right bias include the BBC being accused of doctoring Jeremy Corbyn's image, who serves as Leader of the Labour Party (Corbyn identifies as a democratic socialist) wearing a Russian-style cap in front of a Moscow skyline to make him look more Russian. BBC rejected the complaints by claiming the decision to publish Corbyn in a "Lenin-style cap in front of the Moscow skyline was not designed to convey an impression of pro-Russian sympathy on Corbyn's part but was in keeping; with an editorial decision made based on sound news judgment."
A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 60% of BBC's audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 26% Mixed, and 13% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that a more liberal audience prefers BBC News.
When reporting general news, the BBC always sources its information and uses minimal loaded words in headlines such as this: "Trump chief of staff John Kelly to leave White House job." When it comes to reporting on the USA and, in particular, former President Donald Trump, there is a negative tone directed at Trump and his policies. In general, the BBC covers both sides of stories, with a slight bias in favor of the left.
Failed Fact Checks
A group of puppies transported more than 100 miles died with COVID-19. - False (Corrected).
Bloomberg News
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include ownership of influential news /mass media by multibillionaires: The Washington Post is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Wikipedia
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Bloomberg News Left-Center biased due to story selection that slightly favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to not covering Michael Bloomberg and his Democratic presidential rivals during the primaries.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Bloomberg or Bloomberg News was founded in 1981 by businessman and the former three-term (2002-2013) mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg. It is a business-focused news organization headquartered in New York City. Bloomberg News is a division of Bloomberg L.P., including a global television network (Bloomberg Television), digital websites, radio stations (Bloomberg Radio), subscription-only newsletters, and three magazines: Bloomberg Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Bloomberg Markets.
Bloomberg News delivers business and markets news, data, and analysis to its readers. Further, they also have a section under politics called "Trump Tracker," which tracks the latest news and reports on Donald Trump. Former editor of The Economist, John Micklethwait is the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News since 2015. Michael R. Bloomberg is the President & CEO.
On November 24, 2019, majority owner Michael Bloomberg announced he is running for President of the United States as a Democratic Party Candidate. We will monitor Bloomberg News for changes in reporting and editorial bias based on this decision. Further, they announced they would not cover Michael Bloomberg or his Democratic rivals because the primary Bloomberg News will not investigate Mike Bloomberg or his Democratic rivals during the primary.
Funded by / Ownership
Michael R. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP (the parent company of Bloomberg News). According to Investopedia, Bloomberg Terminal (remote software used to access financial information) is the most expensive among financial data providers. Bloomberg News started to charge visitors for its content with a metered paywall in 2018, limiting users to view 10 articles per month and 30 minutes of Bloomberg TV Livestream daily. After 10 articles, readers have to become digital subscribers to have full access.
Analysis / Bias
Michael R. Bloomberg Philanthropies' five focus areas are public health, arts and culture, the environment, education, and government innovation. As a philanthropist, Michael Bloomberg has given over $3.3 billion in support of education, public health, government innovation, the arts, and the environment. Michael R. Bloomberg is the president of the C40 Climate Leadership Group. Further, Michael R. Bloomberg endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2020 United States presidential election.
In review, Bloomberg News publishes stories with moderately loaded emotional headlines such as this editorial: ...
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Boston Globe, The
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Boston Globe Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a reasonable fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH. | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1872, The Boston Globe is an American daily broadsheet newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been awarded 23 Pulitzer Prizes since 1966. The current editor is Brain McGrory. The Boston Globe is one of the largest newspapers in the USA.
Funded by / Ownership
The Boston Globe is owned by Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC and is funded through a subscription and advertising model.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Boston Globe covers local news via journalists in the greater Boston area. The national news is also derived from journalists and republished from other sources such as the The Associated Press. There is minimal use of loaded language in headlines such as this: "Trump says he will end birthright citizenship via executive order." Editorially, The Boston Globe favors the left in both story selection and consistent Democratic Party candidate endorsements.
Failed Fact Checks
Climate projections using models based on it [the water vapor feedback] have consistently failed - UNSUPPORTED
Breitbart | Breitbart News
π STOP! Excluded from sources: founded by Andrew Breitbart (Founder of Breitbart News: note association with Steve Bannon), ...
See also:
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Breitbart Questionable based on extreme right-wing bias, the publication of conspiracy theories and propaganda as well as numerous false claims.
QUESTIONABLE SOURCE. A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda / conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source.
Reasoning: Extreme Right, Propaganda, Conspiracy, Failed Fact Checks | Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
History
Breitbart News is a conservative news and opinion website founded in 2007 by Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012). Andrew Breitbart was a conservative commentator and entrepreneur, "a former liberal from Los Angeles who became a conservative," wrote Jonah Engel Bromwich of The New York Times. Breitbart News, under Andrew Breitbart's leadership, generated news coverage that was praised by the right for its populist, anti-establishment voice on the left; however, Breitbart was also accused of being a provocateur and misleading. Andrew Breitbart also co-founded the Huffington Post.
After Andrew Breitbart died in 2012, a former investment banker for Goldman Sachs, Steve Bannon became the Breitbart executive chairman. Under Bannon, the website became more nationalist and a vocal outlet of the alt-rightalt-right movement. According to Sarah Posner from Mother JonesSteve Bannon, he described Breitbart News as "a platform to the alt-right." Steve Bannon - who was chief executive of the Trump campaign, and then-White House chief strategist for the Trump administration for seven months before returning to Breitbart News - had stepped down from his position at Breitbart in 2018.
Larry Solov is the co-founder and CEO of Breitbart News, and Alex Marlow serves as editor-in-chief.
In 2018-10, Breitbart was banned as a reliable source in Wikipedia. However, Breitbart was added as a reliable news source to Facebook's new news initiative. This decision was met with harsh criticism by several media outlets, including Media Bias Fact Check.
On 2020-07-27, America's Frontline Doctors released a video claiming that hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19 and that masks are unnecessary. Conservative news outlet Breitbart published a story and their video that went viral, reaching millions. On 2020-07-28 Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube removed the video due to the "doctors making false and dubious claims related to the coronavirus."
Funded by / Ownership
After the death of Andrew Breitbart in 2012, Larry Solov became CEO and president of Breitbart News. In 2017, according to Politico, Larry Solov revealed the owner of Breitbart as "himself, founder Andrew Breitbart's widow Susie Breitbart, and the Republican Party mega-donor the Mercer family." Further, Larry Solov also stated that he wants "to disclose as little as possible about financial and ownership structure."
Analysis / Bias
Breitbart consists of various sections called Big Government, Big Journalism, Big Hollywood, National Security, Tech, Sports, and Wired.
Breitbart< uses sensational, emotionally loaded language in their headlines, such as "Obama Loses 2 Million+ Followers During Twitter Fake Account Purge." They utilize sources such as tabloid entertainment magazine Variety, and credible sources such as Bloomberg News, and factually mixed sources such as the Daily Mail. Under the Big Hollywood section, they publish tabloid stories such as "Fashion Notes: Melania Trump is Posh and Proper for Final Day in England" utilizing fashion sources such as Farfetch.com.
A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 7% of Breitbart's audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 14% Mixed, and 79% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that a more conservative audience heavily prefers Breitbart.
In general, most published stories favor the right and are highly pro-Donald Trump in tone and story selection. Many stories also promote anti-science propaganda as it pertains to climate change denial, and COVID-19 mask effectiveness.
Failed Fact Checks
Breitbart News / Breitbart has numerous failed fact checks - refer to the MediaBiasFactCheck.com entry.
Insider | Business Insider
In 2021-02, Business Insider Inc. was renamed Insider.
π STOP! Excluded from sources, including:
potentially questionable content;
Board of Directors member association with The Huffington Post;
media ownership by Axel Springer, which has minority stakeholder ownership of Group Nine Media, Inc. - thus associated with the Vox Media ecosystem via Vox Media's of 2021-12 purchase of Group Nine.
failed climate change fact checks:
part ownership by billionaire Jeff Bezos;
concern over neoliberal ideology and climate change denial;
majority ownership by KKR & Co. Inc. [co-founded by Republican Trump supporter Henry R. Kravis - see New York Magazine description];
...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Business Insider Left-Center Biased based on story selection that leans left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a reasonable fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Launched in 2007, Business Insider is a business news site concentrating on finance, industry, and tech news. Its headquarters is located in New York City, USA. Business Insider was founded by former Wall Street analyst Henry Blodget and DoubleClick's co-founder Dwight Merriman and CEO Kevin Ryan. It is published by Insider, Inc. Business Insider's board of directors includes The Huffington Post co-founder Kenneth "Ken" Lerer, and the president and chief operating officer are Julie Hansen. Henry Blodget is also CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider.
Funded by / Ownership
In 2015, German publishing company Axel Springer - owner of Bild, Die Welt, and Fakt - acquired Business Insider for $442 million, which brought their share to approximately 97 percent. Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos, will hold further shares according to the purchase details. The website is funded through online advertising.
Harvard University: The Future of Media Project: Index of US Mainstream Media Ownership (2021-11-30).
[19] Business Insider. Top owner / investor: Axel Springer SE, majority owned by KKR & Co. Inc. (Henry R. Kravis, George R. Roberts, Jerome Kohlberg Jr. Private Equity). Axel Springer SE is a German digital publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands. KKR owns 45% and has a majority control. Ownership: Private For Profit. Reach: 100k subscribers (2020, WSJ), 107.32M on average monthly uniques (SimilarWeb 2021). Comscore reports monthly uniques for Feb. 2021 are 95,340,000. Estimated Monthly readers: 95,340,000.
Wikipedia entry, 2021-11-30.
Business Insider is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in Business Insider's parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publishing house Axel Springer SE. In 2021-02, Business Insider Inc. was renamed Insider.
Insider's current CEO is Henry Blodget, who was censured and permanently barred from the securities industry in 2003 following an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, NASD [now: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority] and the New York Stock Exchange.
After Business Insider was purchased by Axel Springer SE in 2015, a substantial portion of its staff left the company. According to a CNN report, some staff who exited complained that "traffic took precedence over enterprise reporting". In 2018, staff members were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement that included a nondisparagement clause requiring them not to criticize the site during or after their employment.
Bias, Reliability, and Editorial Policy
In 2010, Business Insider falsely reported that New York Governor David Paterson was slated to resign, which multiple news sources had also reported; Business Insider had earlier reported a false story alleging that Steve Jobs experienced a heart attack, which was based on the citizen-journalism site iReport. The story was updated 25 minutes after being published, after learning that it was false.
In April 2011, Henry Blodget sent out a notice inviting publicists to "contribute directly" to Business Insider. As of September, Business Insider allowed the use of anonymous sources "at any time for any reason". According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, Business Insider gave SAP "limited editorial control" over the content of its "Future of Business" section as of 2013. The website publishes a mix of original reporting and aggregation of other outlets' content. Business Insider has also published native advertising [Aside: BuzzFeed's business model also relies primarily on native advertising.]
[Source for the preceding paragraphs: Wikipedia, 2021-11-30.]
Native Advertising
Native advertising, also called sponsored content, is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. In many cases it functions like an advertorial, and manifests as a video, article or editorial. The word native refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform.
These ads reduce a consumers' ad recognition by blending the advertising into the native content of the platform, even if it is labeled as "sponsored" or "branded" content. Readers may have difficulty immediately identifying them as advertisements due to their ambiguous nature, especially when deceptive labels such as "From around the web" are used.
Product placement (embedded marketing) is a precursor to native advertising. The former places the product within the content, whereas in native marketing, which is legally permissible in the US to the extent that there is sufficient disclosure, the product and content are merged.
[Source for the preceding paragraph: Wikipedia, 2021-11-30.]
Reception
... Business Insider has faced criticism for what critics consider its clickbait-style headlines. A 2013 profile of Henry Blodget and Business Insider in The New Yorker suggested that Business Insider - because it republishes material from other outlets - may not always be accurate.
[Source for the preceding paragraph: Wikipedia, 2021-11-30.]
Failed Fact Checks
Amazon Doesn't Produce 20% of Earth's Oxygen - FALSE.
Bulwark, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Concerns include a strong right-wing bias [masquerading as left-wing politics], and staffing from the defunct The Weekly Standard. [The Weekly Standard was an American neoconservative political magazine originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, which was described as a "redoubt of neoconservatism" and as "the neocon bible."] "In general, this is a moderate right-leaning source that does not support Donald Trump"
See also:
The Bulwark (Wikipedia, 2022-11-07):
The Bulwark is an American center-right news and opinion website launched in 2018 by Sarah Longwell, with the support of Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes. The Bulwark initially launched as a news aggregator, but it was revamped into a news and opinion site using key staffers from the recently closed The Weekly Standard [π The Weekly Standard].
History
Following the end of publication of The Weekly Standard [π The Weekly Standard] in 2018-12, editor-in-chief Charlie Sykes said: "the murder of The Weekly Standard made it urgently necessary to create a home for rational, principled, fact-based center-right voices who were not cowed by Trumpism." The site was created in December 2018 as a news aggregator as a project of the Defending Democracy Together, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservative advocacy group led in part by The Weekly Standard co-founder William Kristol. Several former editors and writers of The Weekly Standard soon joined the staff and within weeks of launch began publishing original news and opinion pieces. The website has frequently published pieces critical of Donald Trump and pro-Trump elites in politics and the media.
[ ... snip ... ]
As a non-profit project, The Bulwark does not run advertising, and is supported by donations. By 2019-01, approximately $1 million had already been raised for the site, which was said to be adequate to keep the site running for one year. In 2021, The Bulwark launched Bulwark+, a program that provides paid subscribers with "exclusive podcasts, newsletters, and live-streams" for about $100 a year; within a few months, the website reported roughly 16,000 subscribers.
In 2021, Washingtonian magazine noted that content on The Bulwark is primarily geared toward readers seeking "serious coverage of events through a center-right filter" but that its editors have sought to attract centrist Democratic readers who may be "uncomfortable with the excesses of the progressive left."
Staff
The co-founder of The Bulwark is Charlie Sykes who also serves as editor-at-large along with William Kristol. With Sarah Longwell serving as publisher, the staff also include editors Jonathan V. Last, Adam Keiper, Jim Swift, Martyn Wendell Jones, Benjamin Parker, Sonny Bunch, and Mona Charen. Writers include Theodore R. Johnson, William Saletan, Cathy Young, Tim Miller, and Amanda Carpenter.
[ ... snip ... ]
Sarah Longwell (Wikipedia, 2022-11-07)
Sarah Longwell is a Republican political strategist and publisher of the neoconservative news and opinion website The Bulwark. Sara Longwell is the founder of Republican Voters Against Trump (now the Republican Accountability Project), which spent millions of dollars to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020. According to The New Yorker [The New Yorker], Sarah Longwell has "dedicated her career to fighting Donald Trump's takeover of her Republican Party."
Career
[ ... snip ... ]
Sarah Longwell also became the first female national board chair of the Log Cabin Republicans. Sarah Longwell was instrumental in persuading the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016. In 2019, the Log Cabin Republicans endorsed President Donald Trump/mnt/Vancouver/domains/persagen/public/docs for re-election, and Sarah Longwell resigned as board chair.
That same year, Sarah Longwell left Berman and Company to start her own communications firm - Longwell Partners, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Sarah Longwell also became publisher of The Bulwark - a conservative website that opposes President Donald Trump's agenda - bringing together a moderate coalition of traditional conservatives and libertarians.
Sarah Longwell is a prominent voice in the Never Trump movement. Sarah Longwell was instrumental in founding Defending Democracy Together, an umbrella organization for Republican Voters Against Trump, Republicans for the Rule of Law, and other anti-Trump projects. Sarah Longwell advocated for the impeachment and removal of President Trump in 2019, and for Donald Trump's impeachment and conviction in 2021.
Defending Democracy Together
In 2017, Sarah Longwell was invited to participate in a session of the "Meeting of the Concerned," a quasi-secret group of Republicans who were unhappy with the direction their party had taken, where she met Bill Kristol. After the firing of FBI Director James Comey - which triggered the Mueller investigation - Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell formed Republicans for the Rule of Law. In 2018, Sarah Longwell launched a nonprofit organization in response to President Donald Trump's attacks on Robert Mueller. The group, Defending Democracy Together, was the umbrella organization for Republicans for the Rule of Law.
During the 2020 election, Defending Democracy Together also served as the umbrella organization for Republican Voters Against Trump, which collected testimonials from former Donald Trump supporters and other Republicans who opposed the Trump presidency. The group spent more than $35 million to oppose President Trump, promoting those testimonials via social media advertising, billboard campaigns, and other tactics in key battleground states. In Sarah Longwell's words: "People want to be counted, people want to be on the record saying they, in this moment, stood up against Trump".
After Donald Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, Republican Voters Against Trump rebranded itself as the Republican Accountability Project, targeting Republicans who spread falsehoods about the integrity of the election. In 2021-01, the group launched a $1 million billboard campaign, calling on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and others to resign for continuing to support Trump in the lead-up to the January 6th Capitol riots. As Sarah Longwell put it, "The goal is to not allow these officials to memory-hole the fact that they pushed this lie, which incited the attack on the Capitol."
The Bulwark
In 2018, Sarah Longwell launched The Bulwark, a neoconservative opinion website, with the help of Kristol and conservative radio host Charlie Sykes. Initially launching as a news aggregator with anti-Trump content, the website revamped into a news and opinion destination, using digital staffers from the now-defunct The Weekly Standard. By 2019, The Bulwark had raised about $1 million to establish a "rational, non-Trumpist forum".
As publisher of The Bulwark, Sarah Longwell often guest-writes columns for the website, analyzing political news of the day and pushing back against the pro-Trump movement. In 2021-02, Sarah Longwell lamented the role of certain Republicans in the Capitol riots [Washington, D.C., 2021-01-06], urging Americans to "never forget who the enemies of democracy were". Sarah Longwell supports "principled conservatism", claiming "hope is not lost, people are mostly good (regardless of who they vote for), and that America is going to be okay".
Sarah Longwell also co-hosts The Secret Podcast with Jonathan V. Last and The Next Level Podcast with Jonathan V. Last and Tim Miller.
[ ... snip ... ]
The Bulwark (MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2021-05-23): overall, we rate The Bulwark Right-Center Biased based on story selection and political affiliation that moderately favors the right. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
- Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA (44/180 Press Freedom) | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2018 by Charlie Sykes and Bill Kristol, The Bulwark is a news and opinion website featuring many staff from the now-defunct right-leaning The Weekly Standard [π The Weekly Standard]. The Weekly Standard editor-in-chief Charlie Sykes said, "the murder of the Standard made it urgently necessary to create a home for rational, principled, fact-based center-right voices who Trumpism did not cow."
Funded by / Ownership
The Bulwark is a Defending Democracy Together project, a 501(c)(3) conservative advocacy group led in part by The Weekly Standard co-founder William Kristol. The Bulwark and its parent company Defending Democracy Together Institute, is funded through donations. According to the right-leaning InfluenceWatch.org, Defending Democracy Together is a right-center advocacy organization primarily funded by the left-center "Hewitt Foundation" [← sic; likely refers to: the Hewlett Foundation] that is described as a "nonprofit dedicated to incubating and assembling pro-democracy voices. . . created by conservatives uncomfortable with the flamboyant rhetoric that can come from President Donald Trump."
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Bulwark has essentially started where The Weekly Standard left off - as a conservative publisher who did not support former President Donald Trump. Do not confuse The Bulwark as a left-biased source: The Bulwark is a right-leaning source the rejects most progressive and mainstream democratic ideals. For example, The Bulwark uses moderately loaded words that denigrate Hillary Clinton: "If Hillary Clinton Doesn't Shut Up, She'll Re-Elect Trump." Despite the loaded headline, this story is properly sourced to Know Your Meme, and The Washington Post. Besides original reporting, The Bulwark website also features a news aggregator that sources a variety of left, least biased, and right-leaning sources. In general, this is a moderate right-leaning source that does not support Donald Trump. It might not be The Weekly Standard 2.0, but it is pretty close and a credible source for right-leaning information.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years
BuzzFeed (web) | BuzzFeed News (investigative reporting)
See also: HuffPost (formerly; The Huffington Post), currently owned by Verizon Media [2017+: Yahoo].
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Concerns include the following items (chiefly: news aggregation rather than investigative journalism; preoccupation with wealth, growth and acquisition; focus on digital arts and trending / viral content; questionable business practices (staff terminations; anti-union stance; native advertising; ...); associations with known disinformationists; self-promotion; promotion of consumerism; ...
Ownership { Jonah H. Peretti | John Seward Johnson III } and Associations
Founders Jonah H. Peretti and John Seward Johnson III are entrepreneurs involved in creating and promoting digital arts projects.
For example, Eyebeam is a not-for-profit art and technology center in New York City, founded in 1998 by filmmaker / philanthropist John Seward Johnson III, with co-founders David S. Johnson and Roderic R. Richardson. Originally conceived as a digital effects and coding atelier and center for youth education, Eyebeam has become a center for the research, development, and curation of new media works of art and open source technology.
In 2003, John Seward Johnson III hired Jonah H. Peretti as Director of Research and Development at Eyebeam, with the purpose of establishing the web as a place for art experiments.
In 2005 Jonah Peretti co-founded The Huffington Post - a news aggregator and blog - along with Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Arianna Huffington in 2005. Jonah Peretti left The Huffington Post in 2011 after it was bought by AOL for $315 million.
The Huffington Post cofounder Andrew Breitbart was the founder of the notorious disinformation source Breitbart News - notably associated with the notorious disinformationist Steve Bannon. Andrew Breitbart conceived of Breitbart News as "the Huffington Post of the right."
Commenters such as Nick Gillespie and Conor Friedersdorf have credited Andrew Breitbart with changing how people wrote about politics by "showing how the internet could be used to route around information bottlenecks imposed by official spokesmen and legacy news outlets".
Andrew Breitbart was a Lincoln Fellow at The Claremont Institute - a conservative American think tank - in 2009.
The conservative National Review said in 2020 that "Claremont stands out for beclowning itself with this embrace of the smarmy underside of American politics," although it noted that "many conservative institutions and individuals have adjusted their standards and long-proclaimed principles to accommodate Trump and Trumpism."
Slate Magazine in 2020 called The Claremont Institute "a racist fever swamp with deep connections to the conspiratorial alt-right," citing as examples a 2019 fellowship granted by Claremont to Pizzagate conspiracy theory enthusiast Jack Posobiec. and the publication of a 2020 "birther" essay by The Claremont Institute Senior Fellow John C. Eastman [local copy].
The Claremont Institute was an early defender of then-candidate Donald Trump; The Daily Beast stated The Claremont Institute has "arguably has done more than any other group to build a philosophical case for Trump's brand of conservatism."
In 2006, John Seward Johnson III co-founded the website BuzzFeed with entrepreneur Jonah H. Peretti. BuzzFeed is an online media company that detects and accelerates traction of trending news and entertainment. It was initially conceived of as a media analytics company to track viral content. BuzzFeed has grown into a global media and technology company, providing coverage on a variety of topics including politics, do-it-yourself, animals, and business.
BuzzFeed's business model relies primarily on native advertising in the form of quizzes and videos sponsored by companies, which also goes by the name sponsored content or advertorial - which is advertising content that looks like an editorial. Native advertising is a strategy that helps with increasing the likelihood of viewers read through the content of advertisements. BuzzFeed News also solicits membership fees.
The statement "BuzzFeed News is completely different from their parent site [BuzzFeed], which generally produces clickbait-type stores shared on Social Media." raises concern over the independence of the two entities (BuzzFeed: social media; BuzzFeed News: original investigative reporting. [In 2016, BuzzFeed split the news operation off from the BuzzFeed Entertainment Group.]
Despite BuzzFeed's entrance into serious journalism, a 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that in the United States, BuzzFeed was viewed as an unreliable source by the majority of respondents, regardless of age or political affiliation.
On 2019-01-23, BuzzFeed notified all employees via memo that there would be an upcoming 15% reduction in workforce affecting the international, web content, and news divisions of the company. The layoffs would affect approximately 200 employees. In 2020 BuzzFeed signed a deal with Universal Television to produce content based on its stories.
On 2020-11-19 BuzzFeed Inc. acquired the The Huffington Post from Verizon Media [2017+: Yahoo], making Verizon Media / Yahoo a minority stakeholder in BuzzFeed.
On 2021-03-09 the CEO of BuzzFeed, Jonah Peretti, said that the company had lost "around $20 million" during the previous year [2020]. The same day, it was announced that HuffPost Canada would be shut down, and immediately ceased publishing. BuzzFeed laid off 47 HuffPost staff in the U.S. (mostly journalists) and closed down HuffPost Canada, laying off 23 staff working for the Canadian and Quebec divisions of the company.
In 2021 at a virtual company meeting, Jonah Peretti - as BuzzFeed's chief executive officer - fired 47 employees at The Huffington Post in a controversial manner, sending a virtual meeting password "spr!ngisH3r3" to laid-off employees.
HuffPost has been criticized for providing a platform for alternative medicine and supporters of vaccine hesitancy.
In June 2021, BuzzFeed announced its plans to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and planned to acquire Complex Networks.
[LATimes.com, 2021-12-02] As BuzzFeed nears SPAC deal, news employees stage walkout.
BuzzFeed News employees on Thursday [2021-12-02] walked off the job as the company plans to trade on the stock market. The union said 61 employees participated in the 24-hour walkout to push for better wages and working conditions at the digital media company. Several are based in Los Angeles. The union said its employer is offering only a 1% annual guaranteed raise and a minimum salary floor of $50,000, which the guild believes is too low for people living in such cities as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. The walkout is intended to "send a reminder that there's no BuzzFeed News without us as we fight for our first collective bargaining agreement," the union said on Twitter. The group, which is part of the News Guild of New York, said it has been bargaining for a contract for nearly two years. BuzzFeed News workers who participated in the walkout represent about 6% of the company's total employees.
The protest came on the same day [2021-12-02] as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), 890 Fifth Avenue Partners Inc., is set to vote on a merger with BuzzFeed. The deal announced earlier this year is expected to close in the fourth quarter, giving BuzzFeed a valuation of $1.5 billion. Some investors are pulling out their money in the SPAC, reducing BuzzFeed's cash proceeds, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday [2021-12-02].
BuzzFeed, a New York-based news and entertainment media company, said it employs 1,100 workers and will grow to 1,400 employees next week after it acquires Complex Networks [Complex Networks], a youth network that features fashion, food, music and sports content, in a $300-million deal.
[ ... snip ... ]
Sources (all via Wikipedia) for the statements above:
BuzzFeed - Recent News
[Vox.com, 2021-12-06] BuzzFeed's a public company. Now what? The fate of BuzzFeed is going to determine the fortunes of a lot of other companies.
The transformation from startup to public company is supposed to be a very big deal. So let's start by acknowledging that BuzzFeed, which started 15 years ago as an internet experiment, has hit a milestone: 2021-12-06 is the day you will be able to buy and sell shares of BZFD on the Nasdaq.
We can also acknowledge that BuzzFeed's transformation has been much rockier than it would have liked. Last week, when it formally morphed from a private company into a public one (using a "SPAC" [Special-purpose acquisition company] - a bit of financial engineering that was very popular a year ago and has now fallen out of favor), investors gave the company a thumbs down. That meant it only raised $16 million instead of the $250 million it had hoped to raise earlier this year. On top of that, 61 of the employees in its BuzzFeed News operation - about 5 percent of the company's overall workforce - walked off the job last Thursday [2021-12-02] to protest the state of their negotiations for a union contract.
But step back a bit further. The fact that BuzzFeed is around at all - let alone publicly traded, with all of the financial transparency and investor expectations that come with that - is worth noting.
BuzzFeed is perhaps the best-known member of a cohort of digital publishers that launched in the last decade, and for a time looked like they might usurp conventional media companies. Their ascent freaked out incumbent publishers, and briefly convinced investors to throw billions of dollars their way.
Then their main strategy - latch on to Facebook, and profit when the social network put their stuff in front of a gazillion eyeballs - collapsed about four years ago when it became clear that Facebook was more competitor than partner. And then many of them shrank dramatically or disappeared altogether.
So the fact that BuzzFeed is still around, and big enough to plausibly exist as a public company, is ... something.
It's not nearly as sexy a story as it was six or seven years ago, when BuzzFeed's existence - along with other publishers like The Huffington Post and my employer, Vox Media - worried The New York Times enough that the paper created a what-do-we-do-now internal report dedicated to fending off the insurgents. Or when BuzzFeed seemed to have such deep insight into digital culture that Ben Smith, then its editor-in-chief, could boast that "the world has moved toward us." Or when it was telling the world that it was going to take what it had learned making viral content and use those insights to upend Hollywood.
Flash-forward to now, and BuzzFeed's ambitions are considerably scaled back: Like everyone else in media, it is trying to sell projects to studios and streamers that need content. But the idea of a BuzzFeed Motion Pictures unit seems like a stretch, which seems to be why the company no longer has a unit called that anymore. The New York Times, it turns out, didn't really need to copy the viral content strategy that BuzzFeed helped pioneer. Instead, it has flourished by producing excellent journalism and asking its readers to pay for it, which they seem happy to do. And it's been able to use that money to hire stars from digital competitors like Vox and BuzzFeed. Including Ben Smith.
A more concrete way of putting it: As of last week, BuzzFeed was valued at $1.5 billion - less than the $1.7 billion investors thought it was worth back in 2016, even though it has since acquired both HuffPost and Complex Networks, both big publishers in their own right.
Or, another, more practical way of underlining BuzzFeed's reined-in expectations: For years, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said he was fine with the fact that his BuzzFeed News unit was a money-loser because it did important work that he was happy to subsidize. But that has changed in recent years. In 2019, BuzzFeed had major layoffs in that group for the first time, and now Jonah Peretti says he wants BuzzFeed News to lose less money. Hence contract negotiations that have run more than two years.
[ ... snip ... ]
[CNN.com, 2023-01-26] BuzzFeed says it will use AI to help create content, stock jumps 150%. | discussion: Hacker News: 2023-01-27 | COMMENT (2023-01-27): BuzzFeed is already red-flagged / excluded as a source of information on Persagen.com.
Potential BuzzFeed - Vox Media Connections (Ken Lerer, son Ben Lerer, ...)
Background
Group Nine Media, Inc. was founded 2016-10 by Ben Lerer [cited / main article], the son of Kenneth "Ken" Lerer. Group Nine Media is an American digital media holding company based in New York City. In 2020-12, Group Nine formed its own corporate special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to use the public funding for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination.
At the beginning of 2021, Group Nine created a blank-check SPAC company - the same mechanism BuzzFeed used to go public and buy Complex Networks. Monday [2021-12-13]'s news seems to be an admission that Group Nine couldn't find a company it wanted to buy, or that wanted to be acquired. (Group Nine's ownership stake in that SPAC will transfer over to Vox Media.)
As mentioned above, in 2005 Jonah Peretti and Ken Lerer co-founded The Huffington Post.
At the time of the 2016 merger of Group Nine holdings, Discovery Communications [Discovery Channel, etc.] announced a $100 million minority investment in the collective organization, becoming the biggest shareholder before Axel Springer.
Relevant to this file (Persagen.com sources), Axel Springer acquired Business Insider in 2015, and Politico in 2021-10.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the combined company [Vox Media - Group Nine] is expected to generate more than $700 million in revenue in 2022 and more than $100 million in profit, making it one of the biggest players in the sector. "The business rationale behind this merger is to grow revenue, increase scale, and combine these incredibly powerful and complementary portfolios," said Vox Mediaco-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer James Philip Bankoff.
Lerer Hippeau
Kenneth Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau. Kenneth Lerer cofounded The Huffington Post and was the longtime Chairman of BuzzFeed. Ken Lerer serves as the Chairman of Blade [BLADE Urban Air Mobility, Inc. jet aircraft service], and sits on the Board of Directors of Group Nine Media, Inc.. Kenneth Lerer is also on the Board of nonprofits Bank Street College of Education, and the Association to Benefit Children [ex officio member]. | local copy
Ben Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau and the CEO of Group Nine Media, Inc., a digital media holding company consisting of Thrillist, NowThis News, The Dodo, Seeker, and PopSugar Inc.. Ben Lerer is the cofounder and former CEO of Thrillist. Ben Lerer chairs the Board of Directors for Urban Upbound, and is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). Ben Lerer sits on the Board of Directors for Casper Sleep Inc. [Wikipedia: Casper Sleep Inc.], and the Board of RaisedByUs [RaisedBy.Us]. | local copy
Eric Hippeau is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau. Previously, Eric Hippeau was the CEO of The Huffington Post, in which he had invested as a Managing Partner at Softbank Capital. Eric Hippeau has also served as Chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis, Inc., former top publisher of computer magazines. Eric Hippeau sits on the board of BuzzFeed, a portfolio company, and Marriott International. Eric Hippeau was educated at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France.
| local copy
[ ... snip ... ]
[Vox.com, 2021-12-13] Why is Vox Media buying Group Nine? The Vox Media-Group Nine deal - and all the other digital media deals - explained.
Two weeks, two deals. And now four digital media companies are turning into two. Get ready for more of that. That's the takeaway from Monday [2021-12-13]'s news that Vox Media - my [Peter Kafka's] employer - is close to acquiring Group Nine, the publisher behind outlets like The Dodo and NowThis News. That deal announcement, first reported in the Wall Street Journal and then confirmed via a companywide email shortly after, comes days after BuzzFeed finished up buying Complex Networks, the publisher aimed at dudes who like hip-hop and sneakers.
The BuzzFeed - Complex Group deal came as BuzzFeed went public, a move its CEO Jonah Peretti said he wanted to make because it would help him acquire more media companies. The new deal shows that you don't have to be public to buy a media company: Vox is private, and so is Group Nine.
[ ... snip ... ]
And now the mashups are happening, one way or another. BuzzFeed, for instance, had already acquired HuffPost, the digital publisher Jonah Peretti had co-founded before launching his own company; he and Group Nine CEO Ben Lerer had previously talked about combining their two companies. Two years ago, Vox Media bought New York Magazine, and has been periodically picking up small media companies - last month [2021-11], for instance, it picked up podcast studio Criminal Productions. Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc, who bought Refinery29 in 2019, has also made it clear that she thinks her industry should consolidate. And Dotdash, the digital publishing arm owned by Barry Diller's IAC holding company, just swallowed magazine publisher Meredith and its library of titles, including much of what used to be called Time Inc.
[ ... snip ... ]
Beyond sheer bulk, the eventual pitch to investors would be the one the company [Vox Media] wants to start making to advertisers as soon as possible: We've got stuff for everybody. I surveyed some of Vox's competitors on Monday [2021-12-13] and heard more than a bit of shit-talking about the assets the company [Vox Media] is about to acquire: "You're buying a pet site," sniffed one executive. But if people want to buy ads on that pet site [The Dodo], and that pet site's revenues help keep me employed, I'm not going to complain.
: the following MediaBiasFactCheck.com is superseded by the comments, above.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate BuzzFeed News Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual rather than High due to past stories that either were not verified or ultimately were retracted.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York, BuzzFeed is a media news company delivering social news and entertainment. They provide a mix of breaking news, entertainment, and shareable content. Jonah Peretti and John Johnson are the founders of BuzzFeed, and the editor-in-chief was Ben Smith. In 2016, BuzzFeed split the news operation off from the BuzzFeed Entertainment Group, focusing more on BuzzFeed's video unit.
In 2018, BuzzFeed.com became a separate website, with Mark Schoofs serving as editor-in-chief. BuzzFeed News has been nominated for several Pulitzer Prizes and Webby Awards.
[ Mark Schoofs' entry on Wikipedia indicates a thorough, Pulitzer Prize-winning accomplishment.]
Funded by / Ownership
Numerous investors funded BuzzFeed. New Enterprise Associates, New York-based venture capital firm RRE Ventures and Hearst Ventures were the early investors of BuzzFeed. In 2015, NBC (owned by Comcast Corporation; see also Vox) invested $200 million in BuzzFeed, and in 2016 they invested another $200 million. BuzzFeed also raised 50 million dollars from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. BuzzFeed is privately owned and does not disclose financial results to the public. However, BuzzFeed missed its revenue target in 2017 by 15%-20%. According to a New York Times article by Edmund Lee, founder Jonah Peretti says his company could eventually merge with rival online publishers to negotiate better terms with Facebook.
BuzzFeed's business model relies primarily on native advertising in the form of quizzes and videos sponsored by companies, which also goes by the name sponsored content or advertorial - which is advertising content that looks like an editorial. BuzzFeed News also solicits membership fees.
BuzzFeed News is currently owned by Verizon Media [now Yahoo], who recently acquired HuffPost.
Yahoo is an American multinational technology company that focuses on media and online business. Verizon Communications acquired AOL in 2015. When Verizon Communications purchased Yahoo! in 2017, it merged AOL and Yahoo! into a subsidiary named Oath Inc.
Analysis / Bias
In review, BuzzFeed News primarily publishes original reported news and investigations. News is broken down into sections such as Arts & Entertainment, Inequality, LGBTQ, Opinion, and Politics. BuzzFeed News is completely different from their parent site, which generally produces clickbait-type stores shared on Social Media. On the other hand, BuzzFeed News produces quality news reporting that is often investigative such as ...
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
[CBC.ca, 2023-04-20] BuzzFeed shutting down News division, laying of 15% of all staff. Shares of the digital media company were down 10% on Thursday (2023-04-20).
BuzzFeed Inc. said it will shut down its news division with an aim to consolidate its news content in HuffPost [The Huffington Post] and cut its workforce by 15 per cent - sending the shares of the digital media company BuzzFeed Inc. down 10 per cent on Thursday (2023-04-20). The second round of job cuts will affect 180 employees in teams including business, content, tech and admin, CEO Jonah Peretti said in an email to staff. BuzzFeed Inc. had previously cut 12 per cent of its staff in 2021-12. "We've faced more challenges than I can count in the past few years," said Jonah Peretti - blaming the COVID-19 pandemic , and the subsequent economic downturn - for the decline in the digital advertising and BuzzFeed's business.
BuzzFeed said the affected news staff would be considered for open roles at the main site BuzzFeed.com and HuffPost, which BuzzFeed Inc. had acquired in 2020. "Moving forward, we will have a single news brand in HuffPost, which is profitable, with a loyal direct front page audience," Jonah Peretti said in the note to employees. As part of the restructuring, the company said chief revenue officer Edgar Hernandez and chief operating officer Christian Baesler have decided to leave. President Marcela Martin will immediately take over all revenue functions.
BuzzFeed - which produces news, videos and online quizzes - was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti (Jonah H. Peretti) and John Johnson (John Seward Johnson III), and went public in 2021 through a blank-cheque merger. BuzzFeed's shares have lost 93 per cent of their value since the debut.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) | CBC News | CBC.ca [Canada]
Wikipedia: the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian federal Crown corporation funded by the Government of Canada that serves as the national public broadcaster for both radio and television. ... | Controversies
CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. Founded in 1941, CBC News is the largest news broadcaster in Canada and has local, regional, and national broadcasts and stations. ... The CBC follows the which provides the policy framework within which CBC journalism seeks to meet the expectations and obligations it faces from the public. ... | Allegations of bias
The CBC sets out to maintain its accuracy, integrity and fairness in its journalism. As a Canadian institution and a press undertaking, CBC set out the Journalistic Standards and Practices and works in compliance with these principles. Balanced viewpoints must be presented through on-the-air discussions. As it is with other public and private journalistic undertakings, credibility in the eyes of the general population is seen as the corporation's most valuable asset. The CBC Ombudsman is completely independent of CBC program staff and management, reporting directly to the President of the CBC and, through the President, to the corporation's board of directors.
[2020-09-18] Editor's Blog: What trusted journalism looks like in the age of disinformation, polarization. A look at how CBC News uses confidential sources and how it deals with allegations of political bias.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate CBC Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that lean slightly left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1936 by an Act of Parliament, Canada's public broadcaster, CBC is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which replaced the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission. CBC presents news, talk, music, and entertainment programs in English, French, and Aboriginal languages. The CBC is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In 2009, CBC's Television News, Radio News, and Digital News departments merged with CBC News. Michael Goldbloom is the Chairman, and Catherine Tait is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Funded by / Ownership
The CBC Board of Directors previously consisted of 12 members, all appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada. For example, former conservative prime minister Stephen Harper was accused of appointing the board with members that were also conservative donors. In 2016, Brian Mitchell (who was appointed to the CBC board by then prime minister Stephen Harper in 2008) resigned to seek the Conservative Party of Canada's presidency. However, recently this structure has changed, and now the non-partisan Independent Advisory Committee makes "merit-based" appointments. According to a The Globe and Mail article, "A government source said the board would comprise nine 'experts in broadcasting and digital technology, representatives of cultural sectors from across Canada,' as well as 'Indigenous peoples, official-language communities and youth,' who will be charged with compiling a list of candidates whose names will be submitted to the government."
As a crown corporation, the CBC operates at arm's length (autonomously) from the government in its day-to-day business. The corporation is governed by the Broadcasting Act of 1991, under a board of directors and is directly responsible to the Parliament of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. General management of the organization is in the hands of a president, who is appointed by the Governor General of Canada in Council, on the advice of the Prime Minister.
According to The Hill Times, a clause in Bill C-60 - an omnibus budget implementation bill introduced by the government of Stephen Joseph Harper in 2013 - "appears to contradict a longstanding arm's-length relationship between the independent CBC and any government in power." The clause allows the "prime minister's cabinet to approve salaries, working conditions and collective bargaining positions for the CBC."
The CBC's main revenue comes from government funding (66%); other sources of revenue include advertising revenue (18%), subscriber fees (8%), and other sources. You can also view CBC business model details here.
Analysis / Bias
In review, when it comes to world news, CBC re-publishes stories from credible sources such as The Associated Press and Reuters: "U.S. stock markets flirt with end of historic rise," and "Indonesian rescuers struggle against heavy rain to reach tsunami-hit villages."
CBC reports Canadian national news with neutral headlines such as: "The 5 most dramatic moments of the year in Ontario politics". When it comes to sourcing, the CBC typically sources other CBC articles. This is acceptable as CBC produces and reports its own national news.
CBC's straight news reporting is consistently low biased, factual, and covers both sides of issues. Editorially, the opinion pages tend to be balanced with some stories slightly left-leaning such as this: "Doug Ford's 'efficiencies' seem to be costing taxpayers an awful lot of money: Robyn Urback and right-leaning: Why low-income earners should actually welcome Ontario's reversal on rent control." Opinion pieces have also been critical of liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On the whole, slightly more opinion pieces favor the left. Further, the right-leaning National Post has accused the CBC of liberal bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Although I regard the CBC as being generally trustworthy, I nonetheless have some significant concerns and criticisms with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - a Canadian federal Crown corporation that serves ostensively as the national public broadcaster for both radio and television.
While the CBC provides competent news coverage, there is a heavy reliance on externally sourced information, often presenting rather superficial articles that lack links (URLs) to key source material.
On occasion, the CBC has presented divisive and damaging "guest commentary / opinion" essays. For example, the CBC has published transphobic opinion pieces by Meghan Murphy. Despite numerous well-publicized controversies and clashes between Megan Murphy and transgender rights and gender identity rights activists, the CBC.ca continues [2021-10-12] to include a bio landing page for Murphy, and link to Murphy's trans-exclusionary radical feminist feminist website.
Rex Murphy
The CBC is a longtime supporter | employer | enabler of Rex Murphy, a notable climate change denialist.
[CBC Media Centre] Rex Murphy → Appears on The National; Role: Correspondent | local copy [html; captured 2021-04-22]
[NationalPost.com, 2021-02-18] Rex Murphy: As Texas winter storm shows, hurling public money at renewable energy is pure folly
[Straight.com, 2022-01-03] Ex-CBC journalist Tara Henley declares on Substack that she quit her job due to the public broadcaster's shifting politics.
A Toronto journalist with deep roots in Vancouver has written an incendiary post explaining why she resigned from the public broadcaster [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation].
Tara Henley opened her piece on the Substack platform [Wikipedia: Substack, an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters] by revealing that she's been hearing complaints about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where she worked for several years. "People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack of LGBT terms in Tagalog [Tagalog language] is an editorial priority for the CBC, when local issues of broad concern go unreported," she wrote. "Or why our pop culture radio show's coverage of the Dave Chappelle's Netflix special [note also: Transphobia: Dave Chappelle] failed to include any of the legions of fans, or comics, that did not find it offensive. Or why, exactly, taxpayers should be funding articles that scold Canadians for using words such as 'brainstorm' and "lame.'"
The answer, according to Tara Henley, is that working at CBC now "is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others". "It is, in my newsroom, to fill out racial profile forms for every guest you book; to actively book more people of some races and less of others," she added.
Tara Henley suggested that the focus on racial issues is resulting in less scrutiny of other issues that affect large numbers of people, such as the housing crisis, COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, COVID-19 vaccine mandates, accumulation of wealth by billionaires and power by bureaucrats, and the rising total of overdose deaths. She linked the CBC's current approach to "a radical political agenda that originated on Ivy League campuses in the United States and spread through American social media platforms that monetize outrage and stoke societal division". "It used to be that I was the one furthest to the left in any newsroom, occasionally causing strain in story meetings with my views on issues like the housing crisis," Henley wrote. "I am now easily the most conservative, frequently sparking tension by questioning identity politics. This happened in the span of about 18 months. My own politics did not change."
Over the years, Tara Henley has contributed many articles to the Georgia Straight, some of which are available here. Tara Henley is one of many journalists who've left mainstream media outlets in recent years to share their work in newsletters that readers can subscribe to through the Substack platform.
Canadian Dimension
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content due to strong left-wing bias: carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. For example, note contributions by American political writer Chris Hedges, who (for example) hosted the television program On Contact for RT America from 2016 to 2022. RT America is a U.S.-based propaganda network. RT America was a part of the RT network (RT.com: "Russian Television"), a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow and funded by the Russian government.
Wikipedia entry
Canadian Dimension is a Canadian left-wing magazine founded in 1963 by Cy Gonick, and published out of Winnipeg, Manitoba four times a year. Canadian Dimension reported a circulation of 3,500 copies in 2013.
Canadian Dimension is a forum for left-wing political thought that ranges from New Democratic Party-style social democracy to libertarian socialism.
Canadian Dimension provides a forum for debate on topics such as socialism vs. social democracy, and features activist reports from all over Canada, trade unionist reportstrade unions, and reviews of books, films, websites, CDs, and videos.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Canadian Dimension Left Biased based on pro-socialist, anti-capitalism advocacy. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to a lack of hyperlinked sourcing and publishing slightly misleading information regarding GMOs.
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL.
History
Founded in 1963, Canadian Dimension is described as a magazine "for people who want to change the world," Canadian Dimension is a forum for left-wing political thought that ranges from New Democratic Party-style social democracy to libertarian socialism. According to their about page "Canadian Dimension is the longest-standing voice of the left in Canada. For more than half a century, Canadian Dimension has provided a forum for lively and radical debate where red meets green, socialists take on social democrats, Indigenous voices are heard, activists report from every corner of the country, and the latest books and films are critically reviewed."
Funded by / Ownership
Canadian Dimension is owned by Dimension Publishing LLC. Revenue is generated through advertising, donations, and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Canadian Dimension publishes news from an anti-capitalist, pro-socialist perspective such as this: "Red Flags: Reflections on racism and radicalism." A quote from the article reads "Capitalism lives and breathes racism. It can't survive without it. It picks it up, cultivates it, and injects it into everything." Canadian Dimension focuses on topics that are associated with the political left such as climate change, Feminism, Labour, and LGBTQ rights. However, many stories do not contain hyperlinked sourcing. When it comes to science, Canadian Dimension typically aligns with the consensus, though when it comes to GMOs they offer more negative reporting. Editorially, Canadian Dimension is far left in support of socialism as they often criticize liberal politicians such as Justin Trudeau for their pro-corporate policies.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Canadian Press
Wikipedia
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Canadian Press Least Biased based on being a news agency that directly reports news. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto. It was established in 1917 as a vehicle to permit Canadian newspapers to exchange their news and information. It currently offers a wide variety of text, audio, photographic, video, and graphic content to websites, radio, television, and commercial clients in addition to newspapers and its long-standing ally, The Associated Press, a global news service based in the United States.
Funded by / Ownership
The Globe and Mail, Square Victoria Communications, Group Torstar own the Canadian Press. Licensing fees for news content generates revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Canadian Press is similar to Reuters and The Associated Press in that they report the news with minimal bias and excellent sourcing. The website does not publish news but instead sells its news stories to other media outlets.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Capital Research Center | InfluenceWatch.org
π STOP! Excluded from sources. See also (this file):
InfluenceWatch.org (website produced by Capital Research Centre)
SourceWatch.org (website diametrically opposed to / competing with InfluenceWatch.org).
While providing detailed reports with apparently factual financial data (spot fact-checked, e.g., against IRS Form 990 filings), content from Capital Research Center is strongly biased against left-wing ideology (politics and policies).
The Capital Research Center (CRC) was founded in 1984 by Willa Johnson, former senior vice president of The Heritage Foundation. Donors to the Capital Research Center have included foundations run by the Koch family, the Scaife Foundations, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. As of 2017, CRC had received more than $265,000 from ExxonMobil.
In 2017, the CRC launched the website InfluenceWatch.org [InfluenceWatch.org], which focuses on identifying funding sources of progressive organizations and initiatives. In Wikipedia, a search for "InfluenceWatch" redirects to the Capital Research Center.
Wikipedia: Capital Research Center
Carbon Brief
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Carbon Brief left-Center Biased and Pro-Science based on adherence to science consensus with climate change. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2010, Carbon Brief describes itself as a "U.K.-based website" that publishes articles on the latest developments about climate science and climate policy. According to their "About Page," Carbon Brief, specializes in "clear, data-driven articles and graphics to help improve the understanding of climate change, both in terms of the science and the policy response."
Carbon Brief's Editor and Director is journalist Leo Hickman. All staff can be found on their about page.
Funded by / Ownership
Carbon Brief states that European Climate Foundation provides their funding. They report on their about page funding totaled Β£597,888 for the financial year of 2019.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Carbon Brief publishes articles related to climate change, including fact-checking articles in which headlines are generally low-biased "Factcheck: Did climate change contribute to India's catastrophic 'glacial flood'?" Information is usually properly sourced to credible media outlets such as the BBC, Reuters, The Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times, IPCC, and always factual.
Carbon Brief leans left politically in their concern for climate change, as evidenced by this article "U.S. election: Climate experts react to Joe Biden's victory." A quote from the article concerning the general reaction of scientists is positive as the former president had a climate skeptic view and acted accordingly, the quote reads "I find myself filled with relief and hope after what has been a nightmarish four years of the Trump administration reversing or halting numerous federal climate policies, sidelining and silencing scientists and trying to tamper with scientific reports." In general, they are pro-science in their publications and approach and hold a left-leaning political bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date. Carbon Brief is a resource for IFCN fact-checker Climate Feedback.
CNET
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to use of generative models (machine learning / natural language processing) to generate content - leading to multiple issues including misinformation. See: Editorial practices at Persagen.com concerning machine-generated material.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: CNET, 2022-07-08:
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Overall, we rate CNET Least Biased based on the publication of straightforward news without editorial bias. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record.
History
Founded in 1994, CNET is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics. The current editors are Lindsey Turrentine and Connie Guglielmo.
Funded by / Ownership
CNET is owned by CBS Interactive, an American media company and a division of the . It is an online content network for information and entertainment. Its websites cover news, sports, entertainment, technology, and business. The website generates revenue through online advertising and its quarterly print magazine sales.
Analysis / Bias
In review, CNET could easily fall into our Pro-Science category as most content is related to tech or science and is factual. While their forte is the massive library of free and paid software and apps available for download, there's much more to CNET. They report on science news, new technology, consumer electronics, cars, and smart home gadgets and produce tech-related videos and podcasts. There's also an extensive how-to section for getting the most out of your electronics and a deals section for finding the best stuff at the best price.
While CNET doesn't often report on politics, they do when it pertains to their genre. For example, in this article regarding Donald Trump and a tech company, they utilize minimally loaded language and source properly: "Trump reiterates Huawei as 'national security threat.'" CNET typically does not take editorial positions, but instead publishes information when it pertains to politics.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Wikipedia: CNET ("News.com" redirects there), 2023-01-24:
CNET (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics. CNET originally produced content for radio and television in addition to its website, and now uses new media distribution methods through its Internet television network, CNET Video, and its podcast and blog networks.
Founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, CNET was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through that unit's acquisition of CNET Networks in 2008. It has been owned by Red Ventures since 2020-10-30.
Other than English, CNET's region-specific and language-specific editions include Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
[ ... snip ... ]
[Futurism.com, 2023-01-11] CNET Is Quietly Publishing Entire Articles Generated By AI. "This article was generated using automation technology," reads a dropdown description. | discussion: reddit.com/r/Journalism: 2023-01-11
[Engadget.com, 2023-01-11] CNET has used an AI to write financial explainers nearly 75 times since 2022-11. CNET Money Staff byline wasn't so much a set of employees as a heavily edited text generator.
[theVerge.com, 2023-01-19] Inside CNET's AI-powered SEO money machine. Fake bylines. Content farming. Affiliate fees. What happens when private equity takes over a storied news site and milks it for clicks?
[Futurism.com, 2023-01-23] CNET's AI Journalist Appears to Have Committed Extensive Plagiarism. CNET's AI-written articles aren't just riddled with errors. They also appear to be substantially plagiarized. | discussion: Hacker News: 2023-01-24
[theVerge.com, 2023-08-09] CNET is deleting old articles to try to improve its Google Search ranking. The tech news site has been 'pruning' older stories in an effort to show Google that its content is 'fresh, relevant and worthy of being placed higher than our competitors in search results,' according to an internal memo. | discussion: Hacker News: 2023-08-09
CNN
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to multiple failed fact checks, and numerous biases: billionaire influence | support for Donald Trump | transphobia | ...
Wikipedia | Trump presidency, AT&T ownership
... CNN is known for its dramatic live coverage of breaking news, some of which has drawn criticism as overly sensationalistic, and for its efforts to be nonpartisan, which have led to accusations of false balance. ...
... The presidency of Donald Trump has led to many prominent controversies involving CNN. The network was accused by critics of giving disproportionate amounts of coverage to Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. CNN president Jeff Zucker defended CNN against the criticism, commenting that out of the Republican Party candidates, Trump was the most willing to give on-air interviews. Trump commented upon the allegations during his speech at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), jokingly referring to CNN as the "Clinton News Network". ...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com; overall, we rate CNN left biased based on editorial positions that consistently favor the left, while straight news reporting falls left-center through bias by omission. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to several failed fact checks by TV hosts. However, news reporting on the website tends to be properly sourced with minimal failed fact checks.
CNN Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
The Cable News Network is owned by WarnerMedia, which is a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by AT&T. CNN's television stations and website are funded through cable subscriptions and an advertising model.
CNN: Billionaire influence
[FAIR.org, 2022-02-17] Trump Donor John Malone Could Soon Be Calling Shots at CNN.
Warner Bros. Discovery is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City. Warner Bros. Discovery was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Discovery, Inc. 2022-04-08. Warner Bros. Discovery's properties are divided into nine business units, including CNN. Source: Wikipedia, 2023-05-11: Warner Bros. Discovery.
What will CNN become under John Malone? "I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing," the media billionaire John C. Malone told CNBC in November (2021-11-18). "I do believe good journalism could have a role in the future portfolio that Discovery / TimeWarner's going to represent," John Malone went on. In the interview with CNBC's David Faber, John Malone also said: "Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have news news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions." Brian Flood of right-wing Fox News said (2021-11-19) of John Malone's CNBC declaration: "Liberty Media chairman John Malone, who sits on the Discovery, Inc. board of directors, wants to see left-wing CNN revert back to nonpartisan journalism following the completion of a merger that would put the liberal network under the Discovery Channel."
More Than A Board Member
John Malone, in fact, is more than a Discovery board member; John Malone is Discovery's chair and largest shareholder. CNN - started by Ted Turner and now owned by AT&T (2022-02; later that year owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) - is part of an $85 billion acquisition by Discovery Inc., expected to be finalized this year (2022). John Malone's links to politics include being an active supporter - John Malone is currently a board member - of the Cato Institute - the Washington, D.C.-based libertarian think tank that espouses the privatization of numerous U.S. government agencies and programs, including Social Security and the United States Postal Service. John Malone's Liberty Media empire was among the big contributors to Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration festivities in Washington, D.C., with personal and corporate contributions adding up to $1 million. However in 2019, in another interview with David Faber on CNBC (2019-11-21), John Malone said: "Look, I think a lot of things Donald Trump has tried to do - identifying problems and trying to solve them - has been great. ... I just don't think he's the right guy to do it. Half the people that he's hired and thrown under the bus are now trying to kill him. I mean, what kind of thing is that?" John Malone then said he would vote for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for president in 2020.
No "Coward's Way Out"
Brian Freeman of right-wing Newsmax said (2021-11-21): "CNN will be the key news property in the merged company, one that will be dominated by entertainment programming. There had been rumors that CNN might be spun off or sold, but John Malone indicated in the CNBC interview that's not likely." John Malone, Brian Freeman said, described such a move as a "coward's way out." Brian Freeman asserted that "John Malone has cause to worry about the left-wing network," because "CNN's ratings have collapsed over 50% in the past year (2021) and may be suffering from a credibility gap with viewers. ... Last March (2022), a Hill-HarrisX (The Hill) poll found that 47% of registered voters believe CNN holds a liberal bias in reporting." (In the same poll, 48% of respondents said they believed Fox News had a conservative bias - but who's counting?) Steve Straub of the right-wing website The Federalist Papers said (2021-11-22) of John Malone's CNBC comments: "CNN's soon-to-be new owner just made a startling admission, one that has been obviously apparent to us and many others for some time, that the so-called news network has no actual journalists."
The most powerful man you've never heard of
" John Malone ... Meet the Most Powerful Man That You've Never Heard Of," was a heading of a 2018 piece on the website of the British-based Gentleman's Journal. John Malone owns "services and TV channels you've most likely used or watched ... yet the name John Malone still draws a sea of blank faces. ... One of the most powerful, yet unknown, individuals in America ... as Liberty Media's chairman and largest stakeholder, John Malone is one of the world's most influential media magnates." In addition to being part-owner of the Atlanta Braves - the Gentleman's Journal website noted - "John Malone currently owns more land in America than anyone else: 2.2 million acres to be precise. ... John Malone has a net worth of around $9.22 billion, and thanks to his buccaneering role in media deals and land ownership, John Malone has been nicknamed the 'Cable Cowboy'." The article related how John Malone (born in Connecticut), has a Ph.D. in operations research from Johns Hopkins University, and:
"joined the worldwide management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1968. However, fatigued from the constant traveling his job required, he left after five years to join General Instrument; while at General Instrument, John Malone ran Jerrold Electronics - a subsidiary which produces minicomputers for the cable TV industry - and was eventually offered the role of CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc. ... which only had 400,000 subscribers and owed creditors $132 million.... John Malone was only 29 at the time. Within 17 years of snapping up smaller operators and acquiring minority stakes in other channels, Tele-Communications, Inc. - under the management of John Mal - had accumulated 8.5 million subscribers and grew into the second largest cable company after Time Warner. Because of his business deals in the byzantine world of cable TV, John Malone was compared to 'Darth Vader' by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. ... At the helm of Liberty Media, the young American (John Malone) changed the organization - Tele-Communications, Inc. - from just providing cable services to actually owning the networks broadcast on its infrastructure, including the Discovery Channel, QVC, and Virgin Media.".
CNN could face a reset
The headline last week in Variety (2022-02-08): "CNN Could Face a Reset Under Discovery Control." The article by Brian Steinberg spoke of how under its recently resigned president, Jeff Zucker, "CNN became more swashbuckling, more colorful ..." But Discovery is "a media company that tries to maintain a quieter corporate demeanor." Jeff Zucker changed the culture of CNN, shoving it into more direct competition with Fox News Channel and MSNBC. ... Will Discovery change the recipe? There are signs that executives at the company see Jeff Zucker's departure from CNN as an opportunity for a reset at CNN. Variety's piece spoke of those who "argue Jeff Zucker's strategies have been good for CNN - and for people who have been helped by its aggressive accountability journalism in Washington." The article concluded: "Executives charged with leading CNN in the wake of Jeff Zucker's exit have vowed to staffers in internal meetings that his (Jeff Zucker's) vision for CNN will remain intact, but chances are Discovery will dim Jeff Zucker's flash." That would not be good news. The future of social democracy in the United States is at stake amid the polarization and deadlock of the political process in Washington, D.C.. Media are increasingly under the control of right-wing zealots like Rupert Murdoch and those behind Newsmax, etc., who are poisoning communications. Critically needed now is an independent, honest, credible press providing, yes, aggressive accountability journalism - a light to enable people to find their way out of this mess. Instead, the nation's oldest cable news channel - CNN - will soon be under the control of someone ( John Malone) who appears to want it to follow the "interesting trajectory" of Fox News.
CNN: Support of Donald Trump
On 2023-05-10 CNN hosted Donald Trump, with predictable results.
Donald John Trump (born 1946-06-14) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Lawsuit for sexual battery and defamation
In 2022, E. Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and for defamation when Donald Trump denied her story during his presidency; the jury found Donald Trump liable and awarded E. Jean Carroll $5,000,000 in damages. Source (2023-05-10): Wikipedia. Main article: E. Jean Carroll vs. Donald J. Trump
[Truthout.org, 2023-05-11] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Flames CNN for "Profoundly Irresponsible" Trump Town Hall. CNN gifted Donald Trump over an hour to tell lies to the American public on Wednesday night (2023-05-10).
[CommonDreams.org, 2023-05-11] 'It Was Shameful': CNN Faces Furious Backlash for Giving Trump a Megaphone to Spew Lies. "They put a sexual abuse victim in harm's way for views," said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "This was a choice to platform lies about the election and Jan. 6th."
[theAtlantic.com, 2023-05-10] CNN Renews the Trump Show. In an unhinged town hall, the former president repeated familiar lies and tested new talking points.
[NewRepublic.com, 2023-05-10] Trump Was Awful. CNN Was Worse . Kaitlan Collins and the network's journalists tried their best. But the execs, from Chris Licht on down, brought total shame on themselves, journalism, and America.
[theNation.com, 2023-05-10] CNN Showcases Trump. He Brutalizes One of Its Stars - and the Truth. Despite her best efforts, moderator Kaitlan Collins could not "fact-check a lie machine," in one CNN star's words. It was a predictable shit show.
[MotherJones.com, 2023-05-10] Trump Mocked E. Jean Carroll Live on CNN. The Audience Laughed. An hour of pure misogyny.
[19thNews.org, 2023-05-10] Trump uses CNN town hall to insult a woman he assaulted. The crowd of potential GOP primary voters in New Hampshire responded to Trump's attacks on E. Jean Carroll, who won a civil suit against him Tuesday, with laughter.
[NewRepublic.com, 2023-05-10] CNN Lets Donald Trump Smear E. Jean Carroll, As Audience Laughs Along. Trump was found liable of sexual abuse. His base doesn't even care.
[NewRepublic.com, 2023-05-10] CNN's Trump Town Hall Was a Total Disaster. Trump told a record number of lies during the town hall, and he got away with it.
[NewRepublic.com, 2023-05-10] Trump Has No Regrets About January 6 (2021-01-06 U.S. Capitol insurrection). The former president was given several opportunities during a CNN town hall to disavow the insurrection. He refused.
CNN: Transphobia
See also main article: transphobia.
[Frankie de la Cretaz, theNation.com, 2023-05-12] How Women's Swimming Got So Transphobic. Almost no other sport is as hostile to trans athletes - and that's because its culture created the perfect conditions for transphobia to take root.
When Lia Thomas first entered the women's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimming scene in 2021, Lia Thomas's presence was immediately felt. National media outlets became obsessed with Lia Thomas. Lia Thomas got the kind of attention rarely given to swimming athletes outside of the Olympics. Lia Thomas was good, but she wasn't the next Simone Biles of her field. So what explained such a frenzy? Simple: Lia Thomas was a transgender woman having success in the women's division.
From 2021-12-07 to 2022-02-22 CNN spent nearly 15 minutes criticizing Lia Thomas' participation in the women's division but less than two minutes discussing the dozens of bills being introduced across the country banning trans people from sports. Meanwhile, from 2021-12-03 through 2022-01-12 Fox News aired 32 segments that attacked Lia Thomas, according to Media Matters for America. That pace didn't slow down for months. "That level of coverage of women's swimming, specifically, has not come close to being matched in the year after the end of Lia Thomas' swimming career," says Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ program director at Media Matters for America. "They like to say that this is coming from a place of caring about women's sports, but it's hard not to notice that they don't really cover women's sports unless trans women are competing in them."
The intensity of the critical media coverage helped fuel an equally intense backlash against Lia Thomas. Sixteen of her University of Pennsylvania teammates signed a letter midway through the swimming season, saying that Lia Thomas had an unfair advantage. That letter was organized by former Olympic swimmer Nancy Hogshead-Makar - who, along with fellow Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona - is a founding member of the Women's Sport Policy Working Group, which has been leading the movement to across the board. (The Human Rights Campaign has called the Women's Sport Policy Working Group a "hate group.") And World Aquatics - the international federation that governs the sport of swimming - released a new transgender participation policy in 2022-07 that essentially bans trans women from competing by creating incredibly restrictive requirements for the inclusion of trans women. (As I - Frankie de la Cretaz - have written previously, there is no real evidence that trans athletes have an inherent advantage over their cisgender counterparts.)
[ ... snip ... ]
CommonDreams.org
Wikipedia:
Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, U.S.-based news website that declares itself as serving the progressive community. Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials, and a newswire of current, breaking news. Common Dreams also re-publishes relevant content from numerous other sources such as The Associated Press and had published left-wing writers such as Robert Reich and Molly Ivins. The website also provides links to other relevant columnists, periodicals, radio outlets, news services, and websites.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Common Dreams Left Biased based on story selection and op-eds that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Chronicle Herald, The
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness (particularly sources of information for posted content).
See also: SaltWire Network
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Chronicle Herald as Right-Center biased in reporting and Mixed factually due to publishing an unverified claim and poor sourcing.
Factual Reporting: MIXED.
History
Founded in 1874 as The Morning Herald, The Chronicle Herald is a newspaper published in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Funded by / Ownership
The paper is owned by a Canadian newspaper publishing company, SaltWire Network, and is funded through subscriptions and advertising.
Analysis / Bias
The Chronicle Herald delivers breaking news, opinion, sports, lifestyles, and more. In review, The Chronicle Herald has a right-center bias in reporting as many stories slightly favor the right. When reporting world news they typically use The Associated Press and with national news, they use the Canadian Press, which is similar to The Associated Press. Opinion and editorial pieces also slightly favor the right and typically are light on sourcing. The Chronicle Herald also had to apologize and retract a story about immigrants that was unverified and subsequently picked up by numerous far-right websites and reported as factual news.
Overall, we rate The Chronicle Herald as Right-Center biased in reporting and Mixed factually due to publishing an unverified claim and poor sourcing. (M. Huitsing 9/15/2017) Updated (9/14/2018)
Conversation, The
Wikipedia: The Conversation, 2023-01-01:
The Conversation is a network of not-for-profit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion and analysis. Articles are written by academics and researchers under a free Creative Commons license, allowing reuse without modification. Its model has been described as explanatory journalism. Except in "exceptional circumstances", it only publishes articles by "academics employed by - or otherwise formally connected to - accredited institutions, including universities and accredited research bodies".: 8
The website was launched in Australia in 2011-03. The network has since expanded globally with a variety of local editions originating from around the world. In 2019-09 The Conversation reported a monthly online audience of 10.7 million users, and a combined reach of 40 million people when including republication. The site employed over 150 full-time staff as of 2020.
Each regional or national edition of The Conversation is an independent not-for-profit or charity funded by various sources such as partnered universities and university systems, governments and other grant awarding bodies, corporate partners, and reader donations.
[ ... snip ... ]
Content
Articles are written by academic researchers in their respective areas of expertise. They either pitch topics or are specifically commissioned to write on a topic in which they are a subject-matter expert, including for articles about current events. The Conversation's core staff then edits these articles, ensuring a balance between reader accessibility and academic rigour. Editors that work for the site frequently have past experience working for traditional news outlets. The original authors then review the edited version. Topics include politics, society, health, science, and the environment. Authors are required to disclose conflicts of interest. All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution / No derivatives licence.
Fact checking
The site often publishes fact-checks that are produced by academics from major universities, then blind peer reviewed by another academic who comments on the accuracy of the fact check.
In 2016, the FactCheck unit of The Conversation became accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network [IFCN fact-checker], an alliance of fact-checkers hosted at the Poynter Institute in the U.S. The assessment criteria require non-partisanship, fairness, transparency of funding, sources, and methods, and a commitment to open and honest corrections.
Technology
The Conversation uses a custom publishing and content management system built in Ruby on Rails. This system enables authors and editors to collaborate on articles in real time. Articles link to author profiles - including disclosure statements - and personal dashboards showing authors' engagement with the public. This is intended to encourage authors for the site to become more familiar with social media and their audience.
[ ... snip ... ]
Reception
Articles originally published in The Conversation have received republication on a regular basis by major news outlets. These have included The New York Times [note - yellow-flagged: The New York Times], The Guardian [note - red-flagged: The Guardian], The Washington Post [note - yellow-flagged: The Washington Post], and CNN [note - red-flagged: CNN]. As of 2015, about 80 per cent of the site's readership were of a non-academic background.
The Conversation has been described in Public Understanding of Science as "a blend of scientific communication, public science communication and science journalism, and a convergence of the professional worlds of science and journalism".
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: The Conversation, 2021-04-05:
Overall, we rate The Conversation Least Biased based on covering both the right-center and left-center politically, as well as covering evidence-based topics. We also rate them Very High for factual reporting due to excellent sourcing of information and a clean fact check record. In fact, The Conversation is an IFCN fact-checker.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | Country: Australia (26/180 Press Freedom) | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2010, The Conversation is an independent, not-for-profit media outlet. Academics, edited by professional journalists author articles, and freely available online and for republication through a creative commons license. The Australian website launched in March 2011, and has expanded into editions in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in 2013, United States (U.S.) in 2014, Africa in 2015, France in 2015, Canada in 2017, Indonesia in 2017, Spain in 2018.
In 2016, The Conversation's FactCheck unit became the first fact-checking team in Australia and one of only two worldwide accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network, an alliance of fact-checkers hosted at the Poynter Institute in the U.S. The current editor is Misha Ketchell.
Funded by / Ownership
The Conversation websites are held by the not-for-profit educational charity owned by The Conversation Trust. The Conversation is funded by the university and research sector, government, and business.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Conversation is covered by a charter of editorial independence. The authors must be academics or researchers. Authors have final sign-off on their articles and complete statements that disclose potential conflicts.
The articles reviewed on the U.S. Conversation website demonstrate the use of minimally loaded language such as this: "Why the US has higher drug prices than other countries." Like most on The Conversation, this article is thoroughly sourced from credible educational and media outlets such as the Commonwealth Fund, The New York Times, HHS.gov, and Kaiser Health News [Kaiser Family Foundation].
In general, The Conversation covers a wide range of topics, most of which are evidence-based. Opinions expressed come from both the slightly left and slightly right, with more coming from a more liberal perspective.
Failed Fact Check
None in the Last 5 years. In fact, The Conversationis an IFCN fact-checker in Australia.
C-SPAN
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: C-SPAN:
Overall, we rate C-SPAN Least Biased and Very-High for factual reporting based on unfiltered coverage of congress.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Launched in 1979, C-SPAN offers live, unfiltered access to the congress and straightforward government news. C-SPAN also offers a morning call-in talk show called Washington Journal that discusses government and political issues. The C-SPAN network includes three television channels (C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, and C-SPAN3), one radio station (WCSP-FM), and a group of websites that provide streaming media and archives of C-SPAN programs.
According to the website, the mission is to "provide C-SPAN's audience access to the live gavel-to-gavel proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and to other forums where public policy is discussed, debated and decided--all without editing, commentary or analysis and with a balanced presentation of points of view."
Funded by / Ownership
C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit organization owned by the National Cable Satellite Corporation, "funded by a 6Β’ per subscriber affiliate fee paid by its cable and satellite affiliates, and does not have advertisements on any of its networks, radio stations, or websites, nor does it ever solicit donations or pledges. The network operates independently, and neither the cable industry nor Congress has control of the content of its programming."
Analysis / Bias
In review, C-SPAN programming is quite literally a camera pointed at congressional events. Headlines on the website using straightforward, non-biased language such as this: "Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Testifies on President's 2020 Budget Request." The website also provides video clips and transcripts from the morning call-in show, Washington Journal, which we have rated as Least Biased. In general, C-SPAN is unfiltered and minimally biased.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
CTV News [Canada]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate CTV News Least Biased based on balanced story selection and minimal use of emotional language. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Trust Project and CTV News | The Trust Project
Wikipedia
MediaBiasFactCheck: "Overall, we rate CTV News Least Biased based on balanced story selection and minimal use of emotional language. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record." (7/28/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 6/24/2019)
History
Established in 1961 and based in Canada, CTV News is the news division of CTV Television Network. The CTV News website features Canada and world news, politics, sports, entertainment, and more. CTV News's parent company BCE Inc. (formerly: Bell Canada Enterprises), was founded by Charles Fleetford Sise in 1880. Charles Fleetford Sise was the second president of Bell Canada (formerly: The Bell Telephone Company of Canada).
Funded by / Ownership
CTV Inc. owns CTV News, a subdivision of Bell Media Inc., a subsidiary of BCE Inc. (formerly: Bell Canada Enterprises), a holding company for Bell Canada. Bell Media is headquartered in East Toronto, Ontario. Gordon M. Nixon is Chair of the Board of both BCE Inc. and Bell Canada. George Cope is the President & Chief Executive Officer of BCE Inc. and bell canada.
CTV News revenue is based on advertising and can find financial reports here.
Analysis / Bias
In review, CTV News republishes articles from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and their national news agency, the Canadian Press.
Further, CTV News publishes its own articles written by journalists such as "Truth Tracker: No, Justin Trudeau isn't converting from Christianity to Islam." Justin Trudeau is the current Prime Minister of Canada. He is also the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (Center-Left). When publishing articles regarding conservative Doug Ford, there is slightly loaded language such as this: "Doug Ford's chief of staff resigns one day after appointment controversy." This story is sourced from the right-leaning The Globe and Mail.
Editorially, CTV News does not endorse political candidates. Further, they do not publish opinion content; however, the website does publish the political blog of Don Martin, who tends to lean right with his posts.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
[bc.CTVNews.ca, 2023-01-01] We will not be intimidated: A New Year's message from our newsroom.
My dad was a little boy in Columbus, Ohio, when some other kids in his neighbourhood pried open a manhole cover on the street and forced him to climb down inside. His was the only Jewish family in the area, and everybody knew it. He remembered being terrified in the darkness and damp, trying to escape by crawling through the drainpipe towards the light from the other manholes along the block. But the kids above could hear him down there and when he tried to push his way out, they just ran up and stood on top. My dad always told us he couldn't remember how long they kept him trapped down there, but the message was clear: Jews belonged in the sewer.
It was that story of early 1940s anti-Semitism that came to mind last 2022-02 when I looked out the window in the CTV Vancouver newsroom at an angry crowd that had gathered on the street below to protest our journalists' coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. People in the crowd were calling us "vermin." One guy even wrote the word on a sign he was holding up. Vermin - you know, like rats in a sewer. It was 2022 and hate had arrived at the front door. Dozens of Vancouver police officers stood watch as speakers called for our journalists inside to be jailed, or worse. As the protests moved to other local newsrooms around Vancouver week after week, organizers christened their gatherings with the slogan, "The Media is the Virus." Working in the news business has always meant being criticized by people who don't like your choice of stories, but as the calendar flips to a new year (2023), it's hard not to look back on 2022 as a year when the discourse in Canada around the role of journalism in our democracy reached a new low. It was a year when criticism metastasized into hatred and sometimes violence. Not long after the protest at our newsroom, anti-mask mandate protesters spat at reporters covering a march at the Pacific Highway border crossing, just one of many similar incidents that took place across Canada. And while the pandemic mandates have eased, the level of anger directed towards the journalistic profession is still disturbingly high.
One of the most common misconceptions fuelling that anger focusses on how journalists pick the stories we cover each day. Some are convinced that newsrooms take their cues on what to report from corporate overlords or government masters. The truth is, story selection in our newsroom - and in every newsroom I've seen over the past 25 years - is much less conspiratorial. We all get together each morning to pitch ideas and the best ideas turn into stories. That's it. No puppet masters pulling the strings, just a group of journalists representing a wide range of backgrounds and interests talking about stories and deciding together which ones to chase. When we make a mistake, we believe in owning it; if there's an error in a story, we'll announce it and fix it. As for standards and accountability, we're guided by a newsroom code of ethics and by organizations like the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. As for bias, every good reporter is allowed only one: a bias in favour of the truth and the public's right to know about it.
The hatred and threats of violence towards journalists in 2022 did have at least one positive outcome. We're seeing newsrooms from competing organizations co-operating and supporting each other in new and encouraging ways. In Vancouver, British Columbia, the leaders of several local newsrooms - including this one - started meeting regularly to discuss protocols around safety and to compare notes and share information about threats to our people. That spirit of co-operation and common cause was on full display in early 2022-11 as local stations pooled resources and staff to provide live coverage of the regimental funeral for fallen Burnaby, British Columbia RCMP officer Shaelyn Yang.
As for working as a CTV News journalist in 2022, the attempts at intimidation often seemed to have the opposite effect. Our reporters dug into investigations and pursued answers and information with a renewed sense of purpose, perhaps because it became so apparent that - just like the search for light in the darkness - our communities need high-quality journalism more than ever in this age of disinformation. From our continuing exposure of the crisis in British Columbia's health-care system, to stories of inspiration as refugees fleeing actual persecution and oppression found shelter here, we continued to chase the stories we believe need to be told, no matter who tries to shut us up. It's what journalists have always done - and it's what we promise to keep doing in 2023.
Happy New Year (2023) from everyone in the CTV Vancouver newsroom.
(2023-05-30, bc.CTVNews.ca) CTV News Vancouver wins prestigious journalism award.
Daily Beast, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to controversies and multiple failed fact checks.
Type: news aggregation website.
Wikipedia | Controversies.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Daily Beast Left-Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them Mixed for reporting due to failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
According to its about page, The Daily Beast is a news and opinion website focusing on politics, power, and pop culture headquartered in New York City. The Daily Beast was founded in 2008 by magazine editor, columnist, and talk-show host Tina Brown. In 2010, The Daily Beast and Newsweek merged in a joint venture named The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, which lasted for 2 years. In 2013, Editor-in-Chief and founder Tina Brown announced her departure. John Avlon then became Editor-in-Chief. He was the former associate editor for The New York Sun and speechwriter for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In May of 2018, Avlon announced his departure from The Daily Beast. Noah Shachtman, co-founder and editor of Wired magazine's national security blog Danger Room serves as the new Editor-in-Chief. Heather Dietrick serves as the CEO. You can view the masthead here.
Funded by / Ownership
The Daily Beast's parent company is IAC (InterActiveCorp). which is run by Barry Diller, who had led the creation of the Fox network. IAC's CEO is Joey Levin. IAC (InterActiveCorp) is a media and internet company comprised of some of the world's well-known brands such as HomeAdvisor, Vimeo, About.com, Dictionary.com, Investopedia, and more. The Daily Beast is primarily funded through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
According to a Washington Post article, Editor-in-Chief Noah Shachtman describes how he will improve the The Daily Beast. He states, "I want us to lean harder into who we are," explaining further, "That means that if The Daily Beast is in the business of scoops - more scoops. "If we're painting in bright colors now, I want to paint even brighter."
In review, The Daily Beast tends to publish left-leaning stories utilizing sensationalized headlines with emotionally loaded words such as ...
Failed Fact Checks
Fact Check: Was A 'Huge Percentage' of Deported Salvadorans Killed or Harmed Upon Return To El Salvador? - False
"Stephen Paddock used guns that are more powerful and accurate than what Marine infantry carry - and they're totally legal to buy," - False
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner expressed genuine concern over "tracking devices" when he asked a health official about their potential presence in COVID-19 vaccines during a county board meeting. - False
Daily Caller
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to founding and association with disinformationist Tucker Carlson.
DailyCaller.com: About Us: Founded in 2010 by Tucker Carlson, ...
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Daily Caller strongly right biased based on story selection that almost always favors the right and Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks. The Daily Caller is a source that needs to be fact-checked on a per-article basis.
Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2010, the Daily Caller is an American news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a paleoconservative political pundit, and Neil Patel [disambiguation: not Nilay Patel, a former adviser to former Vice President Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney. The current editor-in-chief is Geoff Ingersol.
Funded by / Ownership
The Daily Caller is owned by the Daily Caller, Inc., which does not list its owners or members. The website was initially launched after raising $3 million in funding from businessman Foster Friess. Currently, the Daily Caller is funded through native online advertising, averaging 30 million+ page views per month. [Aside: BuzzFeed's business model also relies primarily on native advertising.]
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Daily Caller is a strongly conservative news and opinion website involved in publishing controversial stories and false stories. For example, they routinely publish misleading or false information regarding climate change [i.e.; climate change] that goes against the consensus of science [anthropogenic climate change]. The Daily Caller has also published articles by Jason Kessler, a white supremacist who organized a rally of hundreds of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia [Unite the Right rally, 2017-08-{11-12}]. The Daily Caller subsequently scrubbed those articles after the Charlottesville vehicular homicide incident.
The Daily Caller frequently uses loaded emotional language that favors the right: "DEM NOMINEE FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR IS PROGRESSIVE MAYOR WITH CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION SWIRLING AROUND HIM." The Daily Caller usually sources their information to credible media outlets. Still, sometimes they utilize factually mixed sources, such as The Daily Wire, and questionable sources, such as Judicial Watch. In reviewing story content, virtually all content favored the right in story selection and wording, while denigrating the left. The Daily Caller also promotes a favorable view of former President Donald Trump by promoting his policies.
Failed Fact Checks
"Former President Bill Clinton and his Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) distributed 'watered-down' HIV/AIDS drugs to patients in sub-Saharan Africa." - FALSE
"Jeanne Shaheen was principally involved in a plot with Lois Lerner and President Barack Obama's political appointee at the IRS to lead a program of harassment against conservative nonprofit groups during the 2012 election" - FALSE
"George Soros-controlled Smartmatic manufactures the voting machines used in 16 crucial states, and those states will be rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton." - FALSE
"Indiana Muslims are appalled by a billboard displaying a list of deeds by the Prophet Muhammad even though it is accurate." - MOSTLY FALSE
"Washington state has updated their curriculum standards to include teaching "transgenderism" to Kindergarteners." - MOSTLY FALSE
"Says Nancy Pelosi was 'caught trying to include abortion funding in bill to combat coronavirus'." - FALSE
Daily Dot, The
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Daily Dot Left Biased based on editorial positions that mostly favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2011 by Nicholas White, who is also the current editor, The Daily Dot is a digital media company covering internet culture, politics, and life on the web. According to their about page "In 2011, he launched The Daily Dot as a paper of record for the Web, utilizing little more than Google docs, a newsletter, and a small editorial team."
Funded by / Ownership
The Daily Dot is owned by Daily Dot, LLC, which is based in Austin, Texas. Revenue is primarily derived from advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Daily Dot mostly covers technology news but also covers culture and politics. For the purpose of this review we will focus on politics. The Daily Dot, at worst uses moderately loaded language in headlines with most being minimal such as this: "MAGA bomber sentenced to 20 years in prison." This story is properly sourced. When reporting on President Trump The Daily Dot does not have a favorable view, with articles such as this: "WTF was Donald Trump doing with his hand at last night's rally?" and this: "The latest terrifying deepfake combines Donald Trump and Mr. Bean." This story is also appropriately sourced to credible left-leaning sources such as Vox and The Washington Post.
When it comes to science, they support the consensus across the board such as this on GMOs: "Nobel laureates urge Greenpeace to drop its crusade against GMOs." In general, The Daily Dot holds a strong left-leaning editorial position, while reporting news factually and with evidence.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Daily Kos
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
Wikipedia entry.
Daily Kos is a group blog and internet forum focused on the Democratic Party and liberal American politics. The site includes glossaries and other content. It is sometimes considered an example of "netroots" activism. Daily Kos was founded in 2002 by Markos Moulitsas and takes the name Kos from the last syllable of his first name, his nickname while in the military.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com
Overall, we rate the Daily Kos strongly Left Biased based on story selection that almost exclusively favors the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to non-vetted content and a few failed fact check and misleading claims.
Factual Reporting: MIXED.
Daily Mail
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to tabloid journalism, and other concerns (below).
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck: "QUESTIONABLE SOURCE. Overall, we rate the Daily Mail Right Biased and Questionable due to numerous failed fact checks and poor information sourcing."
Questionable Reasoning: Right, Propaganda, Conspiracy, Some Fake News, Numerous Failed Fact Checks
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: LOW
Country: United Kingdom (35/180 Press Freedom)
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
History
"Established in 1896 by Harold and Alfred Harmsworth and Kennedy Jones, The Daily Mail is a tabloid newspaper in the U.K.. It is edited by Geordie Greig, who took over as editor in November 2018 from Paul Dacre, who had been the editor since 1992. The Daily Mail's parent company is DMGT, which owns newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, and The Metro. The chairman is Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, who inherited the media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold and his brother Alfred a century earlier. Harold Sidney Harmsworth is also known to be an admirer of Mussolini and a supporter of Nazi Germany."
Funded by / Ownership
"The Daily Mail's parent company is Daily Mail, and General Trust or DMGT and its chairman are Jonathan Harmsworth who inherited the media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold Sidney Harmsworth. The Executive Committee is listed on their about page."
"DMGT also publishes the Mail on Sunday and Metro titles. Besides journalism, DMGT includes risk management, event organization such as conferences, training sessions, seminars and is the largest shareholder in property portal Zoopla, sold to Silver Lake. The main revenue of the Daily Mail is digital advertising, print ads, and subscription fees. You can find their 2018 assets report here."
Analysis / Bias
"The Daily Mail is a known supporter of the Conservatives. They are also one of the pro-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit tabloids. According to a Reuters article, the Daily Mail published a controversial headline in response to a Brexit Court ruling criticizing the judges by branding them as 'enemies of the people.' According to CNBC, the Daily Mail has also been criticized by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to publish fake news articles and "hyped up" headlines and "mastered the art of running stories that aren't true." Further, CNBC reported that DMG media responded by saying, 'DailyMail.com is the very antithesis of click-bait and hype headlines. We just tell stories better than anyone else.'"
"In review, the Daily Mail tends to publish stories utilizing sensationalized headlines with emotionally loaded wordings such as "Woman, 63, 'becomes PREGNANT in the mouth' with baby squid after eating calamari", which is a misleading headline. In 2017, Wikipedia banned the Daily Mail as an 'unreliable' source. When it comes to sourcing information, they use minimal hyperlinked sourcing as well as sourcing to themselves. In general, most stories favor the right; however, the Daily Mail will report either side of the story is sensational enough."
Failed Fact Checks
Conclusion
"Overall, we rate Daily Mail Right Biased and Questionable due to numerous failed fact checks and poor information sourcing." (7/19/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 3/10/2021)
[BBC News, 2021-04-21] Daily Mail owner sues Google over search results. The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper and MailOnline website is suing Google over allegations the search engine manipulates search results. | Hacker News [2021-04-21]
Daily Telegraph, The ["The Telegraph"]
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to tabloid journalism, and other concerns (below).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Telegraph Right Biased based on story selection that strongly favors the right and Mixed for factual reporting due to poor sourcing of information and some failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
... in 1969, it became The Daily Telegraph, sometimes referred to as The Telegraph. The Telegraph covers news, politics, sports, technology, business, money, opinion, lifestyle, and travel. Chris Evans is the editor, Nick Hugh is the CEO of The Telegraph, and David King is the Executive Director at Telegraph Media Group (TMG).
Funded by / Ownership
Telegraph Media Group (TMG) owns The Telegraph, which is owned by Press Acquisitions Ltd., which in turn is owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay. In 2004, Twin Brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay acquired The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph from the Canadian media company Hollinger Inc. [Conrad Black] for Β£665 million. For a complete list of Board members, see here. The Telegraph Media Group's 2017 Financial results can be found here. The Telegraph is subscription-based, and only subscribers have unlimited access to Premium articles. They also rely on advertising to generate revenue.
Analysis / Bias
According to the Financial Times, in 2015, The Telegraph urged its readers to vote Conservative via email from its editor Chris Evans. As a result, the paper was fined Β£30,000 by the data regulator, the independent office that regulates the organization's data use. Further, The Telegraph is strongly biased in favor of the Conservative party, earning the nickname "Daily Torygraph."
During the 2017 elections, The Telegraph backed Theresa May ( Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2016): "Vote Conservative for an independent, prosperous Britain." Here is a quote from the article demonstrating conservative bias "Only Theresa May has the attitude and the experience necessary to get the job done - and to get it done in the cleanest, most comprehensive way. Jeremy Corbyn is not only incompetent and wrongheaded but dangerous." They also publish articles strongly biased against the Labor party such as this: "A Corbyn government would be a calamity - everything else is just noise."
The Telegraph also republishes stories from credible news media such as Reuters and The Associated Press.
The Telegraph regularly utilizes emotionally loaded language in their headlines and source poorly, either through quotations or self-referral sourcing to themselves. They also routinely publish clickbait tabloid-style news such as "Is this workout the secret to Jennifer Aniston's youthful physique at 50?" and crime stories in their News section: "Libby Squire suspect charged with stealing sex toys and knickers from other women months before the disappearance of student."
Recently, The Telegraph issued an apology letter to Melania Trump for publishing false statements regarding her family and her modeling career and also agreed to pay substantial damages' over the article they published about the First Lady.
Failed Fact Checks
The U.K's independent fact-checker, Full Fact, has found several false claims by The Telegraph. Climate Feedback has also found misleading information regarding human-influenced climate change [i.e.; climate change].
Daily Wire, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to misinformation, transphobic content, ...
Wikipedia entry
The Daily Wire is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and director Jeremy Boreing.
History
The Daily Wire was conceived by Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing, who both worked for TruthRevolt, a news website that was formerly funded by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. After the Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing secured several million dollars in seed funding from the billionaire brothers Dan Howard Wilks and Farris Cullen Wilks, The Daily Wire was launched in 2015. Farris Wilks manages Forward Publishing LLC, which publishes The Daily Wire. The website's headquarters were in Los Angeles, California. In September 2020, Shapiro announced that The Daily Wire headquarters would move to Nashville, Tennessee.
Dan and Farris Wilks
Dan Howard Wilks and Farris Cullen Wilks, also known as the Wilks Brothers, are American petroleum industry businessmen. Sons of a bricklayer, the Wilks brothers established Wilks Masonry in 1995. The Wilks brothers went on to found an early hydraulic fracking company, Frac Tech, in 2002, and eventually became billionaires. In 2011 the Wilks brothers sold their 70% interest in Frac Tech for $3.5 billion. The Wilks brothers reside in Cisco, Texas.
The Wilks brothers are major funders of conservative causes, including The Daily Wire, PragerU (a recipient of funding from DonorsTrust), and the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz.
[ ... snip ... ]
The Wilks brothers -- along with political commentator Ben Shapiro - helped launch and fund The Daily Wire, a conservative news and opinion website in 2015. Additionally, the Wilks Brothers provided early stage funding to PragerU, a conservative YouTube channel and media company started by Dennis Prager to further conservative causes. The Wilks brothers are major donors to conservative advocacy group Empower Texans.
[ ... snip ... ]
Criticism & controversies
According to Snopes, "DailyWire.com has a tendency to share stories that are taken out of context or not verified", including reports on protesters digging up Confederate graves, Democratic congresspeople refusing to stand for a fallen Navy SEAL's widow, and Harvard University holding segregated commencement ceremonies. The credibility checker NewsGuard assessed that The Daily Wire "severely violates basic standards of credibility and transparency", "often misstates facts to advance partisan opinion" and "frequently publishes false and misleading information, particularly in stories about abortion".
The Daily Wire published articles expressing skepticism that climate change is occurring and that humans contribute to climate change. Climate scientists have described the articles as being inaccurate and misleading.
The Daily Wire incorrectly credited the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary, Ben Carson, with finding over $500 billion in accounting errors made by the Obama administration. FactCheck.org reported that the errors were discovered and published by HUD's independent inspector general before Ben Carson became secretary.
The investigative website Popular Information accused The Daily Wire in October 2019 of violating Facebook's policies by creating 14 anonymous pages promoting The Daily Wire's content, exclusively to boost engagement. A new Facebook policy might force them to add their ownership to The Daily Wire's pages. Facebook told Popular Information that Facebook would take no action against The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire MediaBiasFactcheck entry: QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
"A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources."
"Overall, we rate The Daily Wire Right Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that align with the conservative right. We also rate Questionable due to the promotion of propaganda, conspiracy theories, and numerous failed fact checks."
Questionable Reasoning: Conspiracy Theories, Propaganda, Failed Fact Checks
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA (45/180 Press Freedom)
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
History
"The Daily Wire is a politically conservative American news and opinion website founded in 2015 by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, who currently serves as Editor-in-Chief. Michael Knowles is managing editor, and Jeremy Boreing is Chief Operating Officer."
"Read our profile on the United States government and media."
Funded by / Ownership
"Forward Publishing LLC owns The Daily Wire. Forward Publishing is owned and managed by the billionaire Wilks Brothers, who made their money through the fossil fuel industry with their company Frac Tech. The Wilks brothers are also a part of the extreme Christian Right who interpret the bible literally. The website is funded through a subscription and advertising model."
Analysis / Bias
"The Daily Wire presents news with a hyper-partisan conservative bias in reporting and wording. For example, headlines are usually sensational and utilize strong emotional language such as this: "Democrats Boo God. Then They Quote The Bible To Attack Trump." Virtually every story favors the right and denigrates the left. However, The Daily Wire does not always report favorably on President Trump and his policies. When it comes to science, they often do not align with climate scientists' consensus that humans are a significant factor in climate change. See the fact checks below."
Failed Fact Checks
[ ... snip ... ]
Conclusions
"Overall, we rate The Daily Wire Right Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that align with the conservative right. We also rate The Daily Wire Questionable due to The Daily Wire's promotion of propaganda, conspiracy theories, and numerous failed fact checks. (9/2/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 04/17/2021)"
The Daily Wire's About page [captured 2021-04-23].
Wikipedia, 2022-09-23: Matt Walsh:
Matthew Walsh (born 1986-06-18) is an American right-wing political commentator and author. Matt Walsh hosts The Matt Walsh Show podcast and is a columnist for The Daily Wire. Matt Walsh has authored four books and starred in The Daily Wire documentary What Is a Woman?
Views and controversies
Matt Walsh has been described as right-wing, and as conservative. Matt Walsh's commentary is sometimes described by media outlets as trolling. In his Twitter biography Matt Walsh describes himself as a "theocratic fascist" [theocracy | fascism | neo-fascism] and has written sarcastically about the label. Matt Walsh has argued that the trial of Kenosha unrest shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was malicious prosecution, and Matt Walsh has argued for restricting pornography. Matt Walsh's tweets in 2022-06 implying that ozone depletion and acid rain were never serious problems were described by Ars Technica as "willfully ignoring" well-documented evidence. [anthropogenic climate change | climate change denial]
Transgender issues
Matt Walsh has compared giving hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgery for transgender youth to child molestation and rape.
Matt Walsh rented an apartment in Virginia for one day in 2021 to qualify to speak out against the Loudoun County School Board for allowing transgender students the use of restrooms matching their gender identity. During his speech, Matt Walsh said:
"You are all child abusers. You prey upon impressionable children and indoctrinate them into your insane ideological cult, a cult which holds many fanatical views but none so deranged as the idea that boys are girls and girls are boys."
In 2021-05, Matt Walsh called doctors who perform gender-reassignment surgeries for transgender youth "plastic surgeons basically acting like Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."
In 2022-01, Twitter suspended Matt Walsh's account for violating its policies on hateful content, after Matt Walsh tweeted what Twitter deemed offensive speech against the transgender community.
Matt Walsh's 2022-03 children's book Johnny the Walrus compares being transgender with identifying as a walrus. It was listed as the best-selling LGBT+ book on Amazon.com in 2021-12 before Amazon recategorized the book.
In 2022-09, Matt Walsh accused the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (/i>VUMC<) of opening a transgender healthcare clinic because it is profitable.
[ ... snip ... ]
Personal life
Matt Walsh lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is married to Alissa Walsh, with whom he has four children. Matt Walsh did not attend college, which he wrote was "one of the smartest decisions I have ever made". Matt Walsh is a practicing Catholic.
- Transphobia:
- Christian right
[Vice.com, 2022-09-23] Hospitals Remove Trans Healthcare Information After Far-Right Attacks. That means trans patients will have a harder time accessing critical healthcare information.
One day after notorious right-wing figure Matt Walsh [a columnist for The Daily Wire] tweeted about a Tennessee clinic that provides critical care for trans patients, the hospital [Vanderbilt University Medical Center] removed several pages about trans healthcare from its site - an outcome that risks making it even more difficult for trans people to access healthcare. On Tuesday (2022-09-20), Matt Walsh tweeted a thread about Vanderbilt Transgender Clinic, making false accusations that healthcare providers at the clinic "castrate, sterilize, and mutilate minors," among others. Shortly after, the Vanderbilt Clinic for Transgender Health at Vanderbilt University website was taken down, a "404: This page could not be found" error in its place.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center isn't the only health center that's had to limit available public information after being targeted by right-wing social media accounts. Just this week (2022-09), Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio removed information about trans care from its site - including information about healthcare providers - shortly after being targeted. As Media Matters for America reported, in-person support group meetings for trans youth were cancelled at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago because of security risks. ... "Right-wing media have established a pattern where they'll tweet out stuff from the websites of gender-affirming care centers - stripped of any context - and then make incendiary statements on top of that," said Ari Drennen, who has written about this issue.
[ ... snip ... ]
DCReport.org
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate DCReport at the end of left-center bias and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing.
DeBrief, The
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include the continual shilling of the U.S. Navy / TTSA / Luis Elizondo / Chris Mellon / ... Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) "threat" trope. The Debrief cofounder MJ Banias [local copy] is an author and freelance journalist who specializes in paranormal culture and other pseudoscientific interests.
Homepage: theDebrief.com: About, 2022-03-14:
Rebelliously Curious in Exploring Frontier Science and Innovative Technology. The Debrief is a news site providing a public venue for credible reporting on science, tech, and defense news, with an eye for the cutting edge science and technology of tomorrow.
Who we are
Micah Hanks: Co-Founder/Creator, Editor-in-Chief
Tim McMillan: Co-Founder, Executive Director
MJ Banias: Co-Founder, Content Director
Steve McDaniel: IT Infrastructure, Developer
Our Story
The Debrief was born out of the rebelliously curious minds of Micah Hanks, Tim McMillan, and MJ Banias. Our fundamental belief is that the world of tomorrow is built on the progress and imagination of today.
Noticing a significant gap in rigorous reporting on frontier technology, future science, the world of defense, and knowledge on the periphery of human understanding, we aspire to raise the bar on the discussion of these issues, always with a mind for fairness in reporting, a respect for national security, and the hope for a bright future for humankind.
Our Mission
The Debrief was launched to explore and report on developments in science, defense and intelligence, frontier technology, and knowledge that exists on the periphery of human understanding.
We operate under the core belief that the novel frontiers in science and technology are the incubator from which transformative and non-linear innovation is born. We aspire to bring attention to innovations in a number of fields and disciplines through informed-and fair-reporting and media coverage. Where warranted, we also believe phenomena in nature that approaches areas where scientific paradigms currently do not extend must also be examined, and discussed with journalistic integrity and rigor.
Transparency
Transparency, whether in areas of government or media and journalism, is of great importance to us. The Debrief was launched as an independent endeavor, homebuilt and self-funded at the time of its launch by us, and aimed at exploring the concepts that fascinate us with journalistic integrity and rigor.
Direction
The Debrief is centered on the core belief that the novel frontiers of science and technology is the incubator from which transformative and non-linear innovation is born. It is our view that a focus must be placed on today's cutting-edge science and technology, and that unconventional approaches to problems our world faces must be considered. We aspire to bring attention to innovations in a number of fields and disciplines through informed-and fair-reporting and media coverage. Where warranted, we believe phenomena in nature that approaches areas where scientific paradigms currently do not extend must also be examined.
Mission Statement
Our complete Mission Statement, which covers many of our goals and interests, can be read online here.
Democracy Now! | DemocracyNow.org
Wikipedia, Democracy_Now!:
Amy Goodman
Democracy Now! is an hour-long American TV, radio and internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman - who also acts as the show's executive producer - and Juan GonzΓ‘lez. ...
Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Amy Goodman's investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement and Chevron Corporation's role in Nigeria. Since 1996, Amy Goodman has been the main host of Democracy Now!, a progressive global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet. Amy Goodman has received awards for her work, including the Thomas Merton Award in 2004, a Right Livelihood Award in 2008, and an Izzy Award in 2009 for "special achievement in independent media". ... In 2014 Amy Goodman was awarded the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Democracy Now! Left biased based on story selection that consistently favors the left and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1996, Democracy Now! is an hour-long American TV, radio, and internet news program hosted by progressive journalists Amy Goodman and Juan GonzΓ‘lez. The show, which airs live each weekday at 08:00 ET, is broadcast on the internet and by nearly 1,400 radio and television stations worldwide. The program combines news reporting, interviews, investigative journalism, and political commentary.
According to their about page, "Democracy Now! is broadcast daily across the United States and Canada and in countries around the world. Our program is on Pacifica, NPR, community, college, and satellite radio stations; on PBS, public, community, and satellite TV; and viewed by millions of people online each day."
Funded by / Ownership
Democracy Now! is a non-profit organization funded through donations from listeners, viewers, and foundations such as the The Ford Foundation.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Democracy Now! reports news with a strong left-leaning bias with moderate loaded words such as this: "House Oversight Chair: Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Broke Federal Records Laws." News stories are not typically sourced with hyperlinks, but they provide quotes and video in most cases. Editorially, Democracy Now! supports left-leaning causes such as pro-environment, progressive taxation, equal rights, and opposition to income inequality. Democracy Now! does not report favorably on [now former] President Donald TrumpHuman Rights Attorney to Trump: 'Israel Is Not Interested in the Golan Heights for Security'." In general, most stories favor the left and denigrate the right.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
DeSmog [DeSmog.com | formerly: DeSmogBlog]
Website: DeSmog.com
Wikipedia entry.
DeSmog, (formerly The DeSmogBlog) founded in 2006-01, is a blog that focuses on topics related to global warming. DeSmog opposes what it describes as "a well-funded and highly organized public relations campaign" that it says is "poisoning" the climate change debate [climate change denial]. The site was co-founded by James Hoggan, president of a public relations firm [Hoggan & Associates] based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
... John Lefebvre is named as a benefactor to DeSmog.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate DeSmogBlog Left Biased based on advocacy for fighting climate change. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The DeSmogBlog, founded in 2006-01, is a blog that focuses on topics related to global warming. The site describes itself as "the world's number one source for accurate, fact-based information regarding global warming misinformation campaigns." DeSmogBlog opposes what it describes as "a well-funded and highly organized public relations campaign" that it says is "poisoning" the climate change debate.
Funded by / Ownership
The DeSmogBlog is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
DeSmogBlog provides news regarding policy and corporate actions against climate science. They also have a list on their website that shows individual climate change deniers and groups such as the Heartland Institute. While DeSmogBlog sources from credible scientific information, we rate this source left biased based on its political stance regarding climate change. This is an excellent source for researching who is funding climate science denial.
Failed Fact Check
None to date.
Disclose TV | Disclose.tv
π STOP! Excluded from sources: conspiracy-driven disinformation website.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Disclose TV a Tin Foil Hat conspiracy website that is low in factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks and a lack of transparency.
Bias Rating: CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE | Factual Reporting: LOW | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2007, Disclose TV is a website that allows users to share news stories. According to their about page, "The users of our online community create a unique pool of unfiltered, wide-ranging, non-partisan, independent and highly topical content daily that can be drawn upon to extrapolate a comprehensive and in many cases startlingly vivid picture of what is taking place." The website does reveal the identity of their editor; however, they do list Lukas as Site Administrator. This link leads to a "page not found."
Funded by / Ownership
Disclose TV is owned by Futurebytes GmbH & Co. KG since 2008. Futurebytes is a limited partnership with a limited liability company as a general partner. Advertising generates revenue. >> "Futurebytes GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 2009 and has grown into a leading Private Equity Company. Since our establishment, we've invested in and partnered with a number of well-known startups that are doing great things in their respective fields. When it comes to investing, there's no such thing as approaching us too early. In fact, the earlier we come on board, the better."
Analysis / Bias
In review, the users of Disclose TV publish news stories that are often conspiratorial and sometimes just fake. They also publish some legitimate articles as well. Disclose TV frequently publishes news about aliens and UFOs such as this: "UFO sighing in the Philippines." They also promote stories regarding chemtrails, anti-vaccination propaganda as well as false flag conspiracies. In general, this is an over-the-top conspiracy theory and pseudoscience website.
Failed Fact Check
A factual search reveals 10+ failed fact checks. Further, Disclose TV is also on PolitiFact's Fake News List.
Overall, we rate Disclose TV a Tin Foil Hat conspiracy website that is low in factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks and a lack of transparency. (D. Van Zandt 7/22/2016) Updated (7/24/2021)
[Logically.ai, 2022-01-12] Disclose.tv: Conspiracy Forum Turned Disinformation Factory.
Disclose.tv, a disinformation outlet based in Germany, is bringing fake news to a timeline near you. Although it now presents itself on social media as a reliable news source, Disclose.tv originated as a forum fixated on conspiracy narratives and UFOs. Its continued uncritical coverage of these topics reveals its links to fringe pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.
Currently, Disclose.tv operates its main website, as well as accounts on Twitter (801K followers), Telegram (394K followers), YouTube (12K followers), Facebook (3 million followers), Gettr (583K followers), and Gab (180K followers). On these platforms, Disclose.tv functions as a news aggregator, largely sharing information from other news sources, often without attribution or without links to other news sites. Its most popular posts tend to be videos or photos taken from other accounts. Its Twitter account currently has eight Tweets with over 20,000 likes, half of which lack attribution to any news source.
Disclose.tv consistently pushes anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown narratives. Many of their social media posts focus on negative aspects of government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and negative effects from the COVID-19 vaccine, usually presented in a misleading manner. Its own reporting misrepresents developments related to COVID-19, such as an article from October 2021 titled "German court declares Corona curfew unconstitutional," which referred specifically to a curfew in the German state of Bavaria in 2020-03 that the State Court retroactively ruled unconstitutional.
Conspiratorial origins
The earliest archived version of Disclose.tv dates back to 2007-03-22 - but Disclose.tv today is a far cry from its initial form. In its initial form, Disclose.tv focused primarily on UFOs, aliens, ghosts, cryptozoology, and other baseless conspiracy theories. The site's early tagline - "Disclose.tv - UFOs, ghosts, paranormal, conspiracy & other top secret videos." - highlights this focus, as does its name. The name "Disclose" references the concept within UFO enthusiast circles of "disclosure," the time when the government will confirm the existence of aliens and release information regarding them.
[ ... snip ... ]
Dispatch, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to associations with Harlan Crow - a leading donor to the Republican Party, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and conservative causes (including undisclosed gifts to U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Harlan Crow is a minority investor in The Dispatch, and a friend to the co-founders of The Dispatch.
The Dispatch cofounder and editor in chief Jonah Goldberg is also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute - a right-wing think tank, where Harlan Crow serves on the board of trustees. Previously, Jonah Goldberg was a senior fellow at the National Review Institute - the nonprofit affiliated with the conservative National Review magazine. The National Review Institute has regularly hosted its debate series at Harlan Crow's Old Parkland campus.
Wikipedia: The Dispatch, captured 2023-04-11.
The Dispatch is an American conservative subscription-based and advertisement-free online magazine founded by Jonah Goldberg, Stephen F. Hayes, and Toby Stock. Several of The Dispatch's staff (including Stephen F. Hayes) are alumni of the defunct The Weekly Standard.
History
After The Weekly Standard ceased publication in 2018-12, Stephen F. Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and Toby Stock were inspired to start a media company with the goal of "producing serious, factually grounded journalism for a conservative audience". Jonah Goldberg and Stephen F. Hayes expressed concern over the alliance between conservative media outlets and the Republican Party [Republican Party], and started The Dispatch with a desire to instead focus on conservative principles, regardless of party lines. The The Dispatch is based in downtown Washington, D.C. By 2020-06 The Dispatch had grown to twelve staffers.
The Dispatch began with a beta launch in 2019-10, and fully launched on 2020-01-07. Stephen F. Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and Toby Stock own a majority of the The Dispatch, but there are additional individual investors. The The Dispatch founders intentionally avoided using venture capitalists. At The Dispatch's launch in 2019-10, The Dispatch had pooled $6 million in investment capital and had in its employ a full-time staff of eight individuals, including founding editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg, managing editor Rachael Larimore, and (soon after its launch) senior editor David A. French. In 2020-01 - shortly after launching - The Dispatch Podcast appeared briefly on Apple's Top 100 news podcasts. By 2020-03 the The Dispatch claimed to have nearly 10,000 paying subscribers.
In 2020-05 the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) [Poynter Institute] certified The Dispatch's fact-checking division. As of 2020-09 The Dispatch had nearly 100,000 subscribers, with almost 18,000 of them paying for the full service. The The Dispatch pulled in nearly $2 million in revenue during its first year (2020), most of which was from Substack subscriptions. The Dispatch was Substack's first media company. In 2022-10 the publication moved from Substack to its own website.
The Dispatch has been sharply critical of Donald Trump from a center-Right perspective. On 2021-01-06 - after the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Rudy Giuliani left a voicemail message intended for Senator Tommy Tuberville on a different Senator's voicemail account. Rudy Giuliani's message urged Tommy Tuberville to delay certification of the electoral vote: "Just try to slow it down." The unnamed Senator gave the message to The Dispatch, which immediately broke the story. The next day, The Dispatch published an editorial calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump.
Content
The Dispatch provides free web content, podcasts, and a mix of paid and free newsletters. The Dispatch also produces a fact-checking column.
Newsletters
[ ... snip ... ]
Notable personnel
Stephen F. Hayes, CEO and co-founder
Jonah Goldberg, Editor-in-chief and co-founder
David A. French, senior editor
Chris Stirewalt, contributing editor
Sarah Isgur, staff writer and podcast host
Nick Catoggio, staff writer.
Kevin D. Williamson, national correspondent.
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: The Dispatch, captured 2023-04-11.
Overall, we rate The Dispatch Right-Center biased based on story selection and editorial positions that moderately favor the right. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
[Jacobin.com, 2023-04-11] Conservative Pundits Are Defending Clarence Thomas and His Megadonor. Right-wing pundits are defending Justice Clarence Thomas and his billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow, claiming that a failure to disclose two decades of luxury trips is no cause for concern. They've also all neglected to mention their financial ties to Harlan Crow.
After ProPublica reported (2023-04-06) that Supreme Court of the United States Associate justice Clarence Thomas had failed to disclose two decades worth of luxury trips provided by billionaire conservative megadonor Harlan Crow, right-wing pundits and think tank staffers raced to defend Clarence Thomas and his benefactor - without mentioning what they all had in common: their own financial ties to Harlan Crow (https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow). The episode is a reminder of how many conservative pundits and scholars owe their sinecures to the same billionaires who fund Republican election campaigns and efforts to influence the judiciary.
Hours after ProPublica dropped its report on Clarence Thomas, Ilya Shapiro - a senior fellow at the right-wing think tank Manhattan Institute - tweeted, "Unless Harlan Crow has some business before the Court, the @propublica report about Justice Clarence Thomas is a big breathless nothingburger." Unmentioned: the Manhattan Institute - where Ilya Shapiro leads an amicus brief [amicus curiae] filing program lobbying the U.S. Supreme Court to rule certain ways on issues like student debt cancellation and corporate taxation - boasts Harlan Crow's wife Kathy Crow on its board of trustees, and has been called "wonderful" by Harlan Crow himself. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Over the weekend (2023-04-{08-09}), several conservative pundits came forward to defend Harlan Crow and his collectors items, without mentioning that they have benefited from his family's financial support for their think tanks and media outlets. Jonah Goldberg - cofounder and editor in chief of the conservative news site The Dispatch - tweeted, "Harlan Crow is a deeply honorable, decent, and patriotic person." Jonah Goldberg characterized Harlan Crow's separate garden of dictator statutes - featuring Russia's Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin - as "an attempt to commemorate the horrors of the 20th century in the spirit of 'never again.'" Jonah Goldberg later tweeted, "My conscience is clear. Harlan Crow is a good man and the farthest thing from a Nazi." As The Dispatch separately noted in a news article covering Harlan Crow's gifts to Clarence Thomas, "Harlan Crow is a minority investor in The Dispatch and a friend of the founders." Jonah Goldberg is also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute - a right-wing think tank, where Harlan Crow serves on the board of trustees. Previously, Jonah Goldberg was a senior fellow at the National Review Institute - the nonprofit affiliated with the conservative National Review magazine. The National Review Institute has regularly hosted its debate series at Harlan Crow's Old Parkland campus.
Harlan Crow was additionally a cochair of a 2021 National Review Institute dinner honoring Leonard Leo, and Eugene Meyer of the conservative lawyers network the Federalist Society. (Leonard Leo - also a friend of Clarence Thomas - was a key architect of conservatives' 6-3 supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court.) David French - a former National Review Institute senior fellow, and former senior editor at The Dispatch - also defended Harlan Crow. "I know Harlan also," David French tweeted. "I've participated in several debates at Old Parkland. The idea that he (Harlan Crow) is a Nazi sympathizer is utterly ludicrous. He (Harlan Crow) abhors tyranny, from fascism to communism to everywhere in between." ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Economist, The
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness.
Wikipedia
"... The editorial stance of The Economist primarily revolves around classical, social, and most notably, economic liberalism. Since its founding, it has supported radical centrism, favoring policies and governments that maintain centrist politics. The newspaper typically champions neoliberalism, particularly free markets, free trade, free immigration, deregulation, and globalisation.
"Despite a pronounced editorial stance, it is seen as having little reporting bias, rigorous fact checking and strict copy editing. Its extensive use of word play, subscription prices, and typical depth of coverage has linked the paper with a high-income and educated readership, drawing both positive and negative connotations in the Western world. In line with this, it claims to have influential readership of prominent business leaders and policy-makers. ..."
Editor (2015-present): Susan Jean Elisabeth "Zanny" Minton Beddoes
Shareholders
- [Captured 2021-05-16]
"Pearson plc held a 50% shareholding via the Financial Times Limited until August 2015. At that time, Pearson sold their share in the Economist. The Agnelli family's Exor paid Β£287m to raise their stake from 4.7% to 43.4% while the Economist paid Β£182m for the balance of 5.04m shares which will be distributed to current shareholders. Aside from the Agnelli family, smaller shareholders in the company include Cadbury, Rothschild (21%), Schroder, Layton, and other family interests as well as a number of staff and former staff shareholders. A board of trustees formally appoints the editor, who cannot be removed without its permission. The Economist Newspaper Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Economist Group. Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild was Chairman of the company from 1972 to 1989.
"Although The Economist has a global emphasis and scope, about two-thirds of the 75 staff journalists are based in the London borough of Westminster. However, due to half of all subscribers originating in the United States, The Economist has core editorial offices and substantial operations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C.
Tone & Voice
"Though it has many individual columns, by tradition and current practice the newspaper ensures a uniform voice - aided by the anonymity of writers - throughout its pages, as if most articles were written by a single author ..."
Editorial Anonymity
"Articles often take a definite editorial stance and almost never carry a byline. Not even the name of the editor is printed in the issue. It is a long-standing tradition that an editor's only signed article during their tenure is written on the occasion of their departure from the position. The author of a piece is named in certain circumstances: when notable persons are invited to contribute opinion pieces; when journalists of The Economist compile special reports (previously known as surveys); for the Year in Review special edition; and to highlight a potential conflict of interest over a book review. The names of The Economist editors and correspondents can be located on the media directory pages of the website. ..."
"... American author and long-time reader Michael Lewis criticised the paper's editorial anonymity in 1991, labelling it a means to hide the youth and inexperience of those writing articles. Although individual articles are written anonymously, there is no secrecy over who the writers are, as they are listed on The Economist's website, which also provides summaries of their careers and academic qualifications. Later, in 2009, Lewis included multiple Economist articles in his anthology about the 2008 financial crisis, Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity.
"John Ralston Saul describes The Economist as a "...[newspaper] which hides the names of the journalists who write its articles in order to create the illusion that they dispense disinterested truth rather than opinion. This sales technique, reminiscent of pre-Reformation Catholicism, is not surprising in a publication named after the social science most given to wild guesses and imaginary facts presented in the guise of inevitability and exactitude. That it is the Bible of the corporate executive indicates to what extent received wisdom is the daily bread of a managerial civilization."
(Persagen). The neoliberal, conservative stance of The Economist - cloaked in anonymity, as discussed in the Wikipedia article, above - raises significant concern regarding unstated intentions and aims of The Economist and its contributors.
For example, the Trump administrations eviscerated transgender rights, orchestrated as a long-term goal of the Christian Right and virulently transphobic arch conservative groups such as The Heritage Foundation (former member Roger Severino, funded in part by the DeVos family). That effort, funded by dark money sources and donations, form the tip of a spear that attacks individual rights and freedoms, using transpersons as a target of derision and exclusion.
Following Trump's defeat in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, those carefully-crafted attacks on transpersons have intensified - reinforced by inflammatory rhetoric that attacks transgender youth: participation in school sports, and access to health care (counseling and hormonal therapy).
In that regard, any recent web search of The Economist and "transgender" will reveal numerous articles published by The Economist, biased against transpersons, that reinforce and propagate the transphobic attacks against transpersons disguised as "discussions."
MediaBiasFactCheck: "Overall, we rate The Economist Least Biased based on balanced reporting and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record."
History. "Founded in 1843, The Economist is an English-language weekly news magazine that is edited in London, U.K.. The current editor is Zanny Minton Beddoes. According to their about page The Economist "is neither right nor left but a blend of the two, drawing on the classical liberalism of the 19th century and coming from what we like to call the radical centre."
Funded by / Ownership. "The Economist is owned by the Economist Group, which is a British multinational media company. The Economist Group is primary owned by the Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder, Layton and Agnelli families. The Economist is funded through subscriptions, advertising and sponsored content."
Analysis / Bias. "In review, The Economist takes an editorial stance of classical and economic liberalism that supports free trade, globalization, open immigration, and social liberalism. There is minimal use of loaded language in both headlines and articles such as this: "America's new attitude towards China is changing the countries' relationship." In fact, most articles are well written with very low emotional bias. Economically, The Economist leans right, but they also support such initiatives as a carbon tax and environmental protectionism, which are not right wing positions. Editorially, The Economist endorses both Republicans and Democrats in the United States. For example, the have endorsed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2016, while endorsing Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in earlier elections. In the U.K. they most recently endorsed the Liberal Democrats, which hold left-leaning libertarian positions. One criticism of The Economist is that a majority of their articles are penned anonymously, which they explain is to maintain a continuity of writing. They do however, provide a media directory where you can view who is involved in writing and editing."
"A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 59% of The Economist's audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 24% Mixed and 18% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that The Economist is preferred by a more liberal audience."
"A factual search reveals that The Economist has never failed a fact check."
[Economist.com, 2020-10-17] The pandemic has eroded democracy and respect for human rights. Strongmen have taken advantage of COVID-19 in numerous ways.
(Persagen). While mentioning Brazil, Turkey, Russia ... this article does not mention any of: Donald Trump | Mitch McConnell | William Barr | Black Lives Matter | U.S. | U.S. | United States | U.S. protests | contact tracing | ...
Engadget
Website: Engadget.com
Wikipedia, 2022-01-14:
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget operates a total of ten blogs - four written in English and six international versions with independent editorial staff. Engadget has ranked among the top five in the " Technorati top 100" and was noted in Time Magazine for being one of the best blogs of 2010. Engadget has been operated by Yahoo since 2021-09.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2021-02-16: overall, we rate Engadget Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that slightly favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
- Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 2004, Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. The current editor-in-chief is Dana Wollman.
Funded by / Ownership
Formerly owned by Verizon Media, Engadget has been operated by Yahoo since 2021-09 and generates revenue through advertising..
Analysis / Bias
In review, Engadget publishes news, reviews, and information related to technology, science, gaming, entertainment, and business. Articles and headlines are not typically sensationalized such as this: "Microsoft's unified Office experience comes to iPad" - and this, "Extreme cold snap causes T-Mobile outages in Texas and other parts of the U.S.." All stories reviewed were sourced from credible media outlets.
Editorially, Engadget does not have a section dedicated to opinions, but they do report on politics as it relates to their genre such as this" "Huawei suppliers push to reverse Trump's last minute blows." This story is negative toward the Trump administration while this story is favorable for the Biden admin, "How Biden and Harris could refocus the White House on science." In general, Engadget is a reliable and low-biased source for tech information, but they lean left when reporting on political issues.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Epoch Media Group
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
See main entries: The Epoch Times | New Tang Dynasty Television:
... The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China. ...
Epoch Times, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
Falun Gong operates a questionable "news" organization - The Epoch Times - and allied organizations such as the China Tribunal and its affiliates are similarly biased viz-a-viz China and it's dissidents.
MediaBiasFactCheck: "Overall, we rate The Epoch Times borderline Questionable and Right Biased based on editorial positions that consistently favor the right. We also rate The Epoch Times factually Mixed due to the publication of pseudoscience and the promotion of pro-Trump propaganda and conspiracy theories as well as failed fact checks."
Source for the following summary: Wikipedia.
The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.
The Epoch Times opposes the Chinese Communist Party, promotes far-right politicians in Europe, and has backed President Donald Trump in the U.S.; a 2019 report by NBC News showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign. The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have spread conspiracy theories such as QAnon and anti-vaccine misinformation. In 2020, The New York Times called The Epoch Times a "global-scale misinformation machine". The Epoch Times frequently promotes other Falun Gong affiliated groups, such as the performing arts company Shen Yun.
... According to NBC News, "little is publicly known about the precise ownership, origins or influences of The Epoch Times," and it is loosely organized into several regional tax free non-profits, under the umbrella of the Epoch Media Group, together with New Tang Dynasty Television. ...
... The Epoch Times is an ardent opponent of the Chinese Communist Party. Since a shift in the newspaper's approach in 2016, the newspaper received significant attention for its favorable coverage of the Trump administration, the German far-right, and the French far-right ... Since 2016, according to NBC News, The Epoch Times has promoted favorable coverage of Trump's campaign and presidency, and emphasized issues such as "Islamic terrorism and illegal immigration to the United States." It has also emphasized "what the publication claims is a labyrinthian, global conspiracy led by Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama to tear down Trump." ...
... The Epoch Times has spread misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in print and via social media including Facebook and YouTube. ... The misinformation tracker NewsGuard called the French page of The Epoch Times one of the "super-spreaders" of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook, citing an Epoch Times article that suggested the virus was artificially created. NewsGuard later changed the rating of the English edition of The Epoch Times from green to red. ...
... The Epoch Times publishes a web series with the conservative commentator Lawrence Allen "Larry" Elder, a candidate in the 2021 recall election against California governor Gavin Newsom. ...
... In December 2019, the English Wikipedia deprecated the English and Chinese online versions of The Epoch Times as an "unreliable source" to use as a reference in Wikipedia, with editors describing it as "an advocacy group for the Falun Gong, and... a biased or opinionated source that frequently publishes conspiracy theories."
[theGuardian.com, 2021-09-16] Facebook steps up fight against climate misinformation - but critics say effort falls short. New efforts will let vast amounts of false material slip through the cracks, according to climate advocates. | Almost all of the climate misinformation about the 2021 power outages in Texas went unchecked, one study found. | "We cannot solve social media disinformation by playing an endless game of Whac-a-Mole with known liars."
[ ... snip ... ]
Past studies have revealed other climate crisis-denying posts and resources outpacing accurate information on the platform. In 2021 June, one of the most-viewed sites on Facebook was a subscription page for The Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper known for climate change denial.
[ ... snip ... ]
Facebook News
π STOP! Excluded from sources: notorious disinformation source.
Type: news aggregation website.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Facebook News strongly Left-Center Biased based on 76% of the news sources falling in the Left or Left-Center category. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to the use of some sources that have failed fact checks. This does not mean the story is not true. It simply means that the source does have at least one verified failed fact check in the past.
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL.
History
Launched on a limited basis in 2019-10 and fully to mobile users in 2020-06, Facebook News is a news curation/aggregation service provided by Facebook. The company employs a human team and vets sources through the News Page Index. They state "The team is transparent about the following guidelines and will make curatorial choices independently, not at the direction of Facebook, publishers, or advertisers," the FAQ explains. According to their homepage "With original reporting from over 200 outlets across general, topical, and diverse outlets, with thousands of local publishers, Facebook News connects you to more of the news you care about."
Facebook was founded in 2006 by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
Funded by / Ownership
Facebook News is funded by Facebook, which is in turn funded through advertising.
Analysis / Bias
Determining the bias of news curators/aggregators is different than from a single source that produces original content. The wording on Facebook News comes from other sources, so we will not even look at that as a factor. The most logical way to determine the bias of a news curator/aggregator is to look at the sources they use for their news content.
Facebook News determines the news they feed based on the user's likes, posting, and engagement history. They also allow you to customize the type of news and sources they feed. For our testing purposes, we created a new Facebook account that did not have any type of engagements. Our reasoning for doing this is to make sure it is not factoring in years of engagements from an active Facebook account. In other words, a more clear look at the default news it feeds.
Our methodology for the review of Facebook News was conducted in this way: Over two days we reviewed the news sources they used in the categories: Top Stories, Local News (North Carolina), Business, Health, and Science. We did not count sports or entertainment news stories. On day one we reviewed 50 stories and on days two 50 more news stories. We then tabulated the bias of each news story based on MBFC's rating for that source. We also calculated how many stories came from sources that have failed fact checks (Mixed). The results are as follows: ...
The results conclude that more stories are served from left-leaning sources (76%) than the right (16%). It should be noted that we are not stating Facebook News is willfully biased, we are pointing out that the sources used for this newsfeed have a strong preference for the left according to our ratings. This could be due to how the algorithm works and also that there simply are more mainstream news media that we rate as left-leaning. Further, our results may be different than yours as we used a new account. For example, if you frequently share and like liberal or conservative news, it may feed more of those stories.
Overall, we rate Facebook News strongly Left-Center Biased based on 76% of the news sources falling in the Left or Left-Center category. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to the use of some sources that have failed fact checks. This does not mean the story is not true. It simply means that the source does have at least one verified failed fact check in the past. (D. Van Zandt 6/24/2020).
Facebook & Lead Stories
A Facebook contractor, Lead Stories [website] fact checks posts that Facebook flags, but also uses its own technology - called "Trendolizer" - to detect trending hoaxes from hundreds of known fake news sites, satirical websites and prank generators.
On 2021-12-17 the The BMJ (British Medical Journal) issued an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, harshly criticizing Facebook's and Lead Stories' inaccurate and misleading representations of The BMJ's investigative reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
[BMJ.com, 2021-12-17] Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg ... "We find the "fact check" performed by Lead Stories to be inaccurate, incompetent and irresponsible. ... We are aware that The BMJ is not the only high quality information provider to have been affected by the incompetence of Meta Platforms's fact checking regime. ... Rather than investing a proportion of Meta's substantial profits to help ensure the accuracy of medical information shared through social media, you have apparently delegated responsibility to people incompetent in carrying out this crucial task. ..."
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) Left-Center biased based on slightly favoring the left politically and High for factual reporting due to strong sourcing of information.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1986, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) is a media criticism organization based in New York City. The organization was founded by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee. FAIR monitors the U.S. news media for "inaccuracy, bias, and censorship" and advocates for a greater diversity of perspectives in news reporting. It is opposed to corporate ownership of media entities and calls for the break-up of media conglomerates. In other words, it holds a progressive stance.
Funded by / Ownership
FAIR is a nonprofit that is funded through donations and a store that sells products.
Analysis / Bias
In review, articles generally use moderate to low biased words in both headlines and articles such as: 'The Rule Is Designed to Deter People From Reporting'. This story is very well sourced to credible media that we rate High for factual reporting. Although FAIR stories tend to favor the left politically they are all sourced properly and written in a mostly neutral tone.
A factual search reveals that FAIR has not failed a fact check.
Federalist, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2021-08-28: overall, we rate The Federalist Questionable and far-Right biased based on story selection and editorial positions that always favor the right and promotion of propaganda, conspiracy theories, and numerous failed fact checks.
Questionable Reasoning: Conspiracy Theories, Propaganda, Failed Fact Checks | Bias Rating: RIGHT | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
Wikipedia, The Federalist (website), 2022-02-24.
Financial Post, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to Postmedia Network's history of anti-transgender bias [transphobia], American part-ownership, declining financials, ties to United States Republican Party and support of Donald Trump [Trumpism], ...
See also; National Post: The Financial Post is part of the National Post newspaper and website serving as their business section.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Financial Post Right-Center Biased based on story selection and editorial bias that favors the right through the support of free markets and low regulation. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to publishing misleading scientific information regarding climate change.
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL.
History
The Financial Post was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new National Post, although the name Financial Post has been retained as the banner for that paper's business section and also lives on in the The Financial Post's monthly business magazine, Financial Post Business. The Financial Post is edited by the National Post.
Funded by / Ownership
The Financial Post is owned by the Postmedia Network, which owns several right-leaning media outlets throughout Canada. According to a report in the left-leaning CanadaLand, Postmedia has directed its publications to be more "reliably conservative." The newspaper is funded through advertising and subscription fees.
Chatham Asset Management - a New Jersey-based hedge fund - holds a large equity stake in Postmedia and majority ownership of American Media, Inc. [branded a360media], which owns the National Enquirer. David Pecker - who owns American Media, Inc. - joined the Postmedia board, and then resigned from the board of Postmedia in 2018 due to his involvement of hush payments on behalf of his "friends" including President Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.
According to the National Observer, Postmedia is in a downward spiral. After Postmedia announced a $1.4M loss for the last quarter of 2018, Paul Godfrey stepped down as CEO of the Postmedia Network and was replaced by Andrew MacLeod, as of 1/10/2019. Paul Godfrey will remain as executive chair. Godfrey was also criticized for cutting 800 full-time jobs across Postmedia in 2016, while earning an annual salary of $1.7 million.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Financial Post is part of the National Post newspaper and website serving as their business section. The website covers financial news such as Markets, Finance and politics related to the economy. Headlines and articles typically do not use loaded emotional language such as this: "Hockey brand CCM's plan to grind it out in uncertain economic times." This story is appropriately sourced, although many are sourced back to the National Post. The Financial Post also republishes articles from newswires such as Reuters and the Canadian Press.
Editorially, The Financial Post supports a market-based economy with limited regulation such as this: "Craig Alexander: Canada's messy regulatory environment is holding back our economic prosperity." They have also published information that is not pro-Science (see below). In general, The Financial Post reports news mostly factual with a right-center bias through story selection and editorial bias.
Failed Fact Checks
The Financial Post publishes misleading opinion that misrepresents science of polar bears' plight - VERY LOW SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY.
The Financial Post commentary misleads about warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions by cherry-picking studies - LOW SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY.
Financial Times
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Financial Times Least Biased based on balanced reporting and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1888, the Financial Times is an English-language international broadsheet daily newspaper with a special emphasis on business and economic news. The paper originates from London, U.K. The current editor is Lionel Barber.
According to the Global Capital Markets Survey, which measures readership habits amongst most senior financial decision-makers in the world's largest financial institutions, the Financial Times is considered the most important business read, reaching 36% of the sample population, 11% more than The Wall Street Journal, its main rival.
Funded by / Ownership
The Financial Times is owned by The Nikkei, a Japanese news and financial information company that publishes the leading financial paper The Nikkei. The Financial Times generates revenue through subscriptions, a hard paywall, and advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Financial Times primarily reports economic news with a minimally biased tone such as this: "Trump calls on China to drop levies on U.S. farm products." This story, like all others on the website, is properly sourced. Editorially, the Financial Times sticks to economics and how politics impacts it. There is, again, minimal bias in reporting. In general, Financial Times reports straight news with minimal bias and proper sourcing.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
FiveThirtyEight
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate FiveThirtyEight (538) Left-Center Biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left but does not favor the progressive left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information, a solid record with poll analysis, and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Five Thirty-Eight, sometimes referred to as 538, focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in the United States electoral college, was founded on March 7, 2008, as a polling aggregation website with a blog created by analyst Nate Silver.
In 2013, ESPN became the owner of FiveThirtyEight, and in April 2018, the site was acquired by ABC News.
Funded by / Ownership
FiveThirtyEight is owned by ABC News, which in turn is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The website is funded through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, FiveThirtyEight is different from other polling sources in that they do not conduct the polls but rather deeply analyze other polls and apply a strict methodology to determine accuracy. For example, Real Clear Politics takes all polls averages to develop a score, whereas 538 uses weights on each poll based on demographics and much more. One can argue this is more accurate and 538's early track record proved it was. However, in 2016 they gave President Trump a 29% chance of winning. This does not mean they were wrong because they still had a 29% chance of being correct, but they clearly were not very close on this one with their methods.
538 also reports news on their website that tends to lean left; however, they have been criticized as opposed to the progressive left. News articles typically utilize moderate to minimally loaded language, such as "How Amy Klobuchar Could Win The 2020 Democratic nomination." This article relies on proper sourcing from the likes of ABC News, Monmouth University, and Senate.gov. A review of news stories reveals a more positive tone toward the left, such as this: "Trump Is Wrong. When The Opposition Party Runs The House, The President Gets Investigated."
In general, 538 tends to stick to poll-related news, but they usually slightly favor the left through story selection and wording when discussing politics.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Floodlight
COMMENT (2022-12-19): there is no Wikipedia article for "Floodlight" (Floodlight News, ...).
Floodlight (Floodlight News | Floodlight, Inc.) is a nonprofit newsroom (environmental news collaborative) that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.
About
A bit about how we are funded and how we maintain editorial independence. Floodlight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom supported by philanthropic grants from foundations and gifts from individuals. Floodlight is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, and subscribes to its standards of editorial independence. We retain full authority over editorial content, as follows.
Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.
We do not accept charitable donations sources who present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.
Floodlight may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage.
Floodlight will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year.
Donors
2030 Fund;
Armature Philanthropy at Foundation for Louisiana;
Equation Campaign;
Equation Campaign;
Heising-Simons Foundation;
Incite.org;
John & Marcia Goldman Foundation;
Porticus;
Rockefeller Brothers Fund;
Sequoia Climate Foundation;
Society of Environmental Journalists;
Sonjia Smith;
The Sunrise Project;
The Wilderness Society;
Tides Foundation; and,
Donor advised funds at:
Source (2022-12-19): FloodLightNews.org: About.
Forbes
π STOP! Excluded from sources: ownership with ties to China; concerns re: neoliberal ideology; notably, a history of climate change denial.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com; overall, we rate Forbes Right-Center biased based on story selection that favors the right and the political affiliation of its ownership. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to some misleading or false stories related to climate science.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
In 2014, the Hong Kong-based investor group called Integrated Whale Media Investments purchased a majority stake in Forbes Media. The Forbes business model consists of a paid contributor network making money per article based on traffic benchmarks. Details of Forbes' business model is described by Forbes magazine editor Randall Lane in "Why Forbes Is Investing Big Money In Its Contributor Network." Forbes also generates revenue through subscriptions and advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Forbes' coverage of China has been criticized due to Chinese ownership, with The Washington Post reporting that it "raises questions about their editorial independence." Forbes publishes controversial articles such as a cover story by Dinesh D'Souza, which Columbia Journalism Review has criticized: "Forbes' shameful piece on Obama as the "Other," and another article written by editor-in-chief Steve Forbes compared former President Barack Obama to Vladimir Lenin. Forbes also publishes news articles with minimally loaded words such as this: "Google CEO Sundar Pichai Answered Congressional Questions On China, Privacy, Political Bias And More," and "U.S. Arresting Huawei CFO Creates Huge Uncertainty For The Markets And Trade Talks." They also source credible media outlets such as Judiciary.House.gov, FinancialPost.com, and Politico.
Politically, Forbes presents a reasonable balance through their contributors; however, when looking at articles pertaining to Donald Trump, there are more in favor than against Trump's policies.
A factual search reveals that Forbes has produced a misleading claim according to an IFCN fact-checker. Although Forbes is usually evidence-based when it comes to science, they do not always support the consensus regarding climate change [climate change denial]. For example, they have employed James Taylor as a columnist who writes anti-climate science propaganda and has connections to the questionable Heartland Institute and ExxonMobil. They have also published articles by Roy Spencer, who has a long track record of human-influenced climate change denial. Roy Spencer has also been a speaker for The Heartland Institute, and has connections to the fossil fuel industry. Lastly, Forbes has published several articles rated Very Low for Science Credibility by IFCN fact checker Climate Feedback.
Failed Fact Checks
President Abraham Lincoln once said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - FALSE.
Fortune Magazine
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. For example - given the statement (below) "[Fortune Magazine] always have a favorable view of business interests and limited government" - there is some concern regarding neoliberal and libertarian ideologies.
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Fortune Magazine Right-Center Biased based on editorial positions that favor business and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1929 by Henry Luce, Fortune Magazine is an American multinational business magazine headquartered in New York City, United States. The magazine regularly publishes ranked lists, including the Fortune 500, a ranking of companies by revenue published annually since 1955. The current editor is Clifton Leaf.
Funded by / Ownership
Fortune Magazine is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings and owned by Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon. Fortune generates revenue through advertising and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Fortune Magazine reports on business news with a clear distinction between straight news and opinion pieces. Articles do not use loaded language such as "How Bill and Melinda Gates Are Transforming Life for Billions in the 21st Century." This story, like all on Fortune Magazine, is properly sourced to credible media. While Fortune Magazine does not always have a favorable view of President Trump, they always have a favorable view of business interests and limited government. When it comes to science, Fortune Magazine supports the consensus of scientists on issues such as climate change.
Failed Fact Checks
Overall, we rate Fortune Magazine Right-Center Biased based on editorial positions that favor business and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (D. Van Zandt 10/6/2016) Updated (2/14/2021)
Fox News
π STOP! Excluded from sources (notoriously egregious disinformation source).
Refer here: Fox News [Rupert Murdoch]
See also Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings, which disambiguates and clarifies Rupert Murdoch's media empire (past and present).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: we rate Fox News strongly Right-Biased due to editorial positions and story selection that favors the right. We also rate them Mixed factually and borderline Questionable based on poor sourcing and the spreading of conspiracy theories.
Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
... In 2018-10, Fox News added to their terms of use that they are an entertainment company. ...
Funded by / Ownership
Rupert Murdoch is the owner and a board member of News Corp [21st Century Fox (2013-2019), the legal successor to the original News Corporation]. According to Reuters, James Murdoch (son) is chief executive of 21st Century Fox and recently left in May 2018. Lachlan (the other son of Murdoch) and Rupert Murdoch will serve as the new Fox co-chairman. Revenue analysis can be found at Investopedia and income reports here.
Rupert Murdoch owns the notorious (reprehensible) disinformation source, stridently pro-Trump Fox News network. Accordingly, any information spawned by that sprawling network (including the sources below) must be scrutinized with extreme care, as potential (probable) disinformation sources.
This is exemplary re: the Fox News disinformation universe.
Georgia Straight, The [Straight | Straight.com]
β οΈ CAUTION: : potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. UPDATE (2022-12-19): I yellow-flagged the hitherto generally reliable Georgia Straight out of concern of the sale of of the financially-troubled weekly to new owners of unknown backgrounds and ideologies (Overstory Media Group). Despite the large media team, no biographies provided, and background information provided is minimal.
The Georgia Straight (Wikipedia, 2022-12-19):
The Georgia Straight is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in a large 'tabloid' format in Vancouver, British Columbia by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. Often known simply as The Straight, it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, public libraries and a large variety of other locations.
As surveyed by Verified Audit Circulation its per-issue circulation average as of 2011-01-25 is 119,971 copies, and its average weekly readership is 804,000 as of 2009. Its website traffic ranked 92,215 globally and 5,395 within Canada, according to 2021-11-02, figures from Alexa Internet. The Straight has a long history of independent, unconventional editorials and content, and is known as a vocal critic of government - notably the former Liberal government of Gordon Campbell.
In 2020-01 the The Georgia Straight's acquisition by Media Central Corporation was announced, a few weeks after the same company announced a deal to acquire the similar Toronto publication Now. In 2022-09 - after Media Central Corporation filed for bankruptcy - The Straight was acquired by Overstory Media Group.
[ ... snip ... ]
On 2020-03-02 Media Central Corporation Inc. announced it has closed its acquisition of Vancouver Free Press Corp - owner and operator of The Georgia Straight. Media Central Corporation Inc. paid $1.25 million (included fees associated with the transaction) in cash and shares.
On 2022-09-27 Overstory Media Group announced it had acquired the assets of the Georgia Straight. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company said its first action would be to reinstate The Straight's arts and culture focus, which the previous owners had eliminated. (In fact, staff continued covering arts and culture through 2020, 2021, and 2022.)
[ ... snip ... ]
Content
The Straight carries feature articles, ranging from social topics, such as drug use and gentrification to in-depth looks at cultural newsmakers like the writer Salman Rushdie. Writer Charlie Smith has a record of covering women's movement issues as well. There are also many advertiser-related articles and listings on lifestyle and entertainment, commenting on restaurants, new wines, new gadgets, designer clothes, and the latest in music, theatre and movies. Rounding out the regular features are the well-known American advice columnist Dan Savage with his Savage Love, commentator Gwynne Dyer, cartoons, and a local astrology column. The newspaper's editorial slant is strongly left-wing as conceived in the Canadian political spectrum.
Special editions of The Straight include:
The Golden Plate Awards - March
The Best of Vancouver - September
The Best of Vancouver is a well known feature with whimsical notions of the best place for outdoor sex mixed in with more conventional awards such as Best Dining, Best Bar & Club, and Best Radio Station.
The Straight has been criticised for publishing cigarette and other tobacco advertising when most publications in Canada have declined to do so for moral and ethical reasons. And of promoting local events that had tobacco industry sponsorship, such as the formerly Benson and Hedges-sponsored Symphony of Fire. The Straight has long been condemned for this practice by the major health groups and, more recently, by Vancouver businessman and political candidate Dale Jackaman in a series of Google attack ads.
Awards
The paper has received many awards. For example, in 1995, it received five "Western Magazine Awards", and, in the two years up to June 1996, it was nominated more than forty times and won twenty prizes, including three National Magazine Awards. In 1999, The Straight won eight Western Magazine Awards, including "Magazine of the Year", and its seventh consecutive, "Best Business Article".
On May 23, 2009, The Georgia Straight won the prize for "best magazine article of the year" for "The Pill Pushers" by Alex Roslin from the Canadian Association of Journalists.
The paper also gives many awards based on readers' polls:
". . . the Golden Plate Awards for local restaurants, The Straight Music Awards for local musicians, and the Best of Vancouver Awards for every type of business, service, activity, and weird stuff in the city, from the best bowling alley to the best Vancouver excuse for being late for work."
[theTyee.ca, 2022-10-19] Dumped and Unpaid at the Georgia Straight. Staffers say they toiled for no wages to keep the paper alive. Now they're fired, owed money, and out in the cold.
The crew at the Georgia Straight wrote until the bitter end, filing stories and chronicling Vancouver's culture after the paycheques stopped flowing and the printer stopped running. Martin Dunphy's 32 years at the iconic alt-weekly ended with a 17-minute Zoom call, where he and the dozen-odd staff were unceremoniously fired as a new publisher bought the paper from its bankrupt owners. Its assets had been bought by Overstory Media Group, co-founded by a multimillionaire. The Victoria-based firm Overstory Media Group has a track record of investing in local news and leadership, and framed the buy as a way to revive the struggling Straight. Left behind are Martin Dunphy and his peers, who are owed thousands of dollars each in severance, vacation and unpaid wages with no clear way to recoup the cash. "When I started at the paper, it was a few pages and we didn't know if we'd get paid," said Martin Dunphy, whose first job at the Straight was selling copies of the paper on the cobblestone streets of Gastown for beer money in 1973. "And it ended the same way."
The Straight's previous owner, Media Central Corporation Inc., is bankrupt after a two-year blitz that saw it acquire a few of Canada's largest alt-weekly publications, hemorrhaging cash along the way. Overstory Media Group bought the paper's assets - intellectual property, website and content - but not its liabilities, which includes any pay owed to staff. Farhan Mohamed - the CEO of Overstory - has said the previous owners are responsible for not paying their employees and that his company never terminated anyone. Overstory specifically stipulated in its purchase of the Straight that Media Central - now bankrupt - was responsible for paying severance. Martin Dunphy says he learned that Overstory had bought the Straight when he saw an interview with Farhan Mohamed in a local business publication. "One side says there's no money. The other side says they're not responsible," Martin Dunphy said. All counted up, Martin Dunphy estimates the terminated staff at the Straight collectively spent around 300 years working at the paper, often keeping it afloat.
The Straight changed over the years, but many members of its core team stuck with the paper. It was irreverent, feisty, colourful, unafraid of being controversial, and often willing to do and say what others would only hint at. The paper's former staff now find themselves trying to navigate a labyrinth of bankruptcy and labour law to get back the money they are owed while trying to balance their own mortgages and rents. "Our plan was to keep it running until somebody bought it and hopefully things would turn around," said Steve Newton, who published his first words in the Straight 40 years ago. "And then they did, and it all went down the toilet."
[ ... snip ... ]
Victoria, British Columbia-based Andrew Wilkinson made a fortune in tech and had already launched Capital Daily news site when last year he poured startup investment into Overstory Media Group. The venture - which lists Andrew Wilkinson as co-founder and executive chairman - announced plans to start or acquire 50 brands by 2023. Add the Georgia Straight to its list.
Overstory Media Group co-founder and CEO Farhan Mohamed on the Georgia Straight acquisition: "I know that others wanted to strip it down, rip it apart and not honour what was built. And we said no, that's the opposite of what we are going to do. We are going to respect it. We are going to cherish and remember and also figure out how we honour this."
Former Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith won't be helming the new incarnation of the Georgia Straight. Writing on Substack Charlie Smith said, "I certainly wish that Overstory Media Group hires my former colleagues. They're very talented." Other potential buyers expressed interest, but had they purchased the Straight's corporate entity, "we still would have been fired and forced to make a case for being rehired," Charlie Smith wrote.
Global News
Wikipedia: Global News, 2023-01-06:
Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and-operated stations. Corus Entertainment also operates several talk radio stations under the "Global News Radio" brand. The same division also operates a news website under the same brand.
[ ... snip ... ]
Criticism
In July 2010, Global National showed footage of a demonstration at the 2010 Winter Olympics in a segment about a Toronto march held by groups demanding a public inquiry into police actions during a G20 conference. The report included clips of violence that erupted on Toronto streets during the event. After this was reported in Canadian blog Northern Insights, Global News claimed it was an "unintentional editing error".
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2020-12-23): overall, we rate Global News Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that slightly favor the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1994, Global News is the news and current affairs division of Global Television Network in Canada, overseeing all local and national news programming on the network's fifteen owned-and-operated stations. According to their about page, "GlobalNews.ca offers Canadians from coast to coast a host of news and information - from breaking news in their community to deep, engaging content that puts complex world issues in perspective." You can also view their staff listing on the about page.
Funded by / Ownership
Global News is owned by Corus Entertainment, a Canadian mass media, and broadcasting company and spin-off of Shaw Communications. Advertising generates revenue for the station.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Global News presents news that is fair, balanced, well-sourced, and factual in their reporting. Local news is written through staff writers and contains minimally loaded language such as this: "Penticton shootings: John Brittain charged with murder following B.C. shooting spree." World News is also written by Global News writers as well as from Reuters and The Associated Press. Those articles that are not direct carryovers contain a slight Left Bias, although the reporting is, again, well-sourced and factual. This review is only based on Global News's political reporting. While this reviewer is no expert on Canadian politics, the articles I read on those subjects appeared to have a slight Left Bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
[ProPublica.org, 2023-01-06] Talking to an Investigative Reporter Who Exposed Chinese Influence in Canada. In an interview with ProPublica, Sam Cooper describes how he unearthed scandals that have shaken the Canadian political system.
An exclusive news report dominated the headlines in Canada in recent weeks (latter part of 2022): Canadian intelligence had warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about a vast campaign of political interference by China. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had learned that Chinese consulate officials in Toronto had covertly funded a network of at least 11 political candidates in federal elections in Canada in 2019, the report said. The Chinese operation had also targeted Canadian political figures and immigrant leaders seen as opponents of the regime in Beijing - subjecting them to surveillance, harassment, and attacks in the media - the report said. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau responded with promises of action, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] said they were investigating the alleged foreign interference. The Chinese foreign ministry denied the allegations.
Not surprisingly, the report's author was Sam Cooper. An investigative journalist for Global News [Global News] - a private Canadian media organization - the 48-year-old Sam Cooper has done hard-hitting work about a surprisingly active criminal underworld rooted in a large diaspora from Hong Kong, a bastion of the mafias known as triads. Sam Cooper's best-selling 2021 book - "Wilful Blindness: How a Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated the West" - examines violent international gangs involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and - most alarmingly - Chinese espionage and influence activity in Canada. [Willful blindness is a term used in law to describe a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping themselves unaware of facts that would render them liable or implicated.]
Sam Cooper and other experts (including U.S. national security officials interviewed by ProPublica) say Canadian political leaders have ignored or minimized the extent of the threat from China. Sam Cooper has received criticism from pro-Beijing figures in the Chinese-Canadian community, and is fighting two defamation lawsuits from subjects of his coverage. But Sam Cooper's reporting has drawn praise from national security officials, dissidents of Chinese origin, and academics in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere. It helped spur a governmental inquiry known as the Cullen Commission [Wikipedia: Cullen Commission], which recently concluded that organized crime had laundered billions of dollars in the province of British Columbia. And the latest revelations of Chinese interference are having a potentially dramatic impact on the political debate in Canada.
ProPublica's conversation with Sam Cooper has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Sam Cooper
Sam Cooper is a Canadian investigative journalist and best-selling author, best known for his coverage of Canada-China relations and tensions.
Sam Cooper has been an investigative journalist for a number of years - first establishing himself for his anti-corruption reporting at Vancouver-based newspaper The Province. Sam Cooper left the Postmedia newspapers [Postmedia Network] to work for Global News [Global News], where his coverage on money laundering in Canada, alleging a relationship between foreign states colluding with organized crime.
Sam Cooper turned his reporting into the controversial best-seller Willful Blindness, which alleges Canadian officials intentionally ignored money laundering linked to organized crime based out of China. Sam Cooper's work builds on allegations made in the Canadian intelligence report Project Sidewinder, which argues spies have infiltrated the Canada's institutions.
GlobalResearch.ca
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
MediaBiasFactCheck:
Conspiracy-Pseudoscience. Sources in the Conspiracy-Pseudoscience category may publish unverifiable information that is not always supported by evidence. These sources may be untrustworthy for credible/verifiable information, therefore fact checking and further investigation is recommended on a per article basis when obtaining information from these sources. See all Conspiracy-Pseudoscience sources.
Overall, we rate GlobalResearch [https://www.globalresearch.ca/] a Tin Foil Hat Conspiracy and Strong Pseudoscience website based on the promotion of unproven information such as the dangers of Vaccines and 9-11 as a false flag operation.
History. Founded in 2001, GlobalResearch or Centre for Research on Globalization is a Canadian conspiracy website. It was founded by Michel Chossudovsky who is currently the President of GlobalResearch and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa. The website does not have an about page, but they do list the people involved with the operation.
Funded by / Ownership. Although GlobalResearch does not state ownership, it is assumed Michel Chossudovsky is the owner. Revenue is derived through donations and advertising.
Analysis / Bias. In review, GlobalResearch publishes a combination of real news and conspiracy theories. We will focus on the not so real news. GlobalResearch often reports unfavorably about Israel such as this: "The Zionist Idea Has Never Been More Terrifying than It Is Today." This unlabeled opinion piece does not provide a single source of evidence for their claims. When it comes to politics they are strongly anti-capitalism and anti-Globalist as their name suggests. While GlobalResearch does promote legitimate humanitarian concerns, its views on science, economics, and geopolitics are very questionable. For example, GR promotes anti-vaccination propaganda, 9-11 as a false flag operation, GMOs are harmful, and Chemtrails. There are so many more, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Conclusion. In general, this is a website the purports to be concerned for humanity, yet routinely publishes false information that misleads humanity. Overall, we rate GlobalResearch a Tin Foil Hat Conspiracy and Strong Pseudoscience website based on the promotion of unproven information such as the dangers of Vaccines, and 9-11 as a false flag operation. (D. Van Zandt 7/20/2016) Updated (4/22/2020)
Globe and Mail, The
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include potential conservative, neoliberal, and libertarian ideologies.
Wikipedia entry | Controversies
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Globe and Mail slightly Right-Center biased due to editorial positions and High for factual reporting based on proper sourcing.
History
Founded in 1844, The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian broadsheet newspaper based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of 2,018,923 in 2015.
Funded by / Ownership
The Globe and Mail is owned by The Woodbridge Company Limited, a Canadian private holding company based in Toronto and the principal and controlling shareholder (62.35% of common shares) of Thomson Reuters. Subscriptions and advertising fund the newspaper.
Analysis / Bias
The Globe and Mail report local news through field journalists, while world news is primarily syndicated via The Associated Press and Reuters. News headlines and articles contain minimal loaded words and are well-sourced. However, editorials do utilize sensational headlines: "No Justin Trudeau Shouldn't go Grovelling to Saudi Arabia." Editorially, The Globe and Mail have a history of endorsing slightly more conservative candidates than liberal. In general, they report news factually and with a right-leaning political bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
[Jacobin.com, 2023-02-28] Canada's Paper of Record Is Ignoring Ottawa's Backing of Right-Wing Coups. The Globe and Mail's new revelations about socialist poet Pablo Neruda's death after the 1973 coup in Chile carefully omitted any reference to Ottawa's complicity in the repression. But in Chile and around the world, Canada has long helped undermine democracy.
When it covers right-wing, U.S.-backed coups in Latin America, The Globe and Mail, Canada's paper of record, omits Ottawa's role. From Chile in 1973 to Peru today, The Globe and Mail erases Canada's role in undermining democracy.
"Chilean poet Pablo Neruda died with toxic bacteria in his body, say forensic scientists," read the front page of a recent edition of The Globe and Mail. In the story about the Nobel laureate (Pablo Neruda) killed after Chile's elected government was toppled in 1973, The Globe and Mail ignored Ottawa's complicity in the repression that felled the famed poet.
From economic asphyxiation to diplomatic isolation, Ottawa's policy toward elected Marxist president Salvador Salvador Allende was clear. Canada recognized Augusto Pinochet's military junta within three weeks of the 1973-09-11 coup. Immediately after Salvador Allende was overthrown, Canada's ambassador to Chile cabled the Department of External Affairs (now Global Affairs Canada) to state that Augusto Pinochet "has assumed the probably thankless task of sobering Chile up" from "the riffraff of the Latin American Left to whom Salvador Allende gave asylum." Pablo Neruda's murder was apparently merely part of the process of "sobering Chile up."
The Globe and Mail's whitewash of Canada's role in Chile was part of pattern that continues today. Three weeks ago (2023-01-30) The Globe and Mail published an op-ed from a University of British Columbia academic criticizing the violence in Peru since elected president Pedro Castillo was ousted on 2022-12-07. But The Globe and Mail ignored Ottawa's commitment to consolidating a coup that sparked a furious popular backlash.
[ ... snip ... ]
Go.com
Google News
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include ownership by Google, a deeply-entrenched, hyper-wealthy advertising platform - and concerns regarding algorithmic bias.
Type: news aggregation website.
Google News website.
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Google News strongly Left-Center biased with the majority of stories coming from Left-Center sources. We also rate them High for factual reporting because the majority of sources used are credible media outlets.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Google News is a news aggregator developed by Google LLC. It presents a continuous, customizable flow of articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. A beta version was launched in September 2002, and released officially in January 2006. The Google News homepage breaks news into categories such as World, US, Business, Technology, Science, etc. They also offer a search feature to search for news by keyword. The news that appears on the homepage and in searches is derived from Google's search algorithm. Google News is available in 35 languages.
Funded by / Ownership
Google News is owned by Google, Inc. News< [former name; now: Google LLC].
Analysis / Bias
Determining the bias of a news aggregator is different than from a single source that produces original content. The wording on Google News comes from other sources, so we will not even look at that as a factor. The most logical way to determine the bias of a news aggregator is to look at the sources they use for their news content. Another way to look, since Google is a search engine, is to see where sources rank when searching for news. We did a limited test of this by searching a variety of keywords such as Migrant, Trump, Clinton, NATO, Mueller, Obama, etc and the results indicate that in 9 out of 10 (90%) searches, left-leaning sources ranked 1st and ahead of the first right-leaning source. Usually, the right-leaning sources were much lower in the rank.
Another method we used was to look at what sources were being used in the categories of "U.S. News" and "World News." Over the course of three days, we looked at the top 25 sources in each category for a total of 150 sources calculated. We then compared these sources to our bias ratings and calculated what percentage comes from each bias category. Overall, the majority of stories on Google News come from Left-Center sources (58%) and only 7% from least biased sources. Further, Right-Center sources only made up 5% of the news and Right biased less than 1%, while on the other hand, 28% of stories come from the left-biased category. When looking at purely left-leaning vs right-leaning sources, the numbers greatly favor the left. See the charts below: ...
It should be noted that we are not stating Google News is willfully biased, we are pointing out that the sources used have a strong preference for the left according to our ratings. This could be due to how the algorithm works and also that there simply are more mainstream news media that leans left. Further, on 6/6/2019, The Economist published a that shows Google presents news that is factual and less reliant on bias.
A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 37% of Google News' audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 43% Mixed and 20% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that Google News is preferred by a more liberal audience.
Overall, we rate Google News strongly Left-Center biased with the majority of stories coming from Left-Center sources. We also rate them High for factual reporting because the majority of sources used are credible media outlets. (D. Van Zandt 11/28/2018) Updated (10/7/2019).
Gray Zone | theGrayZone.com
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
Max Blumenthal established and writes for theGrayZone.com - which purports to be an independent investigative journalism site, but is tainted by Blumenthal and his associations (e.g.) with RT.com, and other questionable journalistic practices (e.g.: anti-Zionism).
Max Blumenthal has broadcast on RT.com (RT, formerly known as Russia Today) on many occasions. In December 2015, during an all-expenses paid trip to Moscow, Blumenthal attended RT's "10 Years On Air" anniversary party attended by President Vladimir Putin, then-Lieutenant General Michael Flynn of the United States, and English politician Ken Livingstone.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News in November 2017, Max Blumenthal defended RT against "the charge that it's Kremlin propaganda." Blumenthal has also contributed on multiple occasions to the Sputnik news agency.
Max Blumenthal founded The Grayzone website a month after his visit to Moscow. Gilbert Achcar wrote in an October 2019 article for New Politics magazine that along with the World Socialist Web Site, Blumenthal's Grayzone has "the habit of demonizing all left-wing critics of Putin and the likes of Assad by describing them as 'agents of imperialism' or some equivalent."
Autobiographical statements on theGrayZone.com (founded by Max Blumenthal) paint a glowing self-tribute,
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty One Day War, and The Management of Savagery. Max Blumenthal has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America's state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions."
However, even a cursory internet search reveals Max Blumenthal to be an infamous anti-Zionist, disinformation-spewing troll.
Grist
MediaBiasFactCheck.com; overall, we rate Grist Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that align with the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing, a clean fact check record, and adherence to scientific consensus.
History
Grist (originally Grist Magazine; also referred to as Grist.org) is an American non-profit online magazine publishing environmental news and commentary since 1999. Grist is a Pro-Science magazine that focuses on environmental issues. According to their about page, "Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future."
Funded by / Ownership
Grist Magazine Inc. owns the website. Advertising, grants, and donations fund Grist.
Analysis / Bias
Grist publishes original articles and republishes from other sources primarily covering the environment and climate change. Original articles and headlines often contain loaded emotional wording that emphasizes the consequences of climate change, such as: As Arctic broils, world leaders convene in Iceland to talk climate change. This article, like most, is properly sourced to credible media outlets such as VOA News, CBS News, and The New York Times.
Editorially, Grist holds left-leaning positions on the environment and equity, frequently reporting negatively on conservatives such as this: "After a Trump-length pause, the EPA is relaunching a major climate change report." When reporting on Democrats, they tend to hold a favorable view Biden wants to balance infrastructure and conservation goals. But it won't be easy. In general, they report news factual and support the consensus of science while holding left-leaning viewpoints.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
... American Society of Magazine Editors Announces Winners of 2023 National Magazine Awards : ... The most prestigious honor - "General Excellence" - went to four publications. Winners were: The Atlantic, The Marshall Project, and two first-time winners: Cook's Illustrated, and Grist. ...
Guardian, The | theGuardian.com
See also: The Observer.
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to tabloid journalism, and multiple failed fact checks.
Wikipedia (2021-09-27): The Guardian:
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. ... The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The Scott Trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference." The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders.
Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main newsprint sections have been published in tabloid format [tabloid journalism]. As of 2020-02, its print edition had a daily circulation of 126,879. The newspaper has an online edition, theGuardian.com, as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia (founded in 2013) and Guardian U.S. (founded in 2011). The paper's readership is generally on the mainstream left of British political opinion, and its reputation as a platform for social liberal and left-wing editorial has led to the use of "Guardian reader" and "Guardianista" as often-pejorative epithets for those of left-leaning or "politically correct" tendencies. Frequent typographical errors during the age of manual typesetting led Private Eye magazine to dub the paper the "Grauniad" in the 1960s, a nickname still used occasionally by the editors for self-mockery.
In an Ipsos MORI research poll in 2018-09 designed to interrogate the public's trust of specific titles online, The Guardian scored highest for digital-content news, with 84% of readers agreeing that they "trust what they see in it". A 2018-12 report of a poll by the Publishers Audience Measurement Company stated that the paper's print edition was found to be the most trusted in the United Kingdom in the period from 2017-10 to 2018-09. It was also reported to be the most-read of the U.K.'s "quality newsbrands", including digital editions; other "quality" brands included The Times [U.K.], The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and the i (newspaper). While The Guardian's print circulation is in decline, the report indicated that news from The Guardian, including that reported online, reaches more than 23 million U.K. adults each month.
Chief among the notable "scoops" obtained by the paper was the 2011 News International phone-hacking scandal - and in particular the hacking of the murdered English teenager Milly Dowler's phone. The investigation led to the closure of the News of the World, the U.K.'s best-selling Sunday newspaper and one of the highest-circulation newspapers in history. In 2013-06, The Guardian broke news of the secret collection by the Obama administration of Verizon telephone records, and subsequently revealed the existence of the surveillance program PRISM after knowledge of it was leaked to the paper by the whistleblower and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. In 2016, The Guardian led an investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing then-Prime Minister David Cameron's links to offshore bank accounts. It has been named "newspaper of the year" four times at the annual British Press Awards: most recently in 2014, for its reporting on government surveillance.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: The Guardian: overall, we rate The Guardian Left-Center biased based on story selection that moderately favors the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks over the last five years.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
Launched in 1821, The Guardian is a British daily newspaper published in London, U.K. ... In 1993 the Guardian Media Group acquired The Observer. The Guardian U.S. was launched in 2011 in New York. They also have an Australia Edition (Launched 2013, digital edition) and an International edition. The paper focuses on politics, policy, business, and international relations. Their coverage includes news and opinion, sports, culture, lifestyle, podcasts, and more.
Funded by / Ownership
The Guardian and its sister publication, Sunday newspaper The Observer, are owned by Guardian Media Group plc. Scott Trust Limited was created in 1936 to ensure the editorial independence of the publications and owns Guardian Media Group plc. The Guardian states that "The Scott Trust is the sole shareholder in Guardian Media Group, and its profits are reinvested in journalism and do not benefit a proprietor or shareholders." Donations and advertising fund The Guardian.
The Guardian switched to a tabloid print format in 2018 to cut costs. According to The New York Times, The Guardian "refused to set up a paywall - the preferred strategy of many of its rivals, from The Times of London to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times - opting instead to ask its readers for donations, even setting up a nonprofit arm to help fund its journalism."
Analysis / Bias
The Guardian has always been a left-wing publication throughout its history, as they have stated in various articles.
In review, story selection favors the left but is generally factual. They utilize emotionally loaded headlines such as ...
Failed Fact Checks
Numerous - see MediaBiasFactCheck.com entry!
Hill, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to staffing of known conspiracy theorist / The Hill columnist John Solomon.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Hill Least Biased based on balanced editorial positions and news reporting that is low biased. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to previous opinion columns promoting unproven claims.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The Hill is an American political journalism newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., since 1994. The Hill focuses on politics, policy, business, and international relations. Their coverage includes the U.S. Congress, the presidency, and election campaigns. The current editor is Bob Cusack, who has been reporting on policy and politics in the nation's capital since 1995.
Funded by / Ownership
Capitol Hill Publishing publishes The Hill, whose parent company News Communications, Inc., is the owner. Jimmy Finkelstein is the current CEO of New Communications described as a "Republican and longtime friend who served as a fundraiser for Rudolph Giuliani's failed 2008 presidential run." The paper and website are funded through a subscription and advertising model.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Hill covers both sides on the political spectrum and generally sources information properly; however, they sometimes rush stories and have to change them after the fact. The Hill rarely uses loaded words in their headlines and articles such as this: "Trump says he won't sign GOP's compromise immigration bill." All news stories are sourced from either journalists in the field or credible media sources.
The Hill features editorial commentaries that provide a reasonably balanced group of columnist that consists of the following: ...
The Hill also features other outside opinion contributors such as Newt Gingrich, among other prominent figures. The general overall tone of all op-eds is currently balanced after dominant right-leaning voice John Solomon left the paper in October 2019.
The Hill has faced criticism for the hiring of John Solomon, who is described as a strong supporter of President Trump and a conspiracy theorist, with his previous opinion columns under review for false content. Further, reports indicate that owner Jimmy Finkelstein "kept a watchful eye on the newspaper's coverage to ensure it is not too critical of the President."
In general, news reporting is balanced and factual with a reasonably balanced Op-Ed page.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals The Hill has not failed any fact checks. However, they have rushed to publish breaking news that needed to be corrected or removed in the past. The Hill also published editorial commentary that has been labeled conspiratorial by other sources; however, this columnist is no longer with the paper.
Hill Reporter
π STOP! Excluded from sources: nebulous origin and individuals; non-original content.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Hill Reporter Left biased based on story selection and wording that routinely favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
According to Whois, the domain was purchased in May of 2018, and the website launched shortly thereafter. The Hill Reporter describes themselves as "Our mission is to deliver factually correct news stories. We report on breaking political stories that speak to the current political climate in the United States."
The Hill Reporter was founded by three individuals, James Kosur, formerly an editor at Business Insider, and brothers Ed and Brian Krassenstein, members of the "#Resistance" to President Donald Trump.
The current managing editor is Brett D. Gilman.
In 2019, the website was purchased by Roman Romanuk, who is the CEO of Prezna, an internet marketing company based in Seattle, Washington.
[ None of "James Kosur", "Ed Brian Krassenstein", "Brian Krassenstein", "Roman Romanuk", "Prezna" appear in Wikipedia.]
Funded by / Ownership
The website is owned by Roman Romanuk through its company Prezna. Revenue is derived through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Hill Reporter rarely publishes original news reporting but rather reports on existing news stories through staff writers. Story selection is strongly left-leaning featuring moderately loaded emotional language such as this ...
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
HuffPost (The Huffington Post)
π STOP! Excluded from sources: founded by Andrew Breitbart (founder of Breitbart News: note association with Steve Bannon); news aggregator; ownership by BuzzFeed News; ...
Type: news aggregation website.
See also: BuzzFeed News, currently owned by Verizon Media [now Yahoo], who recently acquired HuffPost.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate HuffPost Left-Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to failed fact checks and the promotion of pseudoscience.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2005, HuffPost, also known as The Huffington Post, is a news and commentary site headquartered in New York City. The Huffington Post was founded by Andrew Breitbart (Founder of Breitbart News: note association with Steve Bannon), Arianna Huffington (Former Executive Vice President of AOL Time Warner and Chairman of Betaworks and BuzzFeed), Kenneth Lerer (Chairman of BuzzFeed), and Jonah Peretti (CEO of BuzzFeed).
In March 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million. Arianna Huffington was named president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which included AOL properties, Engadget, and MapQuest. In 2015, Verizon Communications bought AOL, and The Huffington Post became part of Verizon. Then, in 2016, Arianna Huffington resigned as editor-in-chief, and former New York Times Johannesburg Bureau Chief Lydia Polgreen became editor-in-chief. In 2017, The Huffington Post name was shortened to HuffPost.
Funded by / Ownership
The HuffPost is currently owned by Oath Inc., which is a subsidiary of Verizon Communications. In November 2020, BuzzFeed acquired the HuffPost; however, they will maintain separate newsrooms. The website generates revenue through advertising.
Yahoo is an American multinational technology company that focuses on media and online business. Verizon Communications acquired AOL in 2015. When Verizon Communications purchased Yahoo! in 2017, it merged AOL and Yahoo! into a subsidiary named Oath Inc.
Analysis / Bias
Politico reports that during the 2016 presidential elections, every article related to Donald Trump included a note at the bottom indicating Trump as being "racist," "xenophobe," "Misogynist"; however, after the election, HuffPost dropped the note.
In review, HuffPost publishes stories with strong emotionally loaded headlines such as "Comey Flips: 'Vote for Democrats This Fall'," and "Trump Calls Female Reporter 'So Obnoxious,' Tells Her To Be Quiet." They utilize credible sources such as CBS News, New York Times, Politico, and blogs that are unknown to us, such as queensjewelvault.blogspot.com. Furthermore, HuffPost sources The Associated Press when covering world news, such as "Mass Graves Suggest Systematic Killing Of Rohingya In Myanmar." Finally, Science-Based Medicine has criticized HuffPost for promoting dangerous, implausible pseudo-medicine.
A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 59% of HuffPost's audience is consistently or primarily liberal, 23% Mixed, and 17% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that a more liberal audience prefers HuffPost. In general, a review of articles shows that more favor the left than the right. While HuffPost primarily relies on credible sources of information, they have failed fact checks and promoted pseudoscience earning a Mixed factual reporting rating.
Failed Fact Checks
When meeting President Donald Trump in July 2018, Queen Elizabeth wore a brooch given to her by former president Barack Obama. - FALSE.
"More Than 4,000 Died Within Six Weeks - FALSE.
"The Senate is constitutionally required to review and vote on a president's nominees, regardless of party," - FALSE.
Human Events
π STOP! Excluded from sources. web site formerly owned by Salem Media Group.
See: Salem Media Group subentry, this page.
See also main article: Regnery Publishing.
Independent, The (U.K.)
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to political bias, tabloid journalism
Wikipedia entry, 2021-12-12.
The Independent is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition.
The Independent tends to take a pro-market stance on economic issues. The newspaper was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the Russian oligarch and former KGB Officer Alexander Lebedev in 2010. In 2017, a Saudi Arabian investor bought a 30% stake in it.
In June 2015, The Independent had an average daily circulation of just below 58,000, 85% down from its 1990 peak, while the Sunday edition had a circulation of just over 97,000. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The website and mobile app have a combined monthly reach of 22,939,000.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com; overall we rate The Independent Left-Center Biased due to story selection that moderately favors the left. We also rate them Mixed in factual reporting due to several failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1986, by Newspaper Publishing, The Independent is a daily newspaper from London, United Kingdom. The Independent was launched by former The Daily Telegraph staffers Andreas Whittam Smith, Matthew Symonds, and Stephen Glover. In 1990, The Independent on Sunday was launched and edited by Stephen Glover. In 1994, the founders left the paper and Ian Hargreaves became the editor of the paper. A year later Newspaper Publishing was restructured, with Mirror Group [Reach plc, known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018] and Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media (INM) becoming joint owners of Newspaper Publishing.
In 1998, Independent News & Media took complete control of The Independent. Tony O'Reilly bought out the company for Β£30m and in 2010 and then Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny Lebedev acquired The Independent. In 2016, The Independent moved to a digital-only format. Simon Kelner is currently the editor-in-chief of The Independent titles. Andreas Whittam Smith, The Independent's founder, has also joined the board of Independent Print Limited. In 2017, Saudi Businessman Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in The Independent online newspaper.
Funded by / Ownership
The Independent is owned by Independent Print Limited, a company owned by the Lebedev family (Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny Lebedev). In 2017, Saudi Businessman Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in The Independent online newspaper. Advertising and subscription generate revenue for the paper.
Analysis / Bias
The Independent recently joined up with a media group with close links to the Saudi royal family [House of Saud] to launch websites across the Middle East. The Guardian has criticized The Guardian's partnering with a publisher with strong ties to the Saudi government.
In review, The Independent tends to publish stories utilizing minimally loaded language in their headlines such as: "Theresa May insists Brexit deal is not dead despite EU leaders refusing to make further concessions," and "US news 'Mueller investigation: Special counsel attacks Flynn criticism of FBI interview'." The Independent also republishes news from other credible sources such as The Associated Press: "Five things you didn't know about Germany's diesel ban." Most stories favor the left and tend to be appropriately sourced utilizing credible sources such as USA Today and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
According to a 2017 survey conducted by YouGov (U.K.), The Independent is viewed as having a center-left bias in reporting, with 79% saying it was either Center or Left and only 21% saying it leaned right. In general, The Independent a left-leaning editorial bias. Further, they produce a high content volume; therefore, the number of failed fact checks is low compared to the number of stories published. Consequently, they are classified as factually Mixed rather than questionable.
Failed Fact Checks
"Analysis 'Climate change might be worse than thought after scientists find major mistake in water temperature readings'" - LOW SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY
"New antibody tests are 100% accurate." - FALSE
"Sir David King, who chairs the Independent SAGE group of scientists, has claimed that 27,000 people will die by next April if current levels of COVID-19 infection continue." - FALSE
"915 children admitted with malnutrition Cambridge hospitals between 2015 and 2020. There were 656 similar admissions at Newcastle hospitals and 656 at the Royal Free London hospitals." - FALSE
"Online conspiracy theories and misinformation relating to COVID-19 have resulted in at least 800 deaths from coronavirus." - FALSE
"Donald Trump said, 'undocumented immigrants are not people; they are animals.'" - FALSE
InfluenceWatch.org
π STOP! Excluded from sources. See also (this file):
Capital Research Center (produces InfluenceWatch.org website)
SourceWatch.org (website diametrically opposed to / competing with InfluenceWatch.org).
While providing detailed reports with apparently factual financial data (spot fact-checked, e.g., against IRS Form 990 filings), content from Capital Research Center is strongly biased against left-wing ideology (politics and policies).
The Capital Research Center (CRC) was founded in 1984 by Willa Johnson, former senior vice president of The Heritage Foundation. Donors to the Capital Research Center have included foundations run by the Koch family, the Scaife Foundations, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. As of 2017, CRC had received more than $265,000 from ExxonMobil.
In 2017, the CRC launched the website "Influence Watch" [InfluenceWatch.org], which focuses on identifying funding sources of progressive organizations and initiatives. In Wikipedia, a search for "InfluenceWatch" redirects to the Capital Research Center.
International Fact-Checking Network [IFCN; Poynter Institute]
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include funding of the Poynter Institute from the notoriously neoliberal billionaire Charles Koch via the Charles Koch Institute, left-wing billionaire George Soros via the Open Society Foundations, and other wealthy contributors. Poynter also established the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com - Factual Reporting: HIGH
International Fact-Checking Network's code of principles
Website: Poynter.org/IFCN | Poynter.org/media-news/fact-checking
In 2015, the Poynter Institute launched the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which sets a code of ethics for fact-checking organizations. The IFCN reviews fact-checkers for compliance with its code, and issues a certification to publishers who pass the audit. The certification lasts for one year, and fact-checkers must be re-examined annually to retain their certifications.
Google, Facebook, and other technology companies use the IFCN's certification to vet publishers for fact-checking contracts.
The IFCN and the American Press Institute jointly publish Factually, a newsletter on fact-checking and journalism ethics.
Inter Press Service
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Inter Press Service (IPS) high in factual reporting due to credible sourcing and Left-Center biased based on story selection that usually favors the left.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1964, Inter Press Service or IPS news agency is a global news agency based in Rome, Italy. Roberto Savio and Pablo Piacentini are the founders of Inter Press Service) and Thalif Deen is Senior Consulting Editor.
Inter Press Service (IPS) focuses on providing news and analysis of sustainable development, events on the Global South, civil society, and globalization.
According to their about page, Inter Press Service states its mission as "giving a voice to the voiceless - acting as a communication channel that privileges the voices and the concerns of the poorest and creates a climate of understanding, accountability, and participation around development, promoting a new international information order between the South and the North."
In the Public Interest | InThePublicInterest.org
Wikipedia, 2021-10-05
In the Public Interest (ITPI) is a nonpartisan non-profit organization based in Oakland, California, that studies public education, infrastructure, social services, and other public goods. According to its website, ITPI "helps community organizations, advocacy groups, public officials, researchers, and the general public understand how the privatization of public goods impacts service quality, democracy, equity, and government budgets." The organization also "advocates for responsible contracting" and "reclaiming and building popular support for public institutions that work for all of us".
ITPI is a fiscal project of the Partnership for Working Families (PWF), a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, non-profit organization based in Oakland, California.
History
History
ITPI was founded in 2009 by its current executive director, Donald Cohen. The organization is funded through grants from a variety of foundations and non-corporate organizations, as well as private donations from individuals.
In 2016, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, then a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, renewed calls to ban private prisons after seeing a report from ITPI that estimated the top two private prison operators made $361 million in profits in 2015.
In 2018, Cohen advised Pittsburgh Bill Peduto on engaging in a potential public-private partnership for the city's municipal water system.
In 2020, author and activist Naomi Klein said, "ITPI is an essential organization that we all count on as we fight the assault on public goods and the commons."
In These Times
website
Wikipedia, 2021-12-09:
In These Times is an American politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published in Chicago,  Illinois. In These Times was established as a broadsheet-format fortnightly newspaper in 1976 by James Weinstein, a lifelong socialist.
In These Times investigates alleged corporate and government wrongdoing, covers international affairs, and has a cultural section. In These Timesn regularly reports on labor, economic and racial justice movements, environmental issues, feminism, grassroots democracy, minority communities, and the media.
James Weinstein was In These Times's founding editor and publisher; its current editor and publisher is Joel Bleifuss.
As of 2017, In These Times had a circulation of over 50,000. As a nonprofit organization, the magazine is financed through subscriptions and donations.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate In These Times far-Left Biased based on editorial positions that align with Democratic Socialism. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to a significant imbalance in story selection, as well as the use of frequent emotional language which can be misleading.
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL.
History
Founded in 1976, In These Times is an American politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published in Chicago, Illinois. According to In These Times's about page, they are "an independent, nonprofit magazine, is dedicated to advancing democracy and economic justice, informing movements for a more humane world, and providing an accessible forum for debate about the policies that shape our future."
Funded by / Ownership
In These Times is a nonprofit that is owned and published by the Institute for Public Affairs (U.S.). Revenue is derived through advertising and donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, In These Times publishes news and opinion articles from a Democratic socialist perspective. There is the frequent use of emotionally loaded language that favors the left such as this: "To Save Species from Extinction, We Must Consider More than Just Numbers." Although biased in wording this story is properly sourced to scientific studies as well as The Conversation. Story selection always favors the progressive left and often denigrates the right and establishment Democrats such as this: "Joe Biden Lied His Face Off About the Iraq War."
Editorially, In These Times always favors the progressive left and denigrates corporations and those who support them. They often report favorably on Democratic socialist candidates such as Bernie Sanders as evidenced by this: "Want More Proof of Corporate Media's Anti-Bernie Bias? Look at MSNBC's Democratic Debate." In general, In These Times aligns with what would today be considered the far-left: pro-environment, pro-choice, pro-feminism, anti-capitalism, anti-militarism, and pro-civil rights. While these may not seem like extreme issues, in our current political climate they are considered on the far end of left. In general, In These Times sources information correctly and is factual, while holding a far-left editorial bias.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals In These Times has not failed a fact check.
iPolitics | iPolitics.ca
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize (due in part to ownership by Torstar).
iPolitics.ca: coverage of Canadian politics, policy and the business of government.
Wikipedia: iPolitics.ca is a Canadian digital newspaper, which covers stories in Canadian politics. The site was launched in 2010 by founding editor and publisher James Baxter, and offers daily coverage of political news, a quarterly print magazine, political analysis podcasts and specialized parliamentary monitoring services. Since October 2018, it has been owned by Torstar.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com:
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
iPolitics.ca covers Canadian politics and news. They have a very mild left of center bias and are factual in reporting from credible sources. (D. Van Zandt 12/15/2016).
Left-center bias. These media sources [iPolitics.ca] have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation.
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ]
Excellent reporting, via the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) | main page.
In 1997, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) launched the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). This international network, based in Washington, D.C., includes over 200 investigative reporters in over 90 countries and territories. Gerard Ryle is the director of ICIJ. Its website publishes The Global Muckraker. ICIJ is focused on issues such as "cross-border crime, corruption, and the accountability of power". In 2013, the consortium reported having 160 member journalists from 60 countries. The ICIJ brings together teams of international journalists for different investigations (over 80 for Offshore leaks). It organized the bi-annual Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. ICIJ staff members include Michael Hudson, while the Advisory Committee in 2013 included Bill Kovach, Phillip Knightley, Gwen Lister, and Goenawan Mohamad.
Praise | Criticism
Intercept, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to funding by billionaire owner Pierre Omidyar, left-wing political bias, and numerous controversies. [Changed from no flag to red flag 2022-01-02.]
Wikipedia | Resignation of Glenn Greenwald
MediaBiasFactCheck: overall, we rate The Intercept progressive Left Biased based on story selection that routinely favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High due to previous fabricated work and censorship of writers. "Mostly factual"
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Launched in 2014 by , The Intercept is a news organization covering national security, digital privacy, government secrets, politics, civil liberties, the environment, international affairs, technology, and more. The Intercept was founded by former The Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, and former Nation writer Jeremy Scahill.
The editors are Betsy Reed and Jeremy Scahill. Glenn Greenwald is a former constitutional law and civil rights litigator known for obtaining and publishing Edward Snowden's leaks about NSA surveillance while working for The Guardian.
On 10/29/20, Glenn Greenwald resigned from The Intercept, citing censorship of his reporting on Joe Biden.
Funded by / Ownership
The Intercept is funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's media company, , a non-profit media organization focused on entertainment studios, consumer businesses, and journalism. Omidyar initially committed $250 million and continues to support it through First Look Media. First Look Media's other brands include Topic, Field of Vision, and the Nib. The Intercept also receives reader donations.
[Glenn Greenwald, 2020-10-30] My Resignation From The Intercept. The same trends of repression, censorship and ideological homogeneity plaguing the national press generally have engulfed the media outlet I co-founded, culminating in censorship of my own articles. | Hacker News (2020-10-29)
Glenn Greenwald's transition to ally of bigotry. Greenwald's brand of anti-trans activist journalism could well lead to violence, even if that's not his intent.
Kaiser Health News (KHN.org)
website
[Wikipedia, captured 2021-05-09] Kaiser Family Foundation
KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), also known as the The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF since its legal name can cause confusion as it is no longer a foundation or a family foundation, and is not associated with Kaiser Permanente [founded 1945 by Henry John Kaiser].
KFF focuses on major health care issues facing the nation, as well as U.S. role in global health policy. KFF states that it is a non-partisan source of facts and analysis, polling and journalism for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public, and its website has been heralded for having the "most up-to-date and accurate information on health policy" and as a "must-read for healthcare devotees."
Kaiser Family Foundation
MediaBiasFactCheck: LEAST BIASED
These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appealing to emotion or stereotypes). The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources. See all Least Biased Sources.
Overall, we rate Kaiser Family Foundation Least Biased based on pro-science reporting and High for factual reporting due to strong, credible sourcing.
- Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED
- Factual Reporting: HIGH
- Country: USA (44/180 Press Freedom)
- Media Type: Organization/Foundation
- Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
- MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, or just Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The Kaiser Family Foundation focuses on major health care issues facing the nation and the U.S. role in global health policy. The Kaiser Family Foundation states that it is a non-partisan source of facts and analysis, polling, and journalism for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public, and KFF.org is known for having the "most up-to-date and accurate information on health policy." Through Kaiser Health News, KFF's editorially independent news service dedicated to coverage of health care policy and politics, the Foundation provides coverage of health policy issues and developments at the federal and state levels in the health care marketplace and health care delivery system.
[MediaBiasFactCheck] Read our profile on the United States government and media.
Funded by / Ownership
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit organization whose President and CEO is Dr. Drew Altman. KFF is funded through donations and grants.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Kaiser Family Foundation uses minimally loaded words such as this: "An Early Look at State Data for Medicaid Work Requirements in Arkansas," and the Kaiser Family Foundation sources to credible science, .org, and .gov sites. Kaiser is a reliable source for healthcare information that is factual. According to OpenSecrets.org, since 1992, KFF has donated 95% to Democratic candidates and causes.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Overall, we rate Kaiser Family Foundation Least Biased based on pro-science reporting and High for factual reporting due to strong, credible sourcing. (2/2/2017) Updated (D. Van Zandt 10/20/2019)
[KHN.org, 2021-05-06] Salesforce, Google, Facebook. How Big Tech Undermines California's Public Health System.
Jacobin | Jacobin Magazine
Wikipedia:
Jacobin is an American socialist magazine based in New York. Jacobin offers perspectives on politics, economics and culture. As of 2021, Jacobin reported a paid print circulation of 75,000 and over 3 million monthly visitors.
History and overview
Jacobin began as an online magazine released in 2010-09, expanding into a print journal later that year. Jacobin founder Bhaskar Sunkara describes Jacobin as a radical publication being "largely the product of a younger generation not quite as tied to the Cold War paradigms that sustained the old leftist intellectual milieux like Dissent or New Politics, but still eager to confront, rather than table, the questions that arose from the experience of the left in the 20th century".
In 2014, Bhaskar Sunkara said that the aim of Jacobin was to create a publication which combined resolutely socialist politics with the accessibility of titles such as The Nation and The New Republic. He has also contrasted Jacobin to publications associated with small leftist groups, such as the International Socialist Organization's Socialist Worker and International Socialist Review which were oriented towards party members and other revolutionary socialists, seeking a broader audience than those works while still anchoring Jacobin in a Marxist perspective. In an interview he gave in 2018, Sunkara said that he intended for Jacobin to perform a similar role on the contemporary left to that undertaken by National Review on the post-war right, i.e. "to cohere people around a set of ideas, and to interact with the mainstream of liberalism with that set of ideas".
Jacobin's popularity grew with the increasing attention on leftist ideas stimulated by Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, with subscriptions tripling from 10,000 in the summer of 2015 to 32,000 as of the first issue of 2017, with 16,000 of the new subscribers being added in the two months after Donald Trump's election.
In late 2016, Jacobin's editorial team unionized, including a total of seven full- and part-time members. An associate editor and co-chair of the union explained that Jacobin had only recently had enough full-time members to warrant unionization.
In spring 2017, Jacobin launched a peer-reviewed journal, Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, which is today edited by New York University professor Vivek Chibber and a small editorial board. As of 2020, Catalyst claims a subscriber base of 5,000.
In November 2018, Jacobin's first foreign-language edition, Jacobin Italia, was launched. Sunkara described Jacobin as "a classic franchise model", with the parent publication providing publishing and editorial advice and taking a small slice of revenue, but otherwise granting the Italian magazine autonomy. A Brazilian edition appeared in 2019, and a German version started publishing in 2020; the latter grew out of Ada, an independent online magazine established in 2018 which primarily published translations of Jacobin articles. The first issue of the German edition featured interviews with Kevin KΓΌhnert and Grace Blakeley.
In April 2020, Jacobin launched its YouTube channel featuring the Weekends program with Michael Brooks and Ana Kasparian. Brooks died suddenly in July 2020.
In May 2020, some time after Bernie Sanders suspended his 2020 presidential campaign, Sanders' former adviser and speechwriter David Sirota joined Jacobin as editor-at-large.
In 2020, Jacobin became an affiliated member of the Progressive International.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Jacobin Magazine, Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that always favor the Democratic Socialist Left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2011, Jacobin is a democratic socialist quarterly magazine based in New York offering American leftist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. Bhaskar Sunkara is the founder and editor. You can find a complete list of staff on their about page.
Funded by / Ownership
Jacobin is owned by Bhaskar Sunkara and generates revenue through subscription fees and advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Jacobin is a well-written quarterly magazine and website that publishes news from a strongly left-leaning perspective. There is moderate to the strong use of loaded emotional language such as this: "Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez Pick a Fight With the Loan Sharks." This article, like most on Jacobin, is properly sourced to a variety of High factual sources. Although Jacobin harshly criticizes President Trump, they also frequently criticize centrist Democrats often described as corporate and establishment "Democrats: Trump's Sadism - and Democrats' Accomodationism." Again, this article may contain loaded language, but it is properly sourced to only High factual sources. Editorially, all stories favor the Democratic Socialist left.
Jacobin has received praise from notable figures such as Noam Chomsky, who states they are "a bright light in dark times." They have also faced criticism from libertarian free-market advocates, Reason magazine.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
KeyWiki.org
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to political bias and founding and operation by conspiracy theorist Trevor Loudon.
Wikipedia: Trevor Loudon, 2023-01-27:
Los Angeles Times (LA Times ()
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the LA Times, Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that favor the left and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
... In June 2000, Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, acquired Times Mirror Company, the parent company of the LA Times, which ended "100 years of local ownership of the Los Angeles Times by the Otis and Chandler families."
In 2018, Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong acquired LA Times for $500m from the Tribune Publishing Company (formerly Tronc) and became the owner and executive chairman of the Los Angeles Times. Former Vice Chairman of Time Inc., Norman Pearlstine is the Executive Editor.
The LA Times covers local/national news, business, entertainment, political analysis, and sports news. The LA Times is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Funded by / Ownership
Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is the owner of LA Times. The paper is funded through advertising, subscriptions, and newsstand sales.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the LA Times (Los Angeles Times) uses moderately emotionally loaded headlines such as this ...
Editorially, the LA Times has endorsed Democratic presidential candidates in the last three elections and during the 2016 General Election the LA Times stated that "Hillary Clinton would make a sober, smart and pragmatic president. Donald Trump would be a catastrophe."
In a 2018 Interview, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong told NPR "We'll be as competitive vis-Γ -vis The New York Times and The Washington Post."
Failed Fact Check
None to date.
LA Weekly
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate LA Weekly as strongly left biased based on story selection that routinely favors the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to a lack of transparency with ownership, not disclosing their political bias, and poor sourcing on some articles.
Factual Reporting: MIXED.
Funded by / Ownership
LA Weekly lacks transparency as they do not openly disclose ownership. The paper and website is owned by Semanal Media LLC, which is owned by "David Welch, a Los Angeles-based attorney with ties to the cannabis industry; philanthropist Kevin Xu, an investor with biotech firm Mebo International; attorney Steve Mehr; boutique hotelier Paul Makarechian; real estate developer Mike Mugel; and Southern California investor Andy Bequer." Revenue is derived through advertising.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Law & Crime
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Law & Crime Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Law & Crime (formerly Law Newz) is founded and run by Dan Abrams, who is currently the Chief Legal Analyst for ABC News. According to their about page, "LawandCrime.com is the only site and OTT Network that covers live court video, high-profile criminal trials, crazy crime, celebrity justice, and smart legal analysis. The site's team of journalists and lawyers provide real-time news updates along with live courtroom coverage of the most fascinating trials and legal stories." The current editor-in-chief is Rachel Stockman.
Funded by / Ownership
Law & Crime is owned by the Abrams Media Network, which also owns the left-leaning Mediaite and The Mary Sue. In 2017, A+E Network invested in Law & Crime and will provide trial coverage for its video streams. The website generates revenue through advertising and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the website features links to watch live streams of ongoing court cases as well as a link that directs you to all the places you can watch, such as Pluto TV. The Law & Crime website also publishes news about court cases with occasionally sensational wording, such as this: "'Hollywood Ripper' Michael Gargiulo Found Guilty of Horrific Murders." They also report news related to law such as this: "AOC Using Similar Argument to Trump to Insist She Can Block People on Twitter." This story, like most, is properly sourced to credible media outlets. Editorially, Law & Crime frequently report negatively on the Trump administration: Sorry, Trump: New York's 'Red Flag' Law Doesn't Let You Take Chris Cuomo's Guns. The clearly labeled opinion piece is properly sourced to Cornell Law. In general, the news is factual and minimally biased; however, editorially, there is moderate left-leaning bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
The Lever
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content due to political bias, and associations with The Guardian and Politico - carefully scrutinize.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2022-04-12: The Lever
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2020 by David Sirota as The Daily Poster, The Lever is a progressive news and opinion website and daily newsletter. David Sirota is a journalist who is the current editor at Jacobin magazine, an author, a columnist for The Guardian, and a former speechwriter for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign [Bernie Sanders]. The Lever website primarily covers politics from a progressive left perspective [left-wing politics].
Funded by / Ownership
The Lever is owned and published by David Sirota. Revenue is derived through voluntary subscription fees for full content.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Lever publishes political news and political opinions from a progressive left perspective. Many articles are written by David Sirota, as well as other contributing writers. Articles and headlines often contain moderately loaded language, such as "Lawmakers Unify To Give Corporate Donors A License To Kill You." This story is adequately sourced from credible media outlets such as Politico and Reuters. All articles are original journalism.
Editorially, The Lever aligns with the left [left-wing]. The Lever frequently publishes articles critical of conservatives, such as "Trump Holds Coup Meeting With DeVos-Funded Lawmakers." Although The Lever is supportive of the Democratic Party, they are often critical of the , such as "The Beltway Left Is Normalizing Corruption And Corporatism." When it comes to positions, they promote climate change action, civil rights, single-payer healthcare, and worker's rights. In general, the information presented on The Lever is factual and editorially aligns with the progressive left (democratic socialism).
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
[LeverNews.com, 2023-04-30] Coverage Without Compromise. In accepting this year's Izzy Award, The Lever's Andrew Perez highlights the importance of reader-supported adversarial journalism. Following is a transcript of Andrew Perez's moving speech this week (2023-04) when he accepted the 2023 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media on behalf of The Lever. ...
Logically.ai
Logically.ai/
"We are a technology company combining advanced AI and machine learning with one of the world's largest dedicated fact-checking teams to provide everyone, from individual citizens to national governments, with the tools they need to identify and disarm damaging and misleading information being shared online.
Since we were founded in 2017, Logically.ai's mission has been to enhance civic discourse, protect democratic debate and process, and provide access to trustworthy information. This has led us to create a suite of products and services to reduce and eventually eliminate the harm caused by the spread of misinformation and targeted disinformation campaigns.
"Our unique combination of artificial and human intelligence means we provide the best of both worlds: cutting edge technology that can monitor, identify, and track content at scale; and highly trained, IFCN-accredited human fact checkers and investigators who can provide complex and nuanced research and analysis. This combination means we can flag harmful content before it becomes widespread and provide our users with effective countermeasures ranging from instant fact checks, flagging content to platforms or law enforcement, and detailed investigations into campaign origins."
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Logically.ai Least Biased based on low biased fact-checking and commentary. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of claims.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Based in the United Kingdom and launched in 2019, Logically.ai is a Fact-Checking service that uses artificial intelligence to rate news articles. Logically.ai also has a browser extension that will scan the article you are presently reading and give basic information about the credibility based on the wording and the source. According to their about page, "Logically.ai employs one of the world's largest dedicated fact-checking teams, working together with AI to provide rigorous, evidence-based fact checks."
The website is fully transparent, listing Lyric Jain as the CEO and Dr. Al Baker as the managing editor. Logically.ai is a certified fact-checker of the International Fact-Checking Network.
Funded by / Ownership
Logically Ltd., which is registered in London and has offices in India and the U.K., is the company's owner. Logically.ai discloses funding, "Logically.ai is funded by a combination of Lyric's personal investment in the company (using personal savings and money from family business Eliza Tinsley), by venture capital investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, managed by Mercia Asset Management, and investment from XTX Ventures. Lyric Jain remains the only person with significant control of Logically.ai." The website does not make it clear how they monetize.
Analysis / Bias
Logically.ai offers a browser extension, mobile apps and publishes fact checks on the website. The fact checks use a combination of their proprietary AI and human interface. Logically.ai performs fact-checks by scanning the internet for credible media sources who either supports or refutes the claim. For example, in this fact check: "Gun manufacturers are exempt from being sued in the U.S." the AI scanned and found three sources that confirm the claims are false, CNN, New York Times, and Giffords Law Center [Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence]. In reviewing numerous fact checks, they all appear to be credible and accurate. However, human only fact-checking is more rigorous.
The browser extension, on the other hand, is a different story. When you view a news story, you can click the extension icon to get information about the news story. The extension will estimate the source's credibility and reliability and the tone of the wording. It will provide links to related stories, a good indicator of validity if other sources are reporting the same. It also offers a search for fact checks on the claim. This is all good. However, we found that if it does not recognize a source, and it has words such as "killed" in it, it rates it as negative. The word killed in a news story is not necessarily negative. The context is important. Further, they also label lesser known sources as "Toxicity". We are unable to determine why.
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THE EXTENSION, but their fact checks are reasonable.
Editorially, they produce commentary on conspiracy theories and misinformation such as this: "How the Hegelian Dialectic Became a Far-Right Conspiracy Theory." We found editorials written with minimal bias and proper sourcing. All in all, Logically.ai does what it says and delivers the information with low bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date. Logically.ai is an IFCN fact-checker.
Lowy Institute [Australia]
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank founded in April 2003 by Sir Frank Lowy, AC [AC: Order of Australia] to conduct original, policy-relevant research about international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective. It is based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
While the Lowy Institute has alternatively been described as "neoliberal," "centre-right"-leaning or "reactionary, officially, its research and analysis aim to be non-partisan, and its active program of conferences, seminars and other events are designed to inform and deepen the debate about international policy in Australia and to help shape the broader international discussion of these issues.
(Persagen). Australia has been sparring with China over China's influence in that region of the globe. Hence, many of the articles from the Lowy Institute have a terse, anti-China sentiment.
Maclean's | MacLeans.ca
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
MacLeans.ca | Wikipedia entry | Controversies
"Maclean's is Canada's premier current affairs magazine. Maclean's enlightens, engages and entertains 2.4 million readers with strong investigative reporting and exclusive stories from leading journalists in the fields of international affairs, social issues, national politics, business and culture."
While Maclean's magazine is generally well-regarded in Canada, lately [ca. 2020] I am much less trusting of this news magazine / website. In particular, note the following entries viz-a-viz disinformation troll Mark Steyn.
Mark Steyn wrote articles and maintained a blog for Maclean's covering the 2007 business fraud trial of his friend Conrad Black [Canadian-born, past-British newspaper publisher, convicted fraudster] in Chicago, from the point of view of one who was never convinced Black committed any crime. ...
In 2007, a complaint was filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission related to an article "The Future Belongs to Islam," written by Mark Steyn, published in Maclean's magazine. The complainants alleged that the article and the refusal of Maclean's to provide space for a rebuttal violated their human rights. The complainants also claimed that the article was one of twenty-two (22) Maclean's articles, many written by Steyn, about Muslims. ...
Soon afterwards, the head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission issued a public letter to the Editor of Maclean's magazine. In it, Jennifer Lynch said, "Mr. Steyn would have us believe that words, however hateful, should be given free reign [sic]. History has shown us that hateful words sometimes lead to hurtful actions that undermine freedom and have led to unspeakable crimes. That is why Canada and most other democracies have enacted legislation to place reasonable limits on the expression of hatred."
The National Post subsequently defended Steyn and sharply criticized Lynch, stating that Lynch has "no clear understanding of free speech or the value of protecting it" and that "No human right is more basic than freedom of expression, not even the "right" to live one's life free from offence by remarks about one's ethnicity, gender, culture or orientation."
The federal Canadian Human Rights Commission dismissed the Canadian Islamic Congress' complaint against Maclean's in June 2008. The CHRC's ruling said of the article that, "the writing is polemical, colourful and emphatic, and was obviously calculated to excite discussion and even offend certain readers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike." However, the Commission ruled that overall, "the views expressed in the Steyn article, when considered as a whole and in context, are not of an extreme nature, as defined by the Supreme Court."
[Wikipedia] Human rights complaints against Maclean's magazine
Human rights complaints against Maclean's magazine were filed in December 2007 by Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Maclean's magazine was accused of publishing eighteen Islamophobic articles between January 2005 and July 2007. The articles in question included a column by Mark Steyn titled "The Future Belongs to Islam", an excerpt from a book written by Steyn.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the complaint. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal heard the complaint in June 2008 and issued a ruling on October 10, 2008 dismissing the complaint. The Canadian Human Rights Commission dismissed the federal complaint on June 26, 2008 without referring the matter to a tribunal.
...
Maple, The [The Maple]
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
Formerly / see entry for: North99.
Markup, The | theMarkup.org
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
Despite the links to Propublica (former staff; funding), I've marked The Markup with a caution / yellow flag β οΈ due to issues with staffing and funding (below).
See also: Propublica.
Wikipedia, 2021-10-05
The Markup is an American nonprofit organization based in New York City, founded in 2018 with the goal of focusing on data-driven journalism, covering the ethics and impact of technology on society.
History
The Markup was co-founded by two former Propublica journalists Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson, and executive and journalist Sue Gardner. The project was announced in April 2018, with an expected launch in early 2019. Like ProPublica, all of their content will be licensed under a Creative Commons license.
According to Angwin, in 2018, the portal planned to collect and create public datasets through public records requests, automated data collection, crowdsourcing information, and creating tools.
In April 2019, Gardner fired Angwin as editor-in-chief. Larson was named as her replacement. In a letter to Craig Newmark, The Markup's largest donor, Angwin asked him to intervene, claiming she was pushed out after resisting Gardner's attempts to change The Markup's mission to "one based on advocacy against the tech companies." Six out of seven journalists on staff resigned following Angwin's ouster. Gardner denied changing the mission, telling The New York Times, "We are, pure and simple, a news outlet, we always have been and always will be. Our goals and purpose haven't changed." According to Larson and Gardner, the reasons for Angwin's ouster had instead included disagreements over the non-journalistic responsibilities of Angwin's role as an executive, such as the organization falling behind in its hiring plans and the launch timeline. A month later, Newmark announced that Gardner and Larson had left The Markup, and there were reports about plans to bring back Angwin as editor-in-chief.
On August 6, 2019, The Markup announced that Julia Angwin would return as editor-in-chief, along with Nabiha Syed as president and much of the original team - but without Larson or Gardner. Syed was previously BuzzFeed's general counsel and vice president.
Funding
The Markup received a $20 million gift from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. The Markup also raised $2 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and an additional $1 million from the The Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative.
Metabunk
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Metabunk a Pro-Science source based on providing evidence-based information to debunk pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
Pro-science
These sources consist of legitimate science or are evidence based through the use of credible scientific sourcing. Legitimate science follows the scientific method, is unbiased and does not use emotional words. These sources also respect the consensus of experts in the given scientific field and strive to publish peer reviewed science. Some sources in this category may have a slight political bias, but adhere to scientific principles. See all Pro-Science sources.
Miami Herald
Wikipedia:
Miami Herald Media Company, which owns the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, is headquartered in Doral, Florida. The Miami Herald is located in a twoβstory, 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) building that had been the U.S. Southern Command center. The Miami Herald uses 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of space for office purposes. In 2013 there were 650 people working there. The Miami Herald had purchased land adjacent to the headquarters to build the 119,000-square-foot (11,100 m2) printing plant.
The previous headquarters, One Herald Plaza, were located on a 14-acre (5.7 ha) plot in Biscayne Bay, Miami. This facility opened in March 1963. In 2011 the Genting Group, a Malaysian company, offered to pay the Miami Herald Media Company $236 million for the current headquarters property. The company began scouting for a new headquarters location after finalizing the sale. The then president and publisher of the media company, David Landsberg, stated that it was not necessary at that point to be located in the city center, and remaining there would be too expensive. The Miami Herald moved to its current Doral, Florida headquarters in May 2013. On April 28, 2014, demolition began on the building on Biscayne Bay, Florida between the MacArthur and Venetian causeways.
Overview
The Miami Herald has been awarded 22 Pulitzer Prizes since beginning publication in 1903. Well-known columnists include Pulitzer-winning political commentator Leonard Pitts, Jr., Pulitzer-winning reporter Mirta Ojito, humorist Dave Barry and novelist Carl Hiaasen. Other columnists include Fred Grimm and sportswriters Edwin Pope, Dan Le Batard and Greg Cote.
The Miami Herald participates in "Politifact Florida", a website that focuses on Florida issues, with the Tampa Bay Times. The Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times share resources on news stories related to Florida.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Miami Herald Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1903, the Miami Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County several miles west of Miami. The Miami Herald is the second-largest newspaper in South Florida, serving Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Monroe County. The Miami Herald also circulates throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. A former publisher of the Miami Herald, Aminda MarquΓ©s GonzΓ‘lez, was demoted in 2020-09, and departed the Miami Herald in 2020-10 to become vice president and executive editor at book publisher Simon & Schuster.
The Miami Herald has been awarded 22 Pulitzer Prizes since beginning publication in 1903.
Funded by / Ownership
The Miami Herald is owned by The McClatchy Company, which owns 29 newspapers across 14 states [including The News & Observer and The Fresno Bee]. The Miami Herald generates revenue through an advertising and subscription model.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Miami Herald covers South Florida news through journalists and with minimal bias in wording such as this: "The price of gas in Florida may go down this week. Here's why." National and international news is derived primarily from The Associated Press and The New York Times. Editorially, the Miami Herald has endorsed Democratic Presidential candidates since 2000. Further, most editorials favor the political left and sometimes utilize loaded emotional language such as these: "The Invading Sea: Democrats in debate must focus on solutions to climate change," and "Reprehensible immigrant round-ups in Miami postponed - for now, | Editorial." In general, straight news reporting is low biased and factual, while editorially, there is a moderate liberal bias in story selection and policy preferences.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Mint Press News | MintPress_News.com
π STOP! Excluded from sources. MintPressNews.com | Wikipedia entry | MediaBiasFactCheck entry
These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation. See all Left-Center sources. | Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA | source
[Wikipedia] Frequent contributors include Eva Bartlett [who also contributes to the RT (Russia Today) propaganda / disinformation network], and more alarmingly (?) disinformation conspiracist / anti-Zionist / troll Max Blumenthal; ...
Max Blumenthal established and writes for theGrayZone.com - which purports to be an independent investigative journalism site, but is tainted by Blumenthal and his associations (e.g.) with RT.com, and other questionable journalistic practices (e.g.: anti-Zionism).
MIT Technology Review
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: MIT Technology Review, 2021-07-02:
Bias Rating: PRO-SCIENCE | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | Country: USA (44/180 Press Freedom) | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Overall, we rate MIT Technology Review Pro-Science based on the strong sourcing of information and promoting consensus in scientific matters.
History
Founded in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a bi-monthly magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT Technology Review (the magazine) focuses on technology and innovation, as does the website. The current editor-in-chief is Gideon Lichfield.
Funded by / Ownership
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology owns MIT Technology Review. Advertising and subscription fees generate revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the magazine and website (MIT Technology Review) publish news on technology, technical innovation, and sustainable energy. Articles and headlines are free of emotional wording, such as: "This is the most precise 3D map of the Milky Way ever made." Although they rarely report on politics, they do not positively view former President Donald Trump's scientific positions such as "The Gaping, Dangerous Hole in the Trump Administration." Finally, during the coronavirus of 2020 [COVID-19 pandemic], they have reported factual, pro-science information. In general, all information is pro-science, and any bias is directed at those who reject the scientific consensus.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Wikipedia: MIT Technology Review, 2023-01-24:
MIT Technology Review is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as The Technology Review, and was re-launched without "The" in its name on 1998-04-23, under then publisher R. Bruce Journey. In 2005-09 it was changed, under its then editor-in-chief and publisher, Jason Pontin, to a form resembling the historical magazine.
Before the 1998 re-launch, the editor stated that "nothing will be left of the old magazine except the name." It was therefore necessary to distinguish between the modern and the historical Technology Review. The historical magazine had been published by the MIT Alumni Association, was more closely aligned with the interests of MIT alumni, and had a more intellectual tone and much smaller public circulation. The magazine, billed from 1998 to 2005 as "MIT's Magazine of Innovation", and from 2005 onwards as simply "published by MIT", focused on new technology and how it is commercialized; was sold to the public and targeted at senior executives, researchers, financiers, and policymakers, as well as MIT alumni.
In 2011, Technology Review received an Utne Reader Independent Press Award for Best Science/Technology Coverage.
[ ... snip ... ]
Recognition
In 2006, Technology Review was a finalist in the National Magazine Awards in the category of General Excellence.
In 2010, Technology Review won the gold and silver prizes for best full issue of a technology magazine (for its 2010-11 and 2009-06 issues), and the gold, silver, and bronze prizes for best single article in a technology magazine (for "Natural Gas Changes the Energy Map" by David Rotman; "Prescription: Networking" by David Talbot; and "Chasing the Sun" by David Rotman) in Folio Magazine's Eddie Awards.
In 2007, Technology Review won the bronze prizes in the Folio Magazine Eddie Awards in the categories of best issue of a technology magazine and best single technology article. That same year, TechnologyReview.com won third place in the MPA Digital Awards for best business or news Website, and second place for best online video or video series.
In 2008, Technology Review won the gold prize for the best issue of a technology magazine (for its 2008-05 issue); the gold, silver, and bronze prizes for best single articles in a technology magazine (for The Price of Biofuels by David Rotman; Brain Trauma in Iraq by Emily Singer; and Una Laptop por NiΓ±o by David Talbot); the gold prize for best online community; and the bronze prize for best online tool in the Folio Magazine Eddie Awards. That same year (2008), Technology Review won third place in the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) Digital Awards for best online videos.
In 2009, Technology Review won the gold prize for Best Online News Coverage; the gold and silver prizes for best single articles in a technology magazine (for "How Obama Really Did It" by David Talbot), and "Can Technology Save the Economy?" by David Rotman, and the silver prize for best online community in the Folio Magazine Eddie Awards.
In 2011, Technology Review won the silver prize for best full issue of a technology magazine (for its 2011-01 issue), and the gold and silver prizes for best single article in a technology magazine (for "Moore's Outlaws" by David Talbot, and "Radical Opacity" by Julian Dibbell) in the Folio Magazine Eddie Awards. That same year (2011), Technology Review was recognized for the best science and technology coverage in the Utne Reader Independent Press Awards.
In 2012, the MIT Technology Review won the gold and silver prizes for best full issue of a technology magazine (for its 2012-06 and 2012-10 issues), and the gold and bronze prizes for best single article in a technology magazine (for "People Power 2.0" by John Pollock, and "The Library of Utopia" by Nicholas Carr) in the Folio Magazine Eddie Awards. That same year (2012), MIT Technology Review won the gold prize for best feature design (for "The Library of Utopia" by Nicholas Carr) in the Folio Magazine Ozzie Awards.
[ ... snip ... ]
Montreal Gazette [formerly: The Gazette]
Wikipedia: Montreal Gazette, 2022-03-01:
The Montreal Gazette - formerly titled The Gazette - is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of the 20th century. It is one of the French-speaking province [Quebec]'s last two English-language dailies; the other is the Sherbrooke Record, which serves the anglophone community in the Eastern Townships southeast of Montreal.
Founded in 1778 by Fleury Mesplet, The Gazette is Quebec's oldest daily newspaper and Canada's oldest daily newspaper still in publication. The oldest newspaper overall is the English-language Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, which was established in 1764 and is published weekly.
[ ... snip ... ]
Today, The Gazette's audience is primarily Quebec's English-speaking community. The Gazette is one of the three dailies published in Montreal, the other two being French-language newspapers: Le Journal de MontrΓ©al, and Le Devoir. (La Presse is only published digitally since 2018.)
In recent years, The Gazette has stepped up efforts to reach bilingual francophone professionals and adjusted its coverage accordingly. The current editor-in-chief is Lucinda Chodan. The deputy editor is Basem Boshra, and the associate managing editor is Jeff Blond.
On 2013-04-30 Postmedia Network announced that it would be eliminating the role of publisher at each of its newspapers, including The Gazette. Instead, the company's 10 newspapers was overseen by regional publishers, one each for the Pacific, the Prairies and eastern Canada. Alan Allnutt - who was the publisher of The Gazette at the time - became the regional publisher of Postmedia's Alberta and Saskatchewan papers. Gerry Nott, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen, now also oversees The Gazette, the Windsor Star and Postmedia's flagship title, the National Post. On 2014-05-05 it was announced that printing of The Gazette would be contracted out to Transcontinental Media in 2014-08, and that the existing Notre-Dame-de-GrΓ’ce facility would be closed, resulting in a loss of 54 full-time and 61 part-time positions at the paper. The 2014-08-16 issue was the final issue printed by the Postmedia-owned facility.
On 2014-10-21 The Gazette was relaunched as part of the "Postmedia Reimagined project" - adopting a similar look, and a similar suite of digital platforms, to its sister paper, the Ottawa Citizen (which had relaunched earlier in the year [2014]). As part of the relaunch, the The Gazette was officially renamed the Montreal Gazette, reflecting its longstanding common name outside its city of publication (as well as its Web domain, MontrealGazette.com). The paper had not included Montreal in its masthead in several years.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2020-04-10: overall, we rate the Montreal Gazette Right-Center biased based on a slight right-leaning editorial bias. We also rate them high for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH
History
Founded in 1778, the Montreal Gazette is a daily English language newspaper from Montreal, Canada. It is also Canada's oldest newspaper. The current editor-in-chief is Lucinda Chodan.
Funded by / Ownership
The Montreal Gazette is owned by the Postmedia Network, which owns several right-leaning media outlets throughout Canada. According to a report in the left-leaning CanadaLand, Postmedia has directed its publications to be more "reliably conservative." The Montreal Gazette is funded through advertising and subscription fees.
Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey based hedge fund, holds a large equity stake in Postmedia and majority ownership of American Media, Inc. [branded a360media] which owns the National Enquirer. David Pecker - who owns American Media, Inc. - joined the Postmedia board, and then resigned from the board of Postmedia in 2018, due to his involvement of hush payments on behalf of his "friends" including former President Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.
According to the National Observer, Postmedia is in a downward spiral. After Postmedia announced a $1.4M loss for the last quarter of 2018, Paul Godfrey stepped down as CEO of the Postmedia Network and was replaced by Andrew MacLeod, as of 2019-01-10 Paul Godfrey will remain as executive chair. Godfrey was also criticized for cutting 800 full-time jobs across Postmedia in 2016, while earning an annual salary of $1.7 million. For a list of directors and upper management please see here.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Montreal Gazette reports local news from journalists in the field and national/international news via the right-leaning National Post and the least biased The Associated Press as well as the Canadian Press. All information tends to be properly sourced to credible media. Editorially, there is a slight right-leaning bias in story selection. For example, many editorials are opposed to Justin Trudeau. In general, news reporting is factual with a slight right bias through editorials.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Mother Jones
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content (note "Controversies" in Wikipedia entry); carefully scrutinize.
Wikipedia | Controversies
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Mother Jones strongly Left-Center biased based on story selection that moderately favors the left and High for factual reporting due to thorough sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Launched in 1976 and based in San Francisco, California, Mother Jones is a news organization named after labor activist Mary Harris "Mother" Jones. Mother Jones focuses on investigative journalism on politics, governments, corporations, environment, crime & justice. They distribute their content via digital and social platforms, videos, podcasts, email newsletters, and print magazines. They describe their mission as "to deliver hard-hitting reporting that inspires change and combats "alternative facts." In 1993, they became the first general-interest magazine to go online.
Currently, Steve Katz is the publisher. The Foundation for National Progress [a Wikipedia search redirects to Mother Jones magazine] publishes Mother Jones. Monika Bauerlein is CEO, and Clara Jeffery is the Editor-in-Chief. David Corn is the Washington bureau chief and an on-air analyst for MSNBC.
Funded by / Ownership
Mother Jones' non-profit parent company and publisher is the Foundation for National Progress [a Wikipedia search redirects to Mother Jones magazine], and according to the MacArthur Foundation, the Foundation for National Progress received $1.5 million grants in support for its in-depth investigative journalism work. The Board of Directors can be seen here and the complete donor list here.
Mother Jones' primary revenue source is reader donations, subscriptions, advertising, and foundation grants; for example, the Craigslist founder gave $1 million to Mother Jones in 2018. You can find details of their finances and IRS Form 990s here.
Analysis / Bias
Although Mother Jones's political inclinations have been described as progressive, they did not endorse any political party during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They have published articles with an anti-Bernie Sanders tone, such as this article ...
In general, story selection moderately favors the left, although the progressive left tends to be criticized more often than the establishment left. When it comes to sourcing, Mother Jones sources credible media outlets such as Reuters, The New York Times, The Hill, CNN, Time Magazine, NPR, Politico, Washington Examiner, and C-SPAN.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Win McCormack
Win McCormack, an American publisher and editor from Oregon, is editor-in-chief of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books, the former publisher of Oregon Magazine, founder and treasurer of MediAmerica, Inc., and a co-founder of Mother Jones magazine. Win McCormack serves on the board of directors of the journal New Perspectives Quarterly. Win McCormack's political and social writings have appeared in Oregon Humanities, Tin House, The Nation, The Oregonian, and Oregon Magazine. McCormack's investigative coverage of the Rajneeshee movement was awarded a William Allen White Commendation from the University of Kansas and the City and Regional Magazine Association. ... In 2016-02 Win McCormack purchased The New Republic magazine from Chris Hughes. ... [Source; Wikipedia, 2021-10-11.]
Nation, The
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Nation Left Biased due to story choices and wording that favor the left and factually high based on proper sourcing.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1865, The Nation is an American weekly business magazine based in New York City. The Nation covers world and national news, politics, economy, arts, culture, and more. The Nation considers itself as a continuation of William Lloyd Garrison's anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator.
The Nation's founding publisher was Joseph H. Richards, and the Irish-born American Journalist Edwin Lawrence Godkin, who had formerly worked as a correspondent of the London Daily News and editor of the New York Evening Post. After The Nation was sold to the New York Evening Post, Godkin became editor of the Post, a position he held until his retirement in 1899. Wendell Phillips Garrison, son of William Lloyd Garrison, was Literary Editor from 1865 to 1906. Newspaperman-turned-railroad-baron Henry Villard bought The Nation in 1881, and The Nation became a weekly supplement for the New York Evening Post (Later, it became the New York Post). After Henry Villard, his son, Oswald Garrison Villard, would become the new owner in 1900.
The Nation masthead states that it is edited and published by Katrina vanden Heuvel. Richard Kim is the Executive Editor, and the President is Erin O'Mara. According to their about page, the magazine describes itself as "Principled. Progressive."
Funded by / Ownership
Katrina vanden Heuve is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of The Nation. She also writes an op-ed column for The Washington Post. Subscription and advertising are The Nation's main revenue and donations, which contributes to The Nation Builders campaign.
Analysis / Bias
The Nation endorsed Bernie Sanders for President in 2016. They also have been criticized for being a Pro-Russia publication by both conservatives and liberals. Here is a quote from the right-leaning Washington Free Beacon: "The Nation's modern-day Russia coverage has been criticized as too pro-Putin. Stephen F. Cohen, the husband of editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel, has been characterized as a Putin apologist." However, an op-ed writer for The Nation was forcibly removed from a press briefing between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2018, for holding up a sign regarding a nuclear weapons ban treaty, according to CNBC.
In review, The Nation reports news with emotionally loaded words and bias such as "Judge Kavanaugh: An Originalist With a New - and Terrifying - Interpretation of Executive Power," and "It's Time to Disrupt NATO, But not for the reasons Trump gives."
Typically, The Nation utilizes credible sources such as The Associated Press and The Chronicle of Higher Education; however, they also source through large quotes.
Failed Fact Checks
Some 90 pounds of cocaine was found on a cargo ship owned by U.S. Senate Majority Leader and anti-drug politician Mitch McConnell. - FALSE.
Overall, we rate The Nation Left Biased due to story choices and wording that favor the left and factually high based on proper sourcing. (5/15/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 12/15/2020)
Narwhal, The
The Narwhal: About us:
About Us
"Our team of investigative journalists dives deep to tell stories about Canada's natural world you can't find anywhere else. We have just two rules: 1) Follow the facts. 2) Tell it like it is.
"We're tired of false dichotomies and business-as-usual perspectives. We're not shy about the fact we think Canada's greatest assets are our people, our lakes, our rivers, our forests. We tell stories Canada's big news outlets miss and hustle to help our readers make sense of complex (sometimes downright messy) issues. As a non-profit online magazine, our goal isn't to sell advertising or to please corporate bigwigs - it's to bring evidence-based news and analysis to the surface for all Canadians.
"The Narwhal is a pioneer of non-profit journalism in Canada and is supported by more than 3,700 monthly members. In March 2021, The Narwhal became Canada's first English-language registered journalism organization, which means all of our members and donors receive donation tax receipts. The Narwhal is also a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, recognizing our adherence to strict standards of editorial independence and financial transparency. The Narwhal is a founding member of Press Forward, Canada's association for independent media, and a proud partner organization of Covering Climate Now, a collaborative global journalism project to bring more coverage to climate issues.
"The Narwhal's reporting is frequently cited in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, CBC, and others. Since launching in May 2018, The Narwhal has been the recipient of several awards. In 2021, The Narwhal won a World Press Freedom award, the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Jackman Award, a photojournalism award from the Canadian Association of Journalists, four National Magazine Awards and three Digital Publishing Awards, including gold for general excellence. In 2020, photographer Amber Bracken was awarded the Charles Bury President's Award by the Canadian Association of Journalists for her outstanding contributions to journalism in Canada for her coverage of the Wet'suwet'en crisis [Coastal GasLink pipeline] for The Narwhal."
Our History
"The Narwhal was created by Carol Linnitt and Emma Gilchrist in 2018, and grew out of their previous project, DeSmog Canada."
Why The Narwhal?
"Narwhals have intrigued explorers and scientists for hundreds of years. Indeed, just a few years ago, scientists discovered the narwhal's tusk is actually highly sensitive like an antenna.
"Throughout the Middle Ages, the narwhal was hunted for its tusk - which was more coveted as a magical unicorn horn than as the elongated tooth of a marine mammal. Whalers made a fortune selling horns while the rest of the world was duped into buying teeth.
"The Narwhal is here to celebrate the truth, and to tell stories about the world around us - even if those stories sometimes dispel cherished myths. The Narwhal is here because there's no such thing as unicorns."
Our commitment to more thoughtful, inclusive journalism
"The storytellers in any society hold tremendous power. At The Narwhal, we recognize that this power represents both a privilege and a responsibility and we aim to use this power for the public good.
"To that end, we must recognize the inequities in Canadian media and in Canadian society at large.
"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's final report recognized that Canada is a country built on cultural genocide. It stated "cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed ... families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next. In its dealing with Aboriginal people, Canada did all these things."
"Canada's colonial practices have far-reaching implications for newsrooms in Canada, which have long played a role in legitimizing abuses of power and cultural genocide.
"The Narwhal recognizes that environmental journalism must be grounded in respect for Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous rights and must foreground Indigenous voices.
"The most recent Canadian study of diversity in journalism (from 2006) found that just 3.4 per cent of journalists in 37 newsrooms across the country were Indigenous or people of colour. As of 2016, these groups comprised more than 28 per cent of the Canadian population.
"The Narwhal is committed to building a team that includes Indigenous voices and reflects the communities we serve. We take active measures to provide equal opportunity to people of all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, gender identifications and abilities. We are also committed to fostering a welcoming culture that encourages flexibility and inclusion so all team members can fully contribute.
"As a small organization, we recognize some staff will undoubtedly carry an unfair burden if they are the sole representative of a marginalized group on The Narwhal's team. We aim to avoid this where possible, but will also acknowledge when this does occur to mitigate the weight of these circumstances.
"A diverse team enhances the relevance and substance of our journalism and is essential in fulfilling our mission to foster a deeper understanding of some of the most contentious issues of our time.
"The Narwhal endorses the calls to action on media diversity by Canadian Journalists of Colour and the Canadian Association of Black Journalists."
[theNarwhal.ca, 2023-05-08] The Narwhal, editor-in-chief Emma Gilchrist honoured at National Newspaper Awards. Emma Gilchrist took home the award for best long feature, while The Narwhal was honoured with four citations of merit for work published in 2022.
The NarwhalThe Narwhal was honoured with four citations of merit, while editor-in-chief Emma Gilchrist won for best long feature, at a National Newspaper Awards [website | 2022 nominees / winners] event last Friday (2023-05-05) in Toronto. The Narwhal was a finalist in four categories for the awards, honouring the best journalism in print and online newspapers across Canada every year. Emma Gilchrist - who co-founded The Narwhal - won an award in the long feature category for her first-person piece, published in The Globe and Mail (2022-09-09): The harrowing, heartbreaking reality of terminating a pregnancy for medical reasons. "It's an incredible honour to be recognized alongside journalists I admire so much," Emma Gilchrist said. "I'd like to thank the Banff Centre [Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity]'s literary journalism program for helping to usher this article into being, and my colleagues at The Narwhal for supporting me throughout the journey of bringing this to light."
Ontario reporter Emma McIntosh and Toronto Star reporters Noor Javed, Brendan Kennedy and Jesse McLean were finalists in the investigations category for their groundbreaking work about Doug Ford's government's decision to open up areas of Ottawa's Greenbelt for housing construction (2022-11-17, They recently bought Greenbelt land that was undevelopable. Now the Ford government is poised to remove protections - and these developers stand to profit). The Globe and Mail's Kelly Grant won this award for her investigation into a tuberculosis outbreak in Pangnirtung, Nunavut.
In the presentation and design category, a Narwhal team of Carol Linnitt, Arik Ligeti, Ashley Tam, Shawn Parkinson and Jimmy Thomson received a citation of merit for an interactive multimedia feature about how Indigenous guardians are reestablishing sovereignty and stewardship of traditional territories. Christopher Manza from The Globe and Mail won the award in this category for a portfolio of multimedia stories.
Room Up Front - a volunteer group that promotes training and guidance for photojournalists who are Black, Indigenous or people of colour - also won a special recognition citation during the awards. The Narwhal partners with Room up Front to offer paid fellowships for BIPOC photojournalists.
In another category recognizing reporting on Indigenous issues and climate change, The Narwhal received two citations of merit. One was for Julia-Simone Rutgers for her reporting for The Narwhal and the Winnipeg Free Press on the everyday impact of climate change on people in Manitoba. The second was for The Narwhal's integrated coverage of Indigenous issues and the climate crisis, including the rise of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.
A team from the Vancouver Sun and the Vancouver Province [The Province] - Gordon Hoekstra, Glenda Luymes and Nathan Griffiths - won in this category for a data-driven investigation examining how prepared British Columbia communities are for an anticipated increase in fires and floods.
This was the first year The Narwhal was eligible to enter the National Newspaper Awards. Emma Gilchrist said she was grateful for members who have made The Narwhal's work possibly through their generous donations. "In a world of bad news for the media industry, the future of The Narwhal is looking very bright, thanks to our members," Emma Gilchrist said.
[theNarwhal.ca, 2023-04-15] The Narwhal wins Canadian Association of Journalists award for human rights reporting. Photojournalist Ian Willms won the award for his work capturing the impacts of Alberta's oil and gas industry on the people of Fort Chipewyan.
The Narwhal's visual journalism was recognized with top honours for human rights reporting at the Canadian Association of Journalists 2023 awards gala in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday (2023-04-15). Ian Willms' portrait of a man's life - and death - in Fort Chipewyan - downstream of Alberta's oilsands - took home the Canadian Association of Journalists award in a tie alongside CBC's look at the global refugee crisis. "I want you to photograph my last breath," Warren Simpson told Ian Willms in 2019 after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer he believed was linked to the oil mines.
In his acceptance speech, Ian Willms dedicated the award to Warren Simpson and his family "for trusting me with something so incredibly intimate and painful." "It is such an honour to be selected for this award and we are delighted to see Ian's powerful work recognized in this way," The Narwhal's executive editor Carol Linnitt said. "Ian's photojournalism is a reminder of the importance of photo storytelling in Canada's media landscape, especially when bringing stories of human rights violations to light. This kind of work is often difficult and costly and undertaken by freelancers like Ian, who do a great service for all readers across Canada." Ian Willms spent years making reporting trips to Fort Chipewyan, Alberta - a community a government report acknowledged had a "higher than expected" rate of bile duct cancer. "It was an interesting thing to meet somebody who was Indigenous who had worked in industry, who was very open about it, who was also affected by this cancer - because it made the whole story far more grey," Ian Willms said this past fall (2022). "It was really powerful to talk to Warren about the way he felt about working for industry versus seeing the environmental impacts in his community and ultimately contracting a lethal cancer he believed came from oilsands."
Fort Chipewyan, Alberta has been in the news recently after it was revealed that an Imperial Oil tailings pond had been leaking toxic chemicals in the region for months as First Nations were left in the dark. Reflecting on the finished story, Ian Willms thanked editors Sharon J. Riley and Denise Balkissoon as well as the wider Narwhal team "for seeing potential in, and being brave enough to publish, this project in its entirety."
The Narwhal picked up seven other Canadian Association of Journalists award nominations for work ranging from an investigation into the weakening of methane regulations, to Wet'suwet'en coverage, to the climate impacts of ice loss.
The Globe and Mail's Grant Robertson took home the Canadian Association of Journalistss McGillivray Award for best investigative journalism for his reporting on Hockey Canada's secret funds for sexual assault settlements. Winners in other categories included the CBC, Radio-Canada (CBC), the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and independent outlets The Tyee, The Discourse, La Presse, and Maisonneuve.
[theNarwhal.ca, 2023-02-24] The Narwhal snags eight award nominations from the Canadian Association of Journalists. Our plucky non-profit news outlet picked up the second-most nominations of any news organization.
Eight pieces of outstanding journalism published in The Narwhal in 2022 were nominated for awards by the Canadian Association of Journalists on Friday (2023-02-24). "We are so honoured to see that non-profit journalism continues to punch above its weight," said managing editor Mike De Souza. "Aside from CBC, The Narwhal has picked up more nominations than any other news outlet in Canada."
The Narwhal's journalism was made possible by donations from more than 6,000 readers in 2022. Here's a rundown of our team's nominations. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Nation of Change
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Nation of Change far-Left Biased based on editorial positions that always favor the progressive left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to not always aligning with the consensus of science when it comes to GMOs.
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL.
History
Nation of Change is a news and activism organization founded in 2011 and based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nation of Change provides a free daily newsletter with articles from progressive writers and initiates activist calls to action. According to their about page, the mission is to "help people create a more compassionate, responsible, and value-driven world, powered by communities that focus on positive solutions to social and economic problems. We strive to accomplish this mission through fearless journalism combined with boots-on-the-ground activism in order to create real-world, actionable strategies for change."
Funded by / Ownership
Nation of Change is a 501(c) nonprofit that is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Nation of Change provides a daily newsletter written from a progressive liberal perspective. The website features news stories that always favor the left and often uses moderately loaded language in their headlines and articles such as this: "The Trump administration's latest attempt to undermine science - and how to stop it." This story is sourced properly to The New York Times, Congress.gov, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Nation of Change frequently reports on the environment and takes a pro-science position regarding human-influenced climate change. However, reporting on GMOs is always negative and does not always align with the consensus of science.
Editorially, Nation of Change favors left-leaning causes such as combating climate change, feminism, anti-corporate fascism, and social justice. They frequently report negatively on conservatives such as this: "The 4 biggest conservative lies about inequality and positively for socialism, 'Socialism' made America great." In general, Nation of Change reports news factually from a far-left progressive perspective.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
National Observer
See also: The Vancouver Observer (superseded by the National Observer).
Wikipedia: National Observer:
Canada's National Observer is an online daily news publication launched in 2015 as an offshoot of The Vancouver Observer. The national site focuses on investigative reporting and news on energy, climate, politics and social issues. They self-describe as a progressive news organization. Canada's National Observer was described as a "daily news site covering issues like government, the environment, health, climate change, and human rights, all with a progressive bent" in a 2018 profile of editor-in-chief Linda Solomon Wood by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. National Observer's owner, Observer Media Group [Vancouver Observer + National Observer = Observer Media Group | disambiguation: not the Florida-based Observer Media Group], was a certified B Corporation. By 2015, they had a Vancouver office and later opened offices in Ottawa and Toronto.
In their 2016 Kickstarter campaign the National Observer described themselves as raising funds for a "dramatic new series about the world's fight to beat climate change." ... Their Kickstarter campaign listed issues that their investigative journalists would cover, including the role of corporations that impede change, climate policies related to the 2015 Paris Agreement - part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, food security, the oil sands, hydraulic fracturing in Canada, and animal welfare.
The centre piece of the National Observer's launch was Bruce Livesey's 2015-05-04 article, "How Canada made the Koch brothers rich." On 2016-01-01, the National Observer published the first in a special series of articles on the Great Bear Rainforest in partnership with Tides Canada, Teck [Teck Resources, Vancouver, British Columbia ?], and Vancity.
In October 2017, the National Observer teamed up with The Toronto Star, Global News, the Michener Awards Foundation, the University of Victoria-led Corporate Mapping Project and four journalism schools, for "the largest collaborative journalism project in Canadian history." The "Price of Oil" project was created for the purpose of "tracking oil industry influence in partnership with investigative journalism students from across the country."
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the National Observer Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that favor the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 2015, the National Observer is a Canadian online website focused on news through the lens of energy, environment, and federal politics. The publication emphasizes quality investigations, federal politics, breaking news, opinion, and analysis. According to their about page the "National Observer publishes investigative reporting, in-depth analysis, solutions journalism, multi-media features, opinion, and daily news coverage."
Funded by / Ownership
The National Observer clearly discloses ownership on their about page: "National Observer is owned by Observer Media Group, and became a certified B corporation in April 2018. Observer Media Group qualified for B Corp status for its commitments to social and environmental sustainability, joining a global movement of people using business as a force for good." The website is funded through donations and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the National Observer reports original news as well as curated stories from The Associated Press and Canadian Press. News headlines typically utilize minimally loaded language such as this: "Trudeau to meet Pelosi, McConnell, as well as Trump in Washington." Editorially, there is a strong left-leaning bias through the promotion of environmentalism, equality for LGBTQ, and praise for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In general, the National Observer reports news factually and with proper sources, however editorially there is a clear lean left.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals that the National Observer has not failed a fact check.
National Post
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to: history of Postmedia Network's history of transphobic content (transphobia); right-wing / far-right / populist biases (editors; contributers; journalists); American part-ownership;, declining financials;, ties to the United States Republican Party (neo-fascism); support of Donald Trump and the Donald Trump presidency; ...
See also; The Financial Post: The Financial Post is part of the National Post newspaper and website serving as their business section.
Wikipedia: National Post, 2023-01-10:
The National Post is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central Canada and western Canada. The National Post is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network [Postmedia Network], and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. The National Post is distributed in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia. Weekend editions of the National Post are also distributed in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The National Post was founded in 1998 by Conrad Black in an attempt to compete with The Globe and Mail [The Globe and Mail]. In 2001, CanWest completed its acquisition of the National Post. In 2006, the National Post ceased distribution in Atlantic Canada and the Canadian territories. Postmedia assumed ownership of the National Post in 2010, after the CEO of the National Post - Paul Godfrey - assembled an ownership group to acquire CanWest's chain of newspapers.
History
Conrad Black built the National Post around the Financial Post [The Financial Post] - a financial newspaper in Toronto which Hollinger Inc. purchased from Sun Media [Sun Media] in 1997. The Financial Post was retained as the name of the new newspaper's business section.
Outside Toronto, the National Post was built on the printing and distribution infrastructure of Hollinger Inc.'s national newspaper chain - formerly called Southam Newspapers - that included the newspapers the Ottawa Citizen [Ottawa Citizen], the Montreal Gazette [Montreal Gazette], the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald, and the Vancouver Sun. The Post became Black's national flagship title, and Ken Whyte was appointed editor.
Beyond his political vision, Conras Black attempted to compete directly with Kenneth Thomson's media empire led in Canada by The Globe and Mail [The Globe and Mail] - which Conrad Black and many others perceived as the platform of the Liberal establishment [Liberal Party of Canada].
When the National Post launched, its editorial stance was conservative [conservative]. The National Post advocated a "unite-the-right" movement to create a viable alternative to the Liberal government of Jean ChrΓ©tien, and supported the Canadian Alliance. The National Post's op-ed page has included dissenting columns by ideological liberals such as Linda McQuaig, as well as conservatives including Mark Steyn and Diane Francis, and David Frum. Original members of the National Post's editorial board included Ezra Levant, Neil Seeman, Jonathan Kay, Conservative Member of Parliament John Williamson, and the author/historian Alexander Rose.
The National Post's magazine-style graphic and layout design has won awards. The original design of the National Post was created by Lucie Lacava, a design consultant based in Montreal. The National Post now bears the motto "World's Best-Designed Newspaper" on its front page.
[ ... snip ... ]
Controversies
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: National Post, 2022-03-28:
Persagen.com strongly disagrees with the credibility rating and summarizing statement (below), provided by the Media Bias Fact Check for the National Post!
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: Canada | Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Newspaper | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
"Overall, we rate the National Post Right-Center Biased based on story selection that favors the right and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record."
History
Founded in 1998, the National Post is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper. The paper is the flagship publication of the Postmedia Network and is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. The current editor is Anne Marie Owens.
Funded by / Ownership
The National Post is owned by the Postmedia Network [Postmedia Network], which owns several right-leaning media outlets throughout Canada. According to a report in the left-leaning CanadaLand, Postmedia has directed its publications to be more "reliably conservative." The newspaper is funded through advertising and subscription fees.
Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund, holds a large equity stake in Postmedia and majority ownership of American Media, Inc. [branded a360media] - which owns the National Enquirer. David Pecker - who owns American Media, Inc. - joined the Postmedia board, and then resigned from the board of Postmedia in 2018 due to his hush payments on behalf of his "friends," including President Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.
According to the National Observer, Postmedia is in a downward spiral. After Postmedia announced a $1.4M loss for the last quarter of 2018, Paul Godfrey stepped down as CEO of the Postmedia Network and was replaced by Andrew MacLeod as of 1/10/2019. Paul Godfrey will remain as executive chair. Godfrey was also criticized for cutting 800 full-time jobs across Postmedia in 2016 while earning an annual salary of $1.7 million.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the National Post publishes news about Canada and the World. Most Canadian news is from the Canadian Press and world news from The Associated Press. Toronto news comes from local journalists, and politics comes from a variety of sources that lean right. Editorially, Post Media mostly supports the consensus of science with climate change but does present doubts [anthropogenic climate change | climate change denial]. In general, National Post has a slight right lean through the support of President Donald Trump.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Transphobic content: see the National Post-related comments in the CBC subsection. With a history of transphobia [transphobia] and other questionable practices, National Post content is to be avoided.
Example: disinformation troll Ezra Levant wrote an irregular column for the Calgary Sun for ten years, until he was dropped in October 2007 because of "internal decisions." Ezra Levant continued to write occasional columns for the National Post on a freelance basis until 2010.
[PressProgress.ca, 2023-01-09] The National Post Claims an Academic Was 'Censored' For Criticizing BC's 'Safe Supply' Policy. That's Not Quite Accurate. Drug policy advocates say safe supply is being used as a 'scapegoat' by right-wing political figures.
One of Canada's biggest newspapers - the National Post - claims British Columbia (B.C.)'s government is "silencing" experts who criticize safe supply - but drug policy experts say National Post's article gives a distorted picture of what's really going on. Last week (2023-01-02), the National Post published an article claiming the B.C. government was "censoring" an academic after terminating a data sharing relationship and asking him to "delete" information contained in a database. In the article, Simon Fraser University health professor Julian Somers claims his research is being targeted because it goes against B.C.'s approach to homelessness and addiction, which Julian Somers claims fosters "dependency through easy access to free drugs." "This government is actively hostile to the existence of the data, so I've completely given up. The work I was doing is no longer viable," Julian Somers told the National Post.
[Background] Safe Supply
[City of Vancouver, 2019-07-23] Safe Supply Statement [local copy (html)]. In 2019-07 Vancouver City Council approved the Safe Supply Statement [ local copy] - which was created in collaboration with the Vancouver Community Action Team - that the Mayor will share with other government partners, including the Government of Canada, to advocate for access for a regulated drug supply.
"Vancouver is in a state of emergency. People are dying every day from an unregulated, contaminated drug supply - these are preventable deaths. People have been dying for many years as a result of the toxic drug supply, and following a drastic spike in deaths in April 2016, a provincial public health emergency was finally declared.
Since that time thousands of people have lost their lives to a drug supply poisoned with Fentanyl; a cheap and synthetic opioid detected in the majority of overdose deaths. To date, drug testing has indicated further contaminants such as Carfentanil and benzodiazepines, making it more difficult and complex to reverse overdoses.
We often hear this crisis referred to as an overdose crisis, but really, we are in a drug poisoning crisis. One of the primary causes of overdose is the contamination of the illicit drug supply, and we believe that future deaths could be prevented if people could access a regulated safe supply.
Drug poisoning is affecting many different people who use different substances for different reasons. It is affecting people who use opioids, people who use stimulants, people who use regularly, and people who use occasionally. People from all walks of life are affected; we are all in this together.
Urgent action is required on multiple levels to prevent further deaths from drug poisoning. This includes advocating for a safe supply as well as supporting people in their chosen paths to wellness. We call upon health professionals, all levels of governments, and the public to join us in advocating for a safe supply of drugs, to protect and prevent further loss of our family members, friends, neighbours and loved ones."
The National Post article was promoted by Conservative Party of Canada's leader Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party of Canada's communications director (Sarah Fischer), Conservative Party of Canada MPs, B.C. Liberal MLAs and other right-wing figures. However, B.C.'s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has a different explanation - they say they terminated the data sharing relationship with Julian Somers in 2021 so that the government could streamline data collection. According to the B.C. provincial government, the request to terminate Julian Somers existing data coincided with the expiration of the existing agreement with Julian Somers. "In response to Dr. Julian Somers' concerns, in 2022-01 Dr. Julian Somers was informed that he could have continued access to the Inter-Ministry Evaluation Database until 2023-03-31, to ensure any existing projects could conclude and to allow time to replicate select published findings within the new Data Innovation Program" - a spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety said in a statement to PressProgress. "Dr. Somers has been encouraged to access the Data Innovation Program, and raise any concerns with the available data. To date, Dr. Somers has not accessed nor provided any feedback on the Data Innovation Program available to him."
In the National Post, Julian Somers points to the fact he was told to "delete" his data as a sign he is being silenced. However, the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety notes this was done in accordance with requirements under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and points out Julian Somers still has access to the data. "We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Somers on projects of mutual interest within the Data Innovation Program - and more broadly, to continue discussions on how to generate evidence to best support the populations we serve." In addition, despite Julian Somers' claims of being "completely frozen out," Julian Somers's working relationship with the B.C. government has not ended, and the B.C. Ministry of Health recently commissioned Julian Somers to do a rapid review of drug checking.
However, the National Post article paints a starkly different narrative. The cover image shows Julian Somers posing on what it calls the "notorious" Downtown Eastside, in front of individuals slumped over on the ground. The imagery was similar to Pierre Poilievre's video mischaracterizing safe supply, which also used the Downtown Eastside as a backdrop. Julian Somers was also featured in a documentary promoted by a right-wing group ["Vancouver Is Dying", funded by billionaire Chip Wilson's Pacific Prosperity Network] shaming homelessness and those who use drugs - even participating in a panel discussion moderated by far-right activist Angelo Isidorou.
The National Post references research done by Julian Somers on housing and homelessness, and states that the B.C.'s current approach is inadequate. However, the research referenced by the National Post was used by Julian Somers last year (2022) to oppose a proposed social housing project in Kitsilano, Vancouver. Julian Somers was an outspoken advocate against the project, stating that "congregating people with mental health and addiction issues in a single building does not work." This prompted one of the study's co-authors to issue a public statement, disputing Julian Somers' representation of the study's findings: ... In a letter, professor Anita Palepu - the head of the University of British Columbia (UBC)'s Department of Medicine, and a co-author of the report - stated she was unaware of evidence that backed Julian Somers' claims. "I disagree with Dr. Somers presenting the Vancouver At Home study to social and/or supportive housing," Anita Palepu wrote. "I am not aware of the evidence he is referring to."
Julian M. Somers, Michelle L. Patterson, Akm Moniruzzaman, Lauren Currie, Stefanie N. Rezansoff, Anita Palepu, and Karen Fryer. (2013-11-01) "Vancouver At Home: Pragmatic randomized trials investigating Housing First for homeless and mentally ill adults." PMID: 24176253; PMCID: PMC4228396; DOI: 10.1186/1745-6215-14-365.
Abstract
BACKGROUND. Individuals with mental illnesses are overrepresented among the homeless. Housing First (HF) has been shown to promote positive outcomes in this population. However, key questions remain unresolved, including: how to match support services to client needs, the benefits of housing in scattered sites versus single congregate building, and the effectiveness of HF with individuals actively using substances. The present study aimed to recruit two samples of homeless mentally ill participants who differed in the complexity of their needs. Study details, including recruitment, randomization, and follow-up, are presented.
METHODS. Eligibility was based on homeless status and current mental disorder. Participants were classified as either moderate needs (MN) or high needs (HN). Those with MN were randomized to HF with Intensive Case Management (HF-ICM) or usual care. Those with HN were randomized to HF with Assertive Community Treatment (HF-ACT), congregate housing with support, or usual care. Participants were interviewed every 3 months for 2 years. Separate consent was sought to access administrative data.
RESULTS. Participants met eligibility for either MN (n = 200) or HN (n = 297) and were randomized accordingly. Both samples were primarily male and white. Compared to participants designated MN, HN participants had higher rates of hospitalization for psychiatric reasons prior to randomization, were younger at the time of recruitment, younger when first homeless, more likely to meet criteria for substance dependence, and less likely to have completed high school. Across all study arms, between 92% and 100% of participants were followed over 24 months post-randomization. Minimal significant differences were found between study arms following randomization. 438 participants (88%) provided consent to access administrative data.
CONCLUSION. The study successfully recruited participants meeting criteria for homelessness and current mental disorder. Both MN and HN groups had high rates of substance dependence, suicidality, and physical illness. Randomization resulted in no meaningful detectable differences between study arms.
The National Post further states Julian Somers' research shows "it's better to empower people to get back on their feet, rather than foster dependency through easy access to free drugs." But drug policy advocates say this representation of safe supply is extremely inaccurate. Petra Schulz - a drug policy advocate from a group called Moms Stop the Harm - says it has become popular to use "safe supply as a scapegoat" when it comes to evaluating drug policy in both B.C. and Alberta. "What (Julian Somers) often does is he equates safe supply as a reason for people being unhoused," Petra Schulz told PressProgress. "B.C. has had a crisis of homelessness and substance use for much longer than we've had safe supply. And safe supply is available to so few people in B.C., so it is difficult to measure the effectiveness."
Just last year (2022), Julian Somers also wrote a controversial report on safe supply commissioned by Alberta MLAs. More than 50 experts signed an open letter condemning the report and its methodologies, which they described as "critically low quality." "Among the primary issues with the review is a flawed search strategy that resulted in a number of studies unrelated to safer supply being included, and a number of important and highly relevant studies being excluded," the letter states.
[Akm Moniruzzaman, Stefanie N Rezansoff, Paul Sobey, Julian M Somers, Simon Fraser University, 2022] A Public Supply of Addictive Drugs: A Rapid Review | local copy
[Response, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), 2022-05-02] Concerns with the recent rapid review of safer supply interventions. | local copy (html, captured 2023-01-10) | Methodological issues with "Public Supply of Addictive Drugs: A Rapid Review" (local copy, captured 2023-01-10)
[ ... snip ... ]
BCCSU researchers with expertise in reviewing methodologies undertook an assessment of the "rapid review" produced for the committee using AMSTAR (Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews) - a well-established measurement tool to assess the methodological quality of reviews of randomized and non-randomized research.
The review was rated as being of "critically low quality".
Among the primary issues with the review is a flawed search strategy that resulted in a number of studies unrelated to safer supply being included, and a number of important and highly relevant studies being excluded. Beyond these methodological concerns, other issues are evident with this review, including the misrepresentation of study authors' expertise, a lack of a public health perspective, and the failure to acknowledge the current state of safer supply research and other publicly available data.
[ ... snip ... ]
In the National Post article, Julian Somers alleges he has "been subject to an intimidation campaign by safe supply advocates" and the National Post quotes other academics who have criticized safe supply as "irresponsible." But Tyson Singh Kelsall [local copy (html)] - an outreach worker on the Downtown Eastside and a Ph.D. student in the faculty of Health Sciences at SFU - says many academics are "using their credentials to validate ideological attacks on harm reduction." "This right-wing generation of the safe supply bogeyman is fake," Tyson Singh Kelsall told PressProgress. "What's being missed here is that neither side - not Julian's presence in the media, nor the side that he's criticizing - is actually doing anything for a regulated and safe supply of drugs in the Downtown Eastside," Tyson Singh Kelsall said.
Tyson Singh Kelsall added that when doing outreach on the Downtown Eastside, he is constantly confronted with the reality of the toxic drug supply at every corner. "It's kind of appalling that someone would be using their credentials to withhold undercutting the poisonous and toxic supply of drugs, while people in positions like mine and community members in the Downtown Eastside are losing friends, family, relations, community members every single day." "Collective levels of academia and collective levels of government have done almost nothing to address the poisonous supply of drugs. We will continue to lose six people a day until demands from the community are met, that we undercut the poisonous supply and replace it with a regulated and safe one."
New Statesman
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the New Statesman Left Biased based on story selection that favors the left and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The New Statesman is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was connected with Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb and other leading members of the socialist Fabian Society. The New Statesman has, according to its present self-description, holds a liberal, skeptical political position.
Funded by / Ownership
The New Statesman is owned by GlobalData Plc, a data analytics and media company established in 1999 and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2000. It was previously called Progressive Digital Media and, before that, the TMN Group. Advertising and subscription fees generate revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The New Statesman reports news and opinions with a left-leaning bias in story selection and wording such as this: "It is getting harder and harder for Nancy Pelosi to resist calls to impeach Trump." Like most on the New Statesman, this story utilizes credible sources such as Roll Call and The Washington Post. For the most part, stories are opposed to Conservatives, whether it be the U.S. version of the New Statesman or the U.K. version such as this: "Rory Stewart has said what many Conservative moderates are thinking about Boris Johnson." When it comes to U.K. politics, the New Statesman does not support Brexit, and when it comes to U.S. politics, they do not support President Trump. In general, most stories favor the left and denigrate the right.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
National Review
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to failed fact checks, political biases, associations with known disinformation sources (Michelle Malkin; Daily Mail; ...). National Review is owned by the National Review Institute, which has received funding from the notorious dark money groups / influencers Koch Family Foundations and the right-wing Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation [Bradley Foundation: climate change denial, ...].
The National Review magazine and website are both owned by the National Review Institute. William F. Buckley Jr. founded the National Review Institute as a nonprofit, and according to an article from The Nation, the "National Review's biggest financial supporter, Roger Milliken was a Birch Society member. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the John Birch Society as a conspiracist group, whereas the National Review describes Roger Milliken as one of the "Right's funding fathers." According to SourceWatch, The National Review Institute has received funding from the Charles G. Koch Foundation as well as grants from the right-wing Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports the Bradley Foundation helps fund groups opposing climate regulation [climate change denial].
Wikipedia entry | website
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the National Review Right Biased based on story selection that always favors the right and Mostly Factual in reporting due to a few misleading claims and occasional use of poor sources, and one failed fact check.
Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY << Given my comments (above) and Media Bias/Fact Check's own analyses (below), this credibility rating is mystifying. My recommendation: π-flagged, i.e. removed as as informational source.
History
The National Review was founded in 1955 by the conservative editor, columnist, author, and commentator William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008). According to their about page, the print magazine and website are corporately known as National Review, Inc. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Review Institute (NRI) based in New York City. The magazine's website covers articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, opinion pieces, conservative news, and commentary in addition to the content published in its print version.
William F. Buckley Jr. appeared in a series of televised debates with Gore Vidal during the 1968 Republican National Convention, and this resulted in him suing Vidal and Esquire Magazine due to Vidal calling Buckley "racist, anti-black, anti-semitic and a pro-crypto Nazi." Buckley eventually settled with Esquire receiving a $115,000 payment, and dropped his suit against Vidal.
The National Review promoted Barry Goldwater during the early 1960s and Reagan during the '80s. E. Garrett Bewkes IV is the publisher of the National Review. Richard Lowry is the Editor-in-Chief of National Review Magazine, and the online Editor is Charles C.W. Cooke. The chairman is John Hillen, and Lindsay Young Craig is the president.
Funded by / Ownership
The National Review magazine and website are both owned by the National Review Institute. William F. Buckley Jr. founded the National Review Institute as a nonprofit, and according to an article from The Nation, the "National Review's biggest financial supporter, Roger Milliken was a Birch Society member. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the John Birch Society as a conspiracist group, whereas the National Review describes Milliken as one of the "Right's funding fathers." According to SourceWatch, The National Review Institute has received funding from the Charles G. Koch Foundation as well as grants from the right-wing Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports the Bradley Foundation helps fund groups opposing climate regulation [climate change denial].
Analysis / Bias
The National Review Online describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."
In review, the National Review Online frequently uses loaded emotional wording in headlines that favor the right such as "Weapons of Mass Manipulation." This article was written by conservative pundit Michelle Malkin [Fox News contributor] who has made false claims according to fact-checkers. When reporting on President Trump, the National Review offers a reasonable balance of pro-Trump and anti-Trump articles, slightly favoring the President and his policies. National Review typically sources their information to known right-leaning sources but sometimes links to factually mixed sources such as PJ Media and the Daily Mail. Editorially, they endorse conservative policy and politicians, such as Ted Cruz's endorsement during the 2016 United States presidential election. Finally, story selection always favors the right while painting liberal policy negatively.
A factual search reveals that in this article, the National Review sourced the Daily Mail who falsely reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) manipulated climate data. This was later debunked by the person they were quoting (Dr. John Bates). Further, the National Review did not include the actual statements that Dr. Bates made, which refute the Daily Mail and National Review's claims of unverified and corrected data. Dr. John Bates said there was "no data tampering, no data changing, nothing malicious." "It's really a story of not disclosing what you did," Bates said in the interview. "It's not trumped up data in any way, shape or form," FactCheck.org concluded that the National Review's article was misleading.
Failed Fact Checks
"Supreme Court has ruled 13 times that Obama exceeded his constitutional authority" - FALSE
"Woman Who Blamed Trump after Giving Her Husband Fish-Tank Cleaner Now Under Investigation for Murder" - FALSE (Corrected)
News & Observer, The [Raleigh, N.C.]
website
Wikipedia, 2021-12-09:
The News & Observer is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The The News & Observer is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the Charlotte Observer). The The News & Observer has been awarded three Pulitzer Prizes; the most recent of which was in 1996 for a series on the health and environmental impact of North Carolina's booming hog industry. The The News & Observer was one of the first in the world to launch an online version of the publication, Nando.net in 1994.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The News and Observer Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1865, The News & Observer is a regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Research Triangle area based In Raleigh, North Carolina. The News & Observer is the second largest newspaper in North Carolina after The Charlotte Observer [Wikipedia; The Charlotte Observer]. The News & Observer has also been awarded three Pulitzer Prizes. The current editor is Robyn Tomlin.
Funded by / Ownership
The News & Observer is owned by The McClatchy Company, which owns numerous papers across the United States, including The Fresno Bee and The Kansas City Star and the Miami Herald. Revenue is derived from advertising and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The News & Observer covers local news through journalists with minimal bias such as this: "3 men face charges in heroin bust as suspect escapes, causes wrecks in Chapel Hill". National and world news often comes from The Associated Press.
Editorially, The News & Observer moderately favor the left through presidential endorsements that have always picked Democrats since at least 1980. Further, op-eds tend to favor the left as well such as this: "Trump's callous food aid cuts? NC is already there" - though there are right-leaning opinions present within The News & Observer.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals The News & Observer have not failed a fact check.
New Civil Rights Movement, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The New Civil Rights Movement far-Left Biased based on the use of loaded emotional language and editorial positions that favor the progressive left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the use of poor sources as well as a few failed fact checks.
New Republic, The
Wikipedia, The New Republic, 2023-01-05:
The New Republic is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, The New Republic attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in humanitarian and moral passion, and one based in an ethos of scientific analysis". Through the 1980s and 1990s, The New Republic incorporated elements of the Third Way and conservatism.
In 2014 - two years after Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes purchased The New Republic - Chris Hughes ousted Facebook's editor, and attempted to remake its format, operations, and partisan stances, provoking the resignation of the majority of its editors and writers. In early 2016, Chris Hughes announced he was putting The New Republic up for sale, indicating the need for "new vision and leadership". The New Republic was sold in 2016-02 to Win McCormack, under whom the publication has returned to a more progressive stance. A weekly or near-weekly for most of its history, The New Republic currently publishes ten issues per year.
Political views
In its current incarnation, The New Republic has been unambiguously to the political left, and is often critical of the Democratic Party establishment and strongly in favor of universal health care. In The American Conservative, Telly Davidson wrote that "its love letters to the Bernie Bro and Millennial Marxist movements and its attacks on Hillary Clinton and the Democratic establishment from the left - instead of from the right - bring back memories of its decidedly radical days in the '30s and '40s". In May 2019, The New Republic published a roundtable on socialism, where three of four contributions were favorable, while the owner and editor-in-chief, Win McCormack, wrote a more dismissive piece.
In 2019-02 staff writer Alex Shephard wrote that "it doesn't make political sense to put bumpers on hypothetical policies, which dampens voter enthusiasm. Pragmatism doesn't track as a legislative argument, either". In 2019-06 staff writer Alex Pareene wrote: "All the while, Democratic leaders continue to campaign and govern from a crouched, defensive position even after they win power. They have bought into the central ideological proposition, peddled by apparatchiks and consultants aligned with the conservative movement, that America is an incorrigible 'center-right' nation, and they have precious little strategy or inclination to move that consensus leftward - to fight, in other words, to change the national consensus; the sort of activity that was once understood as 'politics'".
[ ... snip ... ]
Controversies
[ ... snip ... ]
Stephen Glass scandal
In 1998, The New Republic features writer Stephen Glass was revealed in a Forbes Digital investigation to have fabricated a story called "Hack Heaven". A The New Republic investigation found that most of Stephen Glass' stories had used or been based on fabricated information. The story of Stephen Glass' fall and The New Republic editor Chuck Lane's handling of the scandal was dramatized in the 2003 film Shattered Glass, based on a 1998 article in Vanity Fair [Vanity Fair].
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The New Republic Left biased based on story selection and editorial positions that frequently favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The New Republic is a liberal American magazine of commentary on politics and the arts published since 1914. Founded by major leaders of the Progressive Movement, it attempted to find a balance between progressivism focused on humanitarianism and moral passion. On the other hand, it sought a basis in the scientific analysis of social issues. According to their about page, "For over 100 years, we have championed progressive ideas and challenged popular opinion. Our vision for today revitalizes our founding mission for our new time. The New Republic promotes novel solutions for today's most critical issues. We don't lament intractable problems; our journalism debates complex issues and takes a stance. Our biggest stories are commitments for change."
The current editor-in-chief is Win McCormack.
Win McCormack
Win McCormack, an American publisher and editor from Oregon, is editor-in-chief of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books, the former publisher of Oregon Magazine, founder and treasurer of MediAmerica, Inc., and a co-founder of Mother Jones magazine. Win McCormack serves on the board of directors of the journal New Perspectives Quarterly. Win McCormack's political and social writings have appeared in Oregon Humanities, Tin House, The Nation, The Oregonian, and Oregon Magazine. McCormack's investigative coverage of the Rajneeshee movement was awarded a William Allen White Commendation from the University of Kansas and the City and Regional Magazine Association. ... In 2016-02 Win McCormack purchased The New Republic magazine from Chris Hughes. ... [Source; Wikipedia, 2021-10-11.]
Funded by / Ownership
The New Republic has changed ownership many times during the 2000s, with Win McCormack purchasing the magazine in 2016-02. Win McCormack is an Oregon-based publisher and editor-in-chief of the Tin House quarterly and Tin House Books. McCormack is also a political activist who served as Chair of the Oregon Steering Committee for Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaign. He was chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon's President's Council and a member of the Obama for President Oregon Finance Committee. The New Republic earns revenue through advertising and subscriptions.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The New Republic produces high-quality, in-depth journalism that leans left in story selection. The New Republic frequently uses loaded emotional headlines such as this: ...
Editorially, The New Republic typically endorses Democratic candidates such as Barack Obama. Further, editorials often align with liberal policies such as environmentalism, equal rights, and Universal Healthcare.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
News Corp
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
Rupert Murdoch owns the notorious (reprehensible) disinformation source, stridently pro-Trump Fox News network. Accordingly, any information spawned by that sprawling network (including the sources below) must be scrutinized with extreme care, as potential (probable) disinformation sources.
This is exemplary re: the Fox News disinformation universe.
[washingtonpost.com, 2020-03-16] On Fox News, suddenly a very different tune about the coronavirus. For weeks, some of Fox News' most popular hosts downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, characterizing it as a conspiracy by media organizations and Democrats to undermine President Trump.
[BusinessInsider.com, 2020-10-11] James Murdoch, son of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, says he walked away from family media empire because it legitimizes disinformation and obscures facts.
See also Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings, which disambiguates and clarifies Rupert Murdoch's media empire (past and present).
News Corporation (1980-2013), an American multinational mass media corporation operated and owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch
21st Century Fox (2013-2019), the legal successor to the original News Corporation
Fox Corporation (2019-present), the legal successor to the 21st Century Fox
News Corp (2013-present), a new company spun off from the original News Corporation
Newsmax
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2021-12-021: we rate Newsmax Right Biased and Questionable based on the promotion of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, as well as numerous failed fact checks.
Questionable Reasoning: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, Propaganda, Fake News, Failed Fact Checks | Bias Rating: RIGHT | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
Wikipedia: Newsmax, 2022-02-24.
Newsmax (or Newsmax.com - previously styled NewsMax) is an American conservative news and opinion website founded by Christopher Ruddy on 1998-09-16, and operated by Newsmax Media. The website is divided into four main sections: Newsmax, Newsmax Health, Newsmax Finance, and Newsmax World, each divided into various subsections. Newsmax Media also operates a print magazine called Newsmax as well as the cable news channel Newsmax TV.
Newsmax launched a cable TV channel on 2014-06-16 to 35 million satellite subscribers through DirecTV and Dish Network. As of 2019-05 the network reaches about 75 million cable homes and has wide digital media player / mobile device availability. The channel primarily broadcasts from Newsmax's New York studio on Manhattan's East Side, with two headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida and Washington, D.C..
The website has been described by The New York Times as a "potent force" in U.S. politics and Forbes has described it as a "news powerhouse." CEO Christopher Ruddy has attempted to position the network as a competitor to Fox News, including by hiring former Fox News hosts Rob Schmitt, Greg Kelly, Bob Sellers, and Heather Childers. The Washington Post described Newsmax as "a landing spot for cable news personalities in need of a new home," citing the network's airing of Mark Halperin and Bill O'Reilly following their resignations from other networks due to sexual harassment allegations.
After the 2020 United States presidential election, Newsmax published numerous conspiracy theories made by President Donald Trump and the Trump campaign about voter fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, though the network never confirmed the veracity of the statements and accepted the election of Joe Biden as duly elected President. Newsmax later issued an apology and publicly retracted any voter fraud conspiracy allegations. When asked about Newsmax's support of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Christopher Ruddy stated, "We have an editorial policy of being supportive of the President [Trump] and his policies".
In 2021, Newsmax was sued by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic for promoting false claims that the companies had engaged in election fraud during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Newsday
Wikipedia: Newsday, 2023-01-12:
Newsday is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau County, New York and Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the Newsday is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" [LI: Long Island], and formerly it was "Newsday, the Long Island Newspaper". Newsday's headquarters is in Melville, New York, in Suffolk County. Newsday has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes, and has been a finalist for 20 more.
As of 2019, Newsday's weekday circulation of 250,000 was the 8th-highest in the United States, and the highest among suburban newspapers. By 2014-01 Newsday's total average circulation was 437,000 on weekdays, 434,000 on Saturdays and 495,000 on Sundays. As of 2022-06 Newsday had an average print circulation of 97,182.
History
Founded by Alicia Patterson and her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the Newsday was first produced on 1940-09-03 from Hempstead, New York. For many years - until a major redesign in the 1970s - Newsday copied the Daily News format of short stories and numerous pictures. (Ironically, Alicia Patterson was fired as a writer at her father's Daily News in her early 20s, after getting the basic facts of a divorce wrong in a published report.) After Alicia Patterson's death in 1963, Harry Guggenheim became the publisher and editor of Newsday.
[ ... snip ... ]
News Corporation [COMMENT: excluded from Sources: Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings] - headed by CEO Rupert Murdoch - attempted to purchase Newsday for $580 million USD in 2008-04. This was soon followed by a matching bid from Mortimer Zuckerman and a $680 million USD bid from Cablevision. In 2008-05 News Corporation withdrew its bid, and on 2008-05-12 Newsday reported that Cablevision would purchase Newsday for $650 million USD. The sale was completed 2008-07-29.
Altice
Altice - a Netherlands-based multinational telecoms company - bought Cablevision, including Newsday and News 12 in 2016. However, Altice then sold a majority (75%) stake in Newsday back to Cablevision's former owner Charles Dolan and his son Patrick Dolan, making Patrick Dolan the CEO of Newsday. Altice disposed of its remaining stake in Newsday at the end of 2018-07 - which, combined with Charles Dolan's transfer of shares to son Patrick Dolan - makes Patrick Dolan the sole owner of Newsday.
[ ... snip ... ]
Editorial style
Despite having a tabloid format, Newsday is not known for being sensationalistic, as are other local daily tabloids, such as the New York Daily News, and the New York Post [New York Post]. This causes Newsday to sometimes be referred to as "the respectable tabloid".
[ ... snip ... ]
Circulation
In 2008, Newsday was ranked 10th in terms of newspaper circulation in the United States.
A circulation scandal in 2004 revealed that Newsday's daily and Sunday circulation had been inflated by 16.9% and 14.5%, respectively, in the auditing period 2002-09-30 to 2003-09-30. The Audit Bureau of Circulation adjusted average weekday circulation to 481,816 from 579,599; average Saturday circulation to 392,649 from 416,830; and average Sunday circulation to 574,081 from 671,820, and instituted twice-yearly audits.
On 2009-10-28 Newsday changed its web site to a paid-subscriber only model. Newsday.com would open its front page, classified ads, movie listings, and school closings to all site visitors, but access beyond this content would require a weekly fee: $5 USD as of 2010. This fee would be waived for subscribers of the print edition of Newsday, as well as for subscribers to parent-company Cablevision's internet service. Through its first three months only 35 non-optimum, non-Newsday subscribers signed up for the paid web site.
Pulitzer Prizes
Newsday has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes, and has been a finalist for 20 additional Pulitzer Prizes (if no individual is listed - following - the award is for Newsday staff):
- 1954: Public Service (Winner)
- ...
- 2002: Criticism (Winner) - Justin Davidson
- 2004: Breaking News Reporting (Finalist)
- 2005: International Reporting (Winner) - Dele Olojede
- 2005: Explanatory Reporting (Finalist)
- 2007: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) - Walt Handelsman
- 2008: Public Service (Finalist) - Jennifer Barrios, Sophia Chang, Michael R. Ebert, Reid J. Epstein, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Eden Laikin, Herbert Lowe, Joseph Mallia, Jennifer Maloney, Luis Perez, and Karla Schuster
- 2013: Editorial Writing (Finalist) - Editorial Board staff
- 2014: Public Service (Finalist)
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: Newsday, 2022-01-31:
Overall, we rate Newsday Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left. We also rate Newsday High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | World Press Freedom Rank: USA 45/180
History
Founded in 1940, Newsday is an American daily tabloid newspaper that primarily serves Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island, and the New York City borough of Queens, New York - although Newsday is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The current editor is Debbie Henley.
Newsday has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes, and has been a finalist for 20 additional Pulitzer Prizes.
Funded by / Ownership
Newsday is owned by Newsday Media, which is controlled by Patrick Dolan, the son of Charles Dolan, the founder of Cablevision. Revenue is derived through advertising, sponsored content, and subscription sales.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Newsday publishes a combination of sensationalized local news as well as credible in-depth journalism. Local headlines are generally mild to moderate in loaded language such as this: "MTA inspector general investigating 'smashed' time clock." National and International news comes from the The Associated Press.
Editorially, Newsday has only endorsed a Republican Presidential candidate one time since 1988. A review of editorials reveals somewhat of a balance between right and left, however more favor the left in total. In general, the news is reported factually with a left-leaning editorial bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Newsweek
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to absence of fact-checking ("Unlike most large American magazines, Newsweek has not used fact-checkers since 1996." Newsweek: Factual_errors), and other significant controversies.
Newsweek (Wikipedia, 2022-12-12):
Newsweek is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at Newsweek. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century, and had many notable editors-in-chief. Newsweek was acquired by The Washington Post Company [now: Graham Holdings Company] in 1961, and remained under its ownership until 2010.
Revenue declines prompted The Washington Post Company to sell Newsweek in 2010-08 to the audio pioneer Sidney Harman for a purchase price of one dollar, and an assumption of the magazine's liabilities. Later that year (2010) Newsweek merged with the news and opinion website The Daily Beast, forming The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Newsweek was jointly owned by the estate of Sidney Harman and the diversified American media and Internet company IAC. Newsweek continued to experience financial difficulties, which led to the cessation of print publication and a transition to an all-digital format at the end of 2012.
In 2013, IBT Media acquired Newsweek from IAC; the acquisition included the Newsweek brand and its online publication, but did not include The Daily Beast. IBT Media, which also owns the International Business Times, rebranded itself as the Newsweek Media Group, and in 2014, relaunched Newsweek in both print and digital form. In 2018, IBT Media split into two companies: Newsweek Publishing, and IBT Media. The split was accomplished one day before the District Attorney of Manhattan indicted Etienne Uzac - the co-owner of IBT Media - on fraud charges.
Under Newsweek's current co-owner and CEO, Dev Pragad, Newsweek is both profitable, with revenue of $60 million, and also growing: between 2019-05 and 2022-05, its monthly unique visitors increased from about 30 million to 48 million, according to Comscore.
Controversies
Factual errors
Unlike most large American magazines, Newsweek has not used fact-checkers since 1996. ...
Other controversies
In 2022-11 the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Newsweek has "taken a marked radical right turn by buoying extremists and promoting authoritarian leaders" since Newsweek hired political activist Josh Hammer to run its opinion pages in 2020 - noting its elevation of conspiracy theorists such as Jack Posobiec [Jack Posobiec] and Dinesh D'Souza, its publication of conspiracy theories about COVID-19, and such as support for a ban on all legal immigration to the United States and apparent support for denying adults access to trans-affirming medical care, and failure to disclose potential conflicts of interest in the content published on Josh Hammer's opinion section and podcast.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2022-12-10): overall, we rate Newsweek Right-Center Biased based on editorial positions that slightly favor the right. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reported rather than high due to having to make corrections on false information after publication.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Magazine | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
π STOP! Contrary to the MediaBiasFactCheck.com's semi-favorable characterization of Newsweek as a factual source - Persagen.com strongly challenges that conclusion (thus excluding Newsweek from its sources) due to the absence of fact-checking ("Unlike most large American magazines, Newsweek has not used fact-checkers since 1996." Newsweek: Factual_errors), and other significant controversies.
History
Thomas J. C. Martyn founded Newsweek in 1933 as a weekly magazine headquartered in New York City. Today, Newsweek is a news magazine and website covering news and analysis, international issues, technology, business, culture, and politics. Newsweek was bought by the Washington Post Company [now: Graham Holdings Company] in 1961 and eventually sold to audio magnate Sidney Harman in 2010. The Daily Beast and Newsweek merged in a joint venture and was named The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, which lasted for 2 years.
In 2013, Etienne Uzac and Johnathan Davis acquired Newsweek and IBT Media, re-branding themselves as the Newsweek Media Group in 2017. The Newsweek Media Group also owns the Latin Times and Medical Daily. Newsweek reported that Etienne Uzac, co-owner of Newsweek Media Group, and Marion Kim, the company's finance director, both stepped down due to a long-term financial fraud probe.
On 2022-04-14 Newsweek settled a copyright dispute with Instagram.
Funded by / Ownership
Newsweek is owned by Newsweek Publishing LLC, which is co-owned by Dev Pragad and Johnathan Davis. Newsweek is funded through a paid subscription and advertising model.
In 2022-11 the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote an article titled Newsweek Embraces the Anti-Democracy Hard Right. In this article, they report:
"Newsweek positioned political activist Josh Hammer to run their opinion pages during the runup to the 2020 presidential election, and since that time, the publication has taken a marked radical right turn by buoying extremists and promoting authoritarian leaders."
While this update finds Newsweek moving right editorially, there is still a reasonable balance on the Op-Ed page, but clearly, more favor the right as of this review. In general, Newsweek is fact-based but has failed fact checks requiring corrections resulting in a "Mostly Factual" rating.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Newsweek publishes national and world news with minimal bias in wording such as this ...
Failed Fact Checks
Did Poland's First Lady Refuse to Shake President Trump's Hand? - FALSE (corrected).
Amazon Doesn't Produce 20% of Earth's Oxygen - FALSE (corrected).
Iran has sentenced around 15,000 protesters to death. - FALSE (corrected)
[Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)'s HateWatch, 2022-12-11] White Nationalists, Other Republicans Brace for 'Total War'). A collection of radical right figures including white nationalists and ultranationalist European leaders gathered in Manhattan for the New York Young Republican Club's (NYYRC) annual gala Saturday night (2022-12-10), where that group's president declared "total war" on perceived enemies.
"We want to cross the Rubicon. We want total war. We must be prepared to do battle in every arena. In the media. In the courtroom. At the ballot box. And in the streets," New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC president Gavin Wax declared to a room full of supporters at 538 Park Ave. - an event venue on New York's Upper East side. "This is the only language the left-wing understands. The language of pure and unadulterated power," Gavin Wax added. At the five-hour event, which Hatewatch reporters attended, white nationalists Peter Brimelow and Lydia Brimelow of VDARE hobnobbed with Steve Bannon - a former Donald Trump adviser and White House official. Donald Trump Jr. was also in attendance. Republicans publicly lauded members of an Austrian political party founded by World War II-era German Nazi party members. Racist political operative Jack Posobiec shared jokes across a table with Josh Hammer - the opinion editor of Newsweek. ...
NEWSWEEK FLAUNTS ITS RADICAL-RIGHT CREDENTIALS
Starting in 2020-05 - after editor Nancy Cooper and chief content officer Dayan Candappa brought political activist Josh Hammer to run Newsweek's opinion section - the 90-year-old publication has emerged as a hub for opinion pieces authored by radical right activists. Newsweek has published the extremist Jack Posobiec as well as 2020 election-lie pusher Raheem Kassam in recent years - and Josh Hammer has also hosted both of them on his Newsweek-branded podcast. The three men sat together talking and laughing at table #6 during the NYYRC event, near the stage.
When QAnon influencer-turned-congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene took the stage, Josh Hammer stood up and applauded. When Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsed former President Donald Trump as her 2024 presidential candidate of choice, Jack Posobiec turned to Josh Hammer and grinned. In 2022-01, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis invited Josh Hammer on a tour of his office, and the Florida-based Newsweek editor has since hyped Ron DeSantis as a potential presidential candidate. "You gonna go up there, Josh?" Jack Posobiec chided Josh Hammer about Marjorie Taylor Greene's endorsement of Donald Trump - eliciting laughter from the table. A Hatewatch reporter approached Josh Hammer after Marjorie Taylor Greene's speech, made an introduction and asked if Josh Hammer knew Peter Brimelow of VDARE. "He's right here, right now?", Josh Hammer asked with excitement. "I didn't even know he was here!", Josh Hammer said of the infamous white nationalist publisher. "I'm going to say Hi." The Hatewatch reporter asked Josh Hammer how he got his job at Newsweek, and the opinion editor (Josh Hammer) abruptly stopped talking. Josh Hammer asked the Hatewatchreporter to identify himself again. When the reporter did, Josh Hammer's expression slackened. Josh Hammer quickly claimed he did not know Peter Brimelow, and left.
WHAT'S RACIST ABOUT PROJECT VERITAS?
Multiple figures associated with Project Veritas - the hard-right propaganda group that engages in sting operations - attended the NYYRC gala. Project Veritas' founder James O'Keefe and Project Veritas board member Matthew Tyrmand hobnobbed with NYYRC guests Saturday (2022-12-10). Legal trouble has entangled Project Veritas in recent months. ... Outside of the building on 538 Park Ave., James O'Keefe argued with antifascist protesters - according to footage reviewed by Hatewatch. A different, self-described "independent video journalist" posted a series of clips to Twitter at 8:15 p.m., showing James O'Keefe asking antifascist protesters on the corner of Park Avenue and 62nd Street, "What's racist about Project Veritas?" The same social media user posted a video to Twitter at 9:12 p.m. In it, James O'Keefe could be seen standing on the street outside the venue alongside several other men - including Newsweek's Josh Hammer.
[ ... snip ... ]
New Yorker, The
β οΈ CAUTION: The New Yorker has a history of publishing transphobic content - which warrants closer scrutiny: [theNation.com, 2023-02-23] I Signed The New York Times Open Letter. I Have More to Say. The New York Times is not alone in its obscene coverage of transgender people. ... Other prestigious publications like The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine have played their part in pushing forward narratives that put the lives of trans people in danger. ...
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The New Yorker Left Biased based on story selection and editorial position that favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The New Yorker magazine was founded in 1925 by Harold Ross and his wife, Jane Grant, and Raoul Fleischmann backed them. The magazine initially focused on social and cultural life in New York City; however, it later transformed into publishing short stories, cartoons, satire, poetry, essays, art reviews, fiction, and in-depth journalism. The New Yorker has had many famous contributors, including Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, James Thurber, Sidney J. "S.J." Perelman, Janet Flanner, Wolcott Gibbs, and St. Clair McKelway.
The New Yorker is divided into sections such as News, Culture, Books, BusinessTech, Humor, Cartoons, Magazine, and more. Currently, David Remnick is the Editor.
Funded by / Ownership
The New Yorker is published by CondΓ© Nast. and is a subsidiary of Advance Publications Inc.. Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. acquired The New Yorker in 1985 for "$200 a share for the magazine's common stock, an investment of about $142 million." The Newhouse family owns Advance Publications, and currently, the third and fourth generations of the Newhouse family are involved in the management. The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Gentlemen's Quarterly (GQ), Architectural Digest, CondΓ© Nast Traveler, and Wired.com are all published by CondΓ© Nast.
Advertising, subscriptions, and newsstand sales fund the magazine. The New Yorker also has an online store where cartoons, iconic magazine covers, and more can be purchased.
Analysis / Bias
The New York Times reports that "The CondΓ© Nast philosophy, according to Newhouse, is to let the editors run free."
In review, The New Yorker uses strong emotionally loaded headlines such as "Don't Underestimate Elizabeth Warren and Her Populist Message," and "Is Fraud Part of the Trump Organization's Business Model?" The New Yorker also publishes satirical articles from satirist Andy Borowitz through his The Borowitz Report, such as "Trump Offers to Station Pence at Border with Binoculars in Lieu of Wall." The Borowitz Report always favors the left and mocks the right. Further, The New Yorker provides original, in-depth journalistic reporting such as this: "Four Women Accuse New York's Attorney General of Physical Abuse." The result of this investigation led to the Attorney General resigning just hours after The New Yorker published the story. In general, both wording and story selection tends to favor the left mostly.
When it comes to sourcing, they typically utilize credible sources such as The New York Times, Boston.com, The New Republic, Vox, Vanity Fair, New York Daily News, and The Boston Globe.
Editorially, The New Yorker usually endorses Democrats, such as Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election.
A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 77% of The New Yorker's audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 16% Mixed, and 6% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that a more liberal audience strongly prefers The New Yorker.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
New York Magazine
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize due to failed (albeit corrected) fact checks, ownership by Vox (also β οΈ yellow-flagged due to a failed fact check), and past (albeit distant) ownership by the notorious disinformationist Rupert Murdoch, and former ownership by Henry R. Kravis. The New York Magazine also has a history of publishing transphobic content - which warrants closer scrutiny: [theNation.com, 2023-02-23] I Signed The New York Times Open Letter. I Have More to Say. The New York Times is not alone in its obscene coverage of transgender people. ... Other prestigious publications like The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine have played their part in pushing forward narratives that put the lives of trans people in danger. ...
Wikipedia entry.
... In 1976, the Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch bought New York Magazine in a hostile takeover, forcing out Milton Glaser and journalist Clay Felker. A succession of editors followed, including Jerome Armstrong and John Berendt (1977-1979). ... Rupert Murdoch got out of the magazine business in 1991 by selling his holdings to K-III Communications [now: RentPath, Inc.], a partnership controlled by financier Henry R. Kravis.
In 1980, Murdoch hired Edward Kosner, who had worked at Newsweek. ... In 1993, budget pressure from K-III Communications frustrated Kosner, and he left for Esquire magazine. After several months' search, during which New York Magazine was run by managing editor Peter Herbst, K-III Communications hired Kurt Andersen, the co-creator of Spy - a humor monthly of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Kurt Andersen quickly replaced several staff members, bringing in many emerging and established writers (including Jim Cramer, Walter Kirn, Michael Tomasky, and Jacob Weisberg) and editors (including Michael Hirschorn, Kim France, Dany Levy, and Maer Roshan), and generally making the magazine faster-paced, younger in outlook, and more knowing in tone.
In August 1996, Bill Reilly fired Kurt Andersen from his editorship, citing the publication's financial results. According to Andersen, he was fired for refusing to kill a story about a rivalry between investment bankers Felix Rohatyn and Steven Rattner that had upset Henry R. Kravis, a member of the firm's ownership group. His replacement was Caroline Miller, who came from Seventeen, another K-III Communications title.
Henry R. Kravis
Henry R. Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of KKR & Co. Inc. Kravis is a Republican who has supported a variety of causes and made significant donations to both parties, including a contribution of $1 million to Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. His lavish lifestyle has been criticized by activists looking to reform private equity regulations and restrict the practice of leveraged buyouts he pioneered. His buyout of RJR Nabisco was portrayed in the 1989 book and 1993 film Barbarians at the Gate.
[Source for the preceding paragraph: Wikipedia, 2021-11-30.]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate New York Magazine Left Biased based on wording and story selection that mostly favors the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and correcting a known failed fact check.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1968, New York Magazine is an American bi-weekly magazine featuring politics, New York City life, culture, finance, entertainment, fashion, and food. New York Magazine is based in New York City. The parent company, New York Media, features digital brands including Vulture (movies, TV, music), The Cut (style-and-culture), Grub Street (food and restaurants), The Strategist (shopping), and New York (news and politics). NYmag.com serves as a portal for these websites, with some having their own independent URLs.
Graphic Artists Milton Glaser and journalist Clay Felker founded New York Magazine, which Rupert Murdoch eventually acquired in 1976. In 2003, the Wall Street investment banker Bruce Wasserstein acquired New York Magazine for $55 million and brought Adam Moss in as its editor. New York Magazine has earned many National Magazine Awards under his leadership. In 2009, after Bruce Wasserstein's death, his daughter Pamela Wasserstein became the company's chief executive officer and ran it through a family trust. In January 2019, Pam Wasserstein announced that David Haskell would succeed Adam Mossas editor-in-chief of the company; also, New York Media has named Avi Zimak as its new chief revenue officer and publisher. Avi Zimak takes over for Larry Burstein.
Funded by / Ownership
[NYTimes.com, 2019-09-24] Vox Media Acquires New York Magazine, Chronicler of the Highbrow and Lowbrow.
New York Magazine is owned by Vox, a digital publishing network founded by Jerome Armstrong, Tyler Bleszinski, and Markos Moulitsas and based in Washington, D.C. According to a Nieman Foundation for Journalism article, Vox Media had eight editorial brands and a custom advertising division. These are (sports-focused) SB Nation, (tech site) The Verge, (real estate blog) Curbed, (food and nightlife) Eater, (technology news) Racked, (news hub) Vox.com, and (technology business) Recode. However, in 2019 they merged with New York Media, adding The Cut, Vulture, and others. Further, a The New York Time article dated 2015 states that NBC Universal, which Comcast Corporation owns, invested $200 Million in Vox Media. New York Magazine is subscription-based and serves online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, New York Magazine publishes articles with emotionally loaded headlines such as "Trump Likely to Accept Defeat on Wall Funding - and Claim He'll Get His Money Elsewhere>," "The Green New Deal Is a Bad Idea, Not Just a Botched Rollout," and "AOC Thinks Concentrated Wealth Is Incompatible With Democracy. So Did Our Founders." New York Magazine typically utilizes credible sources such as The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, The New York Time, MarketWatch, The Hill, and Politico.
Editorially, New York Magazine does not publish many political op-eds; however, when they do, they almost always favor the left, such as this: "Limbaugh Pretty Sure That The Late Show's New Hire Means Civil War." Further, New York Magazine does not endorse political candidates.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals that New York Magazine has failed two fact checks by an IFCN Fact Checker. However, they corrected both articles, which complies with High factual standards.
New York Post
π STOP! Excluded from sources - due to associations with Rupert Murdoch [Fox News, etc.], disreputable content (fake news), transphobia, ...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall we rate the New York Post on the far end of Right-Center Biased due to story selection that typically favors the Right and Mixed (borderline questionable) for factual reporting based on several failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
... In 1976, Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News Corp, acquired the New York Post, and in 1988, Murdoch sold the paper to Real estate developer Peter S. Kalikow. When Kalikow lost the paper to bankruptcy in 1993, Rupert Murdoch again purchased the paper and continues to own it today. Since Murdoch took over the paper, The New York Post has been known for its over-the-top sensational headlines.
Funded by / Ownership
The New York Post is currently owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which owns many conservative/sensational media outlets around the world. The paper is funded through advertising, subscriptions, and newsstand sales.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the New York Post tends to publish stories utilizing sensationalized headlines with emotionally loaded wording such as "Cop cold-cocks unarmed man 'acting irate' at restaurant," and "It's time for Bill Clinton to take a walk in the Chappaqua woods." The New York Post also republishes news from other sources, such as the least biased The Associated Press. More stories favor the right, but the New York Post does not shy away from reporting negative coverage of the right if it is a big story. They also tend to source their information properly; however, many times, the headline misleadingly exaggerates the actual story they are reporting.
Editorially, The New York Post has endorsed the Republican Party Presidential Candidate in every race since 1980. However, in 2016 they did not offer an endorsement for the Presidential election to either candidate.
According to an LA Times article, the New York Post is reported to be U.S. President Donald Trump's preferred newspaper, which maintains frequent contact with Rupert Murdoch. The New York Post, According to a survey conducted by Pace University in 2004, was rated the least credible major news outlet in New York. The New York Post has been criticized since the beginning of Murdoch's ownership for "sensationalism, blatant advocacy, and conservative bias."
Failed Fact Checks
Mostly FALSE: Ted Cruz 'same senator who once supported a ban on sex toys' - Mostly False
Newly Discovered Planet Could Destroy Earth Any Day Now - FALSE
Hillary Clinton Regularly Had Her Maid Print Classified Documents - UNPROVEN
PS 169 Pledge of Allegiance and Holiday Ban Controversy - Mostly FALSE
'New York Post' op-ed rebuts starving children claim that was never made - PANTS ON FIRE [liar]
Hours after signing an executive order on Jan. 20, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden violated his own mask mandate. - FALSE
Migrant children being sheltered in Long Beach, California, were each given a copy of Vice President Kamala Harris' children's book by the Biden administration. - FALSE
[theNation.com, 2023-03-29] Republicans Want You to Forget Their Complicity in the Nashville Shooting. Conservatives want to make the massacre about trans people or religion - anything but the blood-soaked murder factory they've forced us all to live in.
The mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday (2023-03-27) - which left six people dead, including three 9-year-olds - was the 13th school shooting this year that led to injury or death [Wikipedia: 2023 Covenant School shooting | Mass shootings in the United States]. Education Week - which has been tracking these massacres since 2018 - reports that there were 51 such shootings last year (2022), and 157 since they began tabulating the body counts.
Guns are now the leading cause of death for children in the United States. Over 6,000 American children were either killed or injured by guns in 2022. One 2022 study examined the data for youth mortality in 12 rich countries, including the United States. American children accounted for 97 percent of the total gun deaths from all 12 countries.
In a normal country, stopping this would be all we talked about. Elections to every major local, state, and federal office would turn on the single issue of which candidates have the best plan to prevent our children from being murdered. Parents of school-age children would band together in broad, multiethnic, cross-class coalitions demanding action and results. A normal country would not suffer 13 school shootings per quarter without massive social and political upheaval.
But we don't live in a normal country. We live in a blood-soaked murder factory. We live in a country (the United States) where there are more legal restrictions on where a person can bare their breasts than brandish their guns. We live in a society where people are more interested in banning books than guns. We live with state governments that will force people to give birth against their will [Wikipedia: United States anti-abortion movement], but shrug when actual children are killed at school.
We live like this because of the Republican Party. These school shootings are not tragedies. They are choices made by our government. Every other country on Earth has violent people with a motive to do harm to others. Every other country has people with mental health issues. Every other country has access to media and art that glorifies or trivializes violence. But these school shootings don't happen in every other country, because every other country doesn't have easy, nearly unfettered access to weapons of mass murder.
[ ... snip ... ]
In the wake of the shooting [2023 Covenant School shooting], Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett was caught on camera telling the gross truth about himself and his despicable political party (the Republican Party). When asked about the shooting, Tim Burchett said, "We're not going to fix it." When asked what Congress could do, Tim Burchett said, "I don't see any real role that we could do other than mess things up." (This congressman, by the way, went on Newsmax to fervently defend Tennessee's ban on drag shows, in case you needed a sense of what Tim Burchett thinks the government should be doing.) Finally, when asked how we are supposed to protect children like his own daughter, Tim Burchett said, "Well, we homeschool her." That is the entire Republican Party in a nutshell. They won't do anything; they will stop other people from doing something, and their grand plan is to protect their own people while leaving the rest of the country to suffer and die.
The conservative media firestorm has been as predictable as the reality that there will be another mass shooting soon. But if you're looking for the worst white-wing coverage, the New York Post is always a good place to start. Its front-page headline the day after the shooting read: "TRANSGENDER KILLER TARGETS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: 'Manifesto' leads to 6 dead, including three young kids."
Everything about that headline, from its implications to its basic grammar, is wrong. For those playing along at home, let's do a close read.
A "transgender killer" would be a serial killer who targets trans people. This was a killer who is trans. (The New York Post> also misgendered the shooter, for good measure.)
It is believed that the suspect was a former student at the school, which would make the still-undetermined motive far different than a school shooter who "targets Christian schools." They targeted their school. Dylan Roof, by contrast, targeted a Black church. It would be a different motive if he targeted his church.
The "manifesto" did not "lead" to six dead people. The two assault rifles and handgun the shooter brought with them led to six dead people. If the shooter had shown up to school armed with a manifesto, everybody would still be alive.
The people writing headlines for the New York Post are probably evil, but they're not stupid. They know exactly what they're doing. The New York Post knows what Tim Burchett knows: that Republicans are not going to fix it. To deflect from that should-be-unacceptable reality, the New York Post offers up these distractions of a trans menace and threats on religious institutions.
As is usual for places where conservatives get their media, the New York Post takes real problems and inverts them to fit the white grievance narrative. There are, indeed, "transgender killers" - as in "people who kill trans folks." The murder of trans people has doubled over the past four years, and 73 percent of those trans victims were killed by a gun. Meanwhile, mass shootings at houses of worship have been steadily on the rise all this century. People of all faiths are increasingly under threat where they pray. But again, these mass murderers are not showing up to houses of worship with hammers eager to nail their manifestos to a door. They're showing up with guns, most "legally" obtained, and that's why worshipers are dying.
Everybody knows what the problem is, but Republicans won't let us fix it. And so the white-wing media has to obfuscate and try to distract people from the solution Republicans are unwilling to let the rest of us implement. So more people will die from preventable gun violence. More children will die. Republicans have stared at the bodies of dead children and decided that their deaths are acceptable. There is no bottom. There is no tragedy so horrific that it will shock Republicans out of their death cult. Republicans are complicit in these murders. And so is everybody who votes for them.
New York Times, The
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content - carefully scrutinize due to: history of homophobia; history of transphobia (ongoing, 2023+); entrenched conservatism; other lapses in credibility; ... The New York Times, like the BBC, irritatingly employs pronouns when referring to persons: Mr. * ; Mrs. *; ... - unilaterally enforcing binary gender assignment.
COMMENT (Persagen.com, 2019, updated 2022-12-30).
While widely respected, I have placed a caution / yellow flag β οΈ The New York Times due to their influence and history of at-times questionable and/or biased reporting. For example, their infamous 2017 Glowing Auras and 'Black Money:' The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program article chronicled United States government and corporate interest in "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAP, i.e. UFOs: unidentified flying objects). Other than naming names and organizations, that New York Times did little to inform the fact-seeking readers about the true nature of UFOs - focusing instead on misinformation, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience that further clouded ufology.
[NYTimes.com, 2017-12-16] journalist Helene Cooper, ufologist Ralph Blumenthal, and ufologist Leslie Kean, Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program.
In the $600 billion annual Defense Department (United States Department of Defense) budgets, the $22 million spent on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was almost impossible to find. Which was how The Pentagon wanted it. For years, the program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records obtained by The New York Times. It was run by a military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo, on the fifth floor of the Pentagon's C Ring, deep within the building's maze. ... The shadowy program - parts of it remain classified - began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid - the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time, and who has long had an interest in space phenomena. Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid's, Robert Bigelow - who is currently working with NASA to produce expandable craft for humans to use in space. On CBS' 60 Minutes in 2017-05, Mr. Bigelow said he was "absolutely convinced" that aliens exist and that U.F.O.s have visited Earth.
[ ... snip ... ]
The program (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) collected video and audio recordings of reported U.F.O. incidents - including footage from a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet showing an aircraft surrounded by some kind of glowing aura traveling at high speed and rotating as it moves. The Navy pilots can be heard trying to understand what they are seeing. "There's a whole fleet of them," one exclaims. Defense officials declined to release the location and date of the incident. ... A 2009 Pentagon briefing summary of the program prepared by its director at the time asserted that "what was considered science fiction is now science fact," and that the United States was incapable of defending itself against some of the technologies discovered. Mr. Reid's request for the special designation was denied. ... Mr. Elizondo has now joined Mr. Puthoff (Harold E. Puthoff and another former Defense Department official, Christopher K. Mellon - who was a deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence - in a new commercial venture called To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science. They are speaking publicly about their efforts as their venture aims to raise money for research into U.F.O.s. In the interview, Mr. Elizondo said he and his government colleagues had determined that the phenomena they had studied did not seem to originate from any country. "That fact is not something any government or institution should classify in order to keep secret from the people," he said. For his part, Mr. Reid said he did not know where the objects had come from. "If anyone says they have the answers now, they're fooling themselves," he said. "We do not know." But, he said, "we have to start someplace."
The U.S. Navy UAP videos - leaked in 2017 to disinformationists To the Stars... Academy of Arts & Sciences (TTSA) and Luis Elizondo (and officially released by the United States Navy in 2020-04) - were introduced in The New York Times article (above). That article and those videos have been endlessly discussed and hyped in mainstream media - mostly in the context of an "unidentified threat" narrative - implied to be from advanced, extraterrestrial civilizations. That "threat analysis" justifies additional defense expenditures - note, e.g., the subsequent creation of the United States Space Force ...
The objects in the granular, low-quality U.S. Navy videos reported in The New York Times article (above) have been thoroughly debunked (e.g., as forward-looking infrared imaging artefacts, that would be clearly understood by bone fide military analysts), most notably on the MetaBunk.org website [Wikipedia: Mick West: MetaBunk].
Prima facie, the journalism associated with the New York Times "UAP article" strains one's credulity, given the decades-long misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories involving ufology. That skepticism is reinforced when examining the credentials and motivations of the NYT's "UAP article" authors - journalist Helene Cooper; ufologist Ralph Blumenthal; and ufologist Leslie Kean - viz-a-viz the UAP phenomenon. For example, Showtime Networks Inc.'s 2021-08 television series UFO (2021-08: review) disclosed Leslie Kean's longtime involvement on the fringes of the UFO community. The New York Times article purposely omitted related material on para-psychological phenomena and investigations (e.g. by Robert Bigelow, the awardee of the Pentagon contract to study the UAPs discussed in the New York Times article) to make the story more palatable to New York Times readers. Leslie Kean subsequent monetized this exposure: New Line, HBO Max Land Untitled UFO Script Based On Leslie Kean Book).
Considering additional first-person discussion of the UAP phenomenon by New York Times journalists Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean and others in Showtime's UFO series, it appears that the prestige and credibility of the New York Times was used to shape public opinion on UAPs, from an "UAPs pose an unidentified threat" perspective.
This particular "NYT / UAP" issue serves as an exemplar by which journalists and new organizations - regardless of whom they are - need to be constantly scrutinized and assessed for bias, misinformation, and disinformation. In this instance, editorial standards at New York Times failed to meet expectations of reliable, balanced, unbiased reporting.
Wikipedia: The New York Times (curation date: 2022-12-30):
The New York Times (the Times, NYT, or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. The New York Times also is a producer of popular podcasts such as The Daily. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, The New York Times was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The New York Times has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes - the most of any newspaper - and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print, The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, and 3rd in the U.S.
The New York Times is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A.G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the New York Times Company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the paper.
Since the mid-1970s, The New York Times has expanded its layout and organization, adding special weekly sections on various topics supplementing the regular news, editorials, sports, and features. Since 2008, The New York Times has been organized into the following sections.
- News,
- Editorials / Opinions - Columns / Op-Ed,
- New York (metropolitan),
- Business,
- Sports,
- Arts,
- Science,
- Styles, and
- Home, Travel, and other features.
On Sundays, The New York Times is supplemented by the following.
- Sunday Review (formerly the Week in Review),
- The New York Times Book Review,
- The New York Times Magazine, and
- T: The New York Times Style Magazine.
The editorial pages of The New York Times are typically liberal in their positions.
[ ... snip ... ]
Reputation
The New York Times has developed a national and international "reputation for thoroughness". Among journalists, The New York Times is held in high regard; a 1999 survey of newspaper editors conducted by the Columbia Journalism Review found that The New York Times was the "best" American paper - ahead of The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. The New York Times also was ranked Pulitzer Prizes won, circulation, and perceived web site quality. A 2012 report in WNYC called The New York Times "the most respected newspaper in the world."
Nevertheless, like many other U.S. media sources, The New York Times has suffered from a decline in public perceptions of credibility in the United States in the early 21st century. A Pew Research Center survey in 2012 asked respondents about their views on credibility of various news organizations. Among respondents who gave a rating, 49% said that they believed "all or most" of The New York Times's reporting, while 50% disagreed. A large percentage (19%) of respondents were unable to rate believability. The New York Times's score was comparable to that of USA Today. Media analyst Brooke Gladstone of WNYC's On the Media - writing for The New York Times - says that the decline in U.S. public trust of the mass media can be explained (1) by the rise of the polarized Internet-driven news; (2) by a decline in trust in U.S. institutions more generally; and (3) by the fact that "Americans say they want accuracy and impartiality, but the polls suggest that, actually, most of us are seeking affirmation."
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2022-04-19): overall, we rate The New York Times Left-Center biased based on wording and story selection that moderately favors the left. The New York Times is considered one of the most reliable sources for news information due to proper sourcing and well-respected journalists / editors. The failed fact checks for The New York Times were on Op-Eds and not straight news reporting.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Newspaper | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
... On 2020-07-14 opinion columnist Bari Weiss resigned from The New York Times, stating, "Twitter is not on The New York Times' masthead. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor."
Analysis / Bias
The News York Times' coverage includes News (World News, National News, Business News), Opinion Pieces, Editorials, Arts, Movies, Theater, Travel, NYC Guide, Food, Home & Garden, and Fashion & Style.
A Politico article states Donald Trump has frequently criticized The News York Times on his Twitter account. Donald Trump labels the NYT as "fake news," "naive," "dumb," and "the failing News York Times." However, CNBC reports the company has shown substantial growth by adding 157,000 new digital subscriptions in the last quarter of 2017 and continues to grow.
The NYT looks at the issues from a progressive perspective and is regarded as "liberal." According to a Pew Research Center media polarization report, "the ideological placement of each source's audience" places the audience for The News York Times as "consistently liberal." Further, since 1960 The News York Times has only endorsed Democratic presidential candidates. Additionally, a Reuters institute survey found that 44% of respondents trust The New York Times' news coverage and 33% do not, ranking The New York Times #6 in trust of the major USA news providers.
In review, the NYT utilizes emotionally loaded language in their headlines such as "Trump Again Falsely Blames Democrats for His Separation Tactic" and "A Financier's profit-minded Mission to Open a Channel Between Kushner and North Korea;," however, they use credible sources such as law.Cornell.edu, Financial Times, and The Washington Post. Story selection is typically balanced; however, wording tends to lean left in most cases. Editorials on the NYT almost always favor the left and sometimes are inaccurate; see failed fact checks below. The News York Times still qualifies for High Factual status due to the incredible amount of stories they publish, but the left-leaning bias has increased from the previous update.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search shows The News York Times has made false claims in reporting but always makes corrections to those stories as soon as new information is available. Further, failed fact checks occurred on Op-Ed pages and not straight news reporting.
"We have a host of issues associated with high B.M.I.s. But correlation doesn't prove causation, and there's a significant body of research showing that weight stigma and weight cycling can explain most if not all of the associations we see between higher weights and poor health outcomes." - MOSTLY FALSE
A political map circulated by Sarah Palin's PAC incited Representative Gabby Giffords' shooting - FALSE
"How Scientists Got Climate Change So Wrong" - LOW SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY
[CommonDreams.org, 2023-03-16] Deadly Disinformation - The Underreported Scandal at The New York Times. Presenting both sides of an issue as if they stand on equal, fact-based footing when they don't is not journalism. It's an insidious form of disinformation.
You write for the most influential newspaper in America. Your recent column about COVID-19 relied on dubious sourcing, specifically, Person A, who agreed with your personal views on the issue. Your opening "hook" for readers was Person A's inaccurate and misleading statements. He characterized a medical review in which he participated (along with 11 others) as supporting your position, although the review itself stated that it didn't.
Your column went viral. The medical community condemned Person A's false characterization of the review and highlighted the review's methodological limitations and failings that your column ignored. Two weeks later, you doubled down on your position. Shortly thereafter, the review's editor-in-chief issued a statement that Person A and many commentators had misrepresented the review's conclusions.
What do you do now? What if you're the newspaper's editor? Bret Stephens' 2023-02-21 column on mask mandates created this scandal at The New York Times.
[ ... snip ... ]
[CommonDreams.org, 2022-12-30] Ralph Nader, The New York Times Is Rapidly Diminishing Itself. The New York Times has really gone overboard in diluting its storied editorial and op-ed pages.
The New York Times has really gone overboard in diluting its storied editorial and op-ed pages. From as many as nearly 20 concise, meaty editorials, the is down to about three a week. This space is being occupied by often mediocre columns such as the lengthy superficial exchanges between "liberal" Gail Collins and "conservative" war hawk Bret Stephens, who are supposed to disagree with one another but often engage in not so witty repartee. As for the Editorial Page, the kinds of enlightening op-eds which were submitted by outsiders over the years now are preceded by The Time's regular columnists - ok - but also by a stable of countless designated "contributing opinion writers." With photos or graphics even on this page, outside freelancers and thought leaders are mostly left to drift away without so much as a courteous email acknowledgement of their receiving these op-ed submissions.
Young people - bereft of history - should realize that those two pages used to be considered the most important spaces in American journalism. This self-inflicted stupefaction intensified in the 2021-2022 years without The New York Times informing serious readers as to why the changes were made. During the Trumpism era, The New York Times developed a bizarre obsession with over covering political extremists in ways that made them into big acts and gave them material for more fund-raising. Apart from their award-winning continual critical coverage of the Trump Dump, the New York Times constantly published his (Donald Trump's) slanderous tweets and pejorative nicknames for others without affording the libeled a right of reply.
Its long features on e.g., J.D. Vance, Tucker Carlson, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene were so biographical as to unwittingly serve to advance their careers. They loved the coverage in the "liberal" New York Times. Without a balanced profiling of counterparts, readers might think that very little is going on within the progressive community. (See, e.g., a totally unreported, aggregated effort OnWinningAmerica.net during the (2022-11) mid-term elections).
[ ... snip ... ]
One of the New York Times' innovations is a section on page two titled "The Story Behind the Story." It affords reporters an opportunity to share with readers, some personal details, and the background of their more difficult reportage. Perhaps some of the above-noted management decisions also deserve "The Story Behind the Story" for puzzled New York Times readers. Lo, the newspaper whose editors are not up to the talents and recommendations of their exceptional reporters.
This Wikipedia entry describes an incident of shoddy reporting by The New York Times on the notoriously transphobic organization Genspect - thus amplifying and propagating Genspect's incredibly inflammatory transphobic rhetoric.
Genspect: Coverage in The New York Times
On 2022-06-15 The New York Times interviewed parents from Genspect who defined the rise in transgender-identified children as a "gender cult" and mass craze - "suggesting that exposure to transgender kids, education about trans people, and trans ideas on the internet could spread transness to others." Some parents from Genspect stated transgender people should not be able to transition until the age of 25. The article also referenced a Substack newsletter by an anonymous Genspect parent - titled "It's Strategy People!" - about how Genspect gets its perspective into the media by purposefully not referring to transgender children as "mentally ill" or "deluded".
The Texas Observer criticized The New York Times (NYT) article, stating "Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts, and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research, and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context." The Texas Observer stated that while the author of the NYT article (Emily Bazelon) noted on Twitter that Genspect engages in "anti-trans activism", Emily Bazelon's NYT article did not present Genspect as such in the NYT article.
The Texas Observer also noted the NYT article was used as proof of lack of medical consensus on transgender care by the state of Texas in a court case to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors. Ky Schevers and Lee Leveille of Health Liberation Now! criticized Emily Bazelon's coverage. Emily Bazelon had interviewed and been in communication with both of them - Ky Schevers and Lee Leveille - but did not include them in the article. Ky Schevers told The Texas Observer that "It was disappointing and infuriating to see Emily Bazelon disregard our warnings, and now to learn that her NYT article is being used as evidence to stop trans youth from accessing healthcare."
PinkNews criticized The New York Times article as well, accusing the article of "uncritically platformed ... Genspect" and of spreading "vile rhetoric". Ky Schevers was quoted stating: "The NYT just platformed a group made up of transphobic parents and conversion therapists who've written about how they have the same end goals as hardline trans eliminationists, but moderate their views to try to break into the mainstream."
Trans author Dr. Sunny Moraine accused The New York Times article of "sanitizing wildly transphobic talking points", while instructor Alejandra Caraballo of Harvard Law School described The New York Times article as having "only just further opened the door for eliminationist policies". Source (2022-11-28): Wikipedia.
Transphobia at The New York Times
[Truthout, 2024-03-27] GLAAD, Media Matters Call Out NYT for Excluding Transgender Voices. Research reveals The New York Times excluded transgender voices in 66 percent of its trans issue coverage.
A recent study conducted by Media Matters and GLAAD reveals that in the year following public backlash for its coverage of anti-trans legislation, The New York Times neglected to include transgender voices in approximately two-thirds of its stories on the subject. "The paper of record has an obligation to present its readers with the full human toll of the anti-trans legislative assault," Ari Drennen, LGBTQ Program Director at Media Matters, said in a statement. "Trans people are more than theoretical curiosities to be debated from afar. Each and every anti-trans bill affects living, breathing people whose voices deserve to be heard and whose stories deserve to be told."
Between February 15, 2023, and February 15, 2024, The New York Times published 65 articles addressing U.S. anti-trans legislation in either their headlines or opening paragraphs. Media Matters and GLAAD's research found that 66 percent of the articles did not include a single quote from a trans or gender-nonconforming person, 18 percent of the articles quoted misinformation from anti-trans activists without sufficient factchecking or contextual elaboration, and six articles obscured the anti-trans backgrounds of sources, neglecting to mention their histories of extremist rhetoric or actions. "As a well respected news organization, The New York Times should be ashamed of their lack of fact checking and representation of trans voices in their articles. The New York Times' biased articles have contributed to the deadly culture war against the transgender community," LGBTQ legislative researcher Allison Chapman told Truthout.
The New York Times has been increasingly critiqued for its problematic coverage of transgender people and challenges, such as gender-affirming care bans, facing the transgender community over the past year. "Prominent frontpage coverage has frequently missed the big picture of the trans community, choosing instead to hyper-scrutinize essential and mainstream medical care, undermining its support among readers who know next to nothing about this care, while laundering extremist talking points as legitimate concern," Serena Sonoma wrote for GLAAD in April 2023. "The New York Times' coverage has elevated critics without alerting readers to their anti-LGBTQ, anti-trans histories and their coordination and connections to longtime anti-LGBTQ groups like Alliance Defending Freedom."
Last February, over 150 LGBTQ organizations and leaders, including GLAAD, published an open letter condemning The New York Times' harmful and inaccurate coverage of transgender people. The letter demanded that The New York Times stop publishing anti-trans articles, meet with leaders from the transgender community, and hire transgender writers and editors. According to GLAAD, The New York Times has not met any of the letter's demands. "One of the first recommendations we make during the hundreds of LGBTQ education briefings we hold with national and local newsrooms is to include LGBTQ voices in LGBTQ stories: interview the people impacted by your coverage and include their perspectives. The New York Times failed that basic reporting lesson 101, and replaced it with a pattern of obfuscating sources' anti-trans affiliations and allowing their misinformation to go unchecked," Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement. "Our coalition of more than 150 organizations, community leaders, and notable LGBTQ people and allies remains steadfast in our calls for The New York Times to improve their coverage of transgender people."
In April of last year, hundreds of contributors to The New York Times also wrote a letter critiquing its handling of transgender topics. Times management responded by saying in a memo that: "Participation in such a campaign is against the letter and spirit of our ethics policy. That policy prohibits our journalists from aligning themselves with advocacy groups and joining protest actions on matters of public policy. We also have a clear policy prohibiting Times journalists from attacking one another's journalism publicly or signaling their support for such attacks."
The New York Times' anti-trans coverage has been weaponized by anti-LGBTQ groups in legal filings to undermine transgender youth's access to lifesaving health care. In fact, an anti-transgender op-ed published by The New York Times in February by Pamela Paul titled "As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do." which was thoroughly debunked by transgender activist and journalist Erin Reed as relying on "pseudoscience," was cited in a legal brief in Idaho within just four days of its publication. "I felt compelled to highlight how central these pieces are to the legal structures limiting our material survival. Within 4 days of publication Paul's piece was cited by Idaho officials in federal court - represented by Alliance Defending Freedom - in the state's defense of their anti-trans law banning this medical treatment for minors," Chase Strangio, the deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, said on Instagram earlier this year. "The distortions and the false debate are causing immediate and severe material harms that will be felt for generations."
[CommonDreams.org, 2023-02-20] New York Times Under Fire for Anti-Trans Coverage. Attacks on trans rights are often portrayed as coming from the far right. But liberal and centrist institutions like The New York Times aid and abet this campaign.
[theNation.com, 2023-02-20] The New York Times Is Repeating One of Its Most Notorious Mistakes. The paper's anti-trans coverage parallels its failings over gay rights and AIDS. But the Times appears determined not to learn from its own history.
[ ... snip ... ]
There has been deep dismay about the The New York Times' persistently skeptical coverage of trans identity - which has come at a time when trans people's right to exist in public is under attack across the United States. Last week (2023-02), the opposition to The New York Times's seeming institutional animus toward trans rights burst into widespread public view, when thousands of The New York Times contributors and over 30,000 supporters signed an open letter [local copy (html), captured 2023-02-20] urging The New York Times to rethink its coverage of transgender persons and issues. (Full disclosure: I added my name to the letter. -- Jack Mirkinson, an interim senior editor at The Nation, and cofounder of Discourse Blog.)
In response to the letter, the The New York Times dismissed the letter - and a separate one sent by the LGBTQ rights group GLAAD - as coming from people with an "advocacy mission," as opposed to its own "journalistic mission." The New York Times's executive editor - Joseph Kahn - then sent a furious note to his staffers, some of whom had signed the letter from journalists, warning them, "We do not welcome, and will not tolerate, participation by The New York Times journalists in protests organized by advocacy groups or attacks on colleagues on social media and other public forums."
[ ... snip ... ]
There are clear echoes of this kind of blinkered loftiness in Joseph Kahn's acid references to "advocacy groups" in his staff memo about the paper's trans coverage.
Abe Rosenthal (A. M. Rosenthal; Abraham Michael Rosenthal) - who led The New York Times from 1969 to 1986 - is perhaps most frequently remembered now for something he adamantly refused to do: cover the LGBTQ rights movement, particularly the AIDS crisis, with the scope or respect it deserved. (The epitaph on Abe Rosenthal's tombstone - "He kept the paper straight" - now seems like a sick joke.) Instead, The New York Times under Abe Rosenthal kept queer people at arm's length.
The New York Times even refused to use the word "gay" in its pages until 1987-06 - doggedly sticking to the more clinical "homosexual." And The New York Times underplayed the spread of HIV/AIDS, waiting nearly two years after its first, now-legendary item broaching the subject to run a story about AIDS on its front page.
Thirty years after Abe Rosenthal's admission, The New York Times is still trapped in the same bunker when it comes to LGBTQ issues. The New York Times is still at pains to distance itself from what it clearly believes to be an activist mob that doesn't understand what "Real Journalism" is all about. The New York Times is still so instinctively appalled at the notion that its critics might be right that it is choosing the path of aristocratic contempt.
Trans people are currently experiencing a punishing, traumatic assault on their very right to be alive. But if history is any guide, they will eventually win the battle to be treated as full human beings. What will The New York Times do at that point? There is a good chance that we will get a new series of hand-wringing stories about how The New York Times fell short at a moment when so many people desperately needed The New York Times to step up. There is also a good chance that The New York Times will attempt to explain its behavior by saying that anti-trans panic was just in the air back then, part of the intrinsic way of things. But just as with its coverage of queer life and AIDS in the past, people will know better.
[ ... snip ... ]
[CBC.ca, 2022-01-06] The New York Times to purchase sports news site The Athletic for $US550M. Deal expected to close in 1st quarter of 2022; sports outlet to operate separately.
The New York Times Company is buying sports news site The Athletic for $US550 million, the latest move in its strategy to expand its audience of paying subscribers as the newspaper print ads business fades. The New York Times, unlike many local news outlets, has thrived in the past several years. The New York Times gained millions of subscribers during the Trump presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping it on track for its previously stated goal of 10 million subscribers by 2025. As of the most recent quarter, The New York Times had nearly 8.4 million subscribers . The New York Times has been diversifying its coverage with lifestyle advice, games and recipes, helping it counter a pullback from the politics-driven news traffic boom of 2020. "We are now in pursuit of a goal meaningfully larger than 10 million subscriptions and believe The Athletic will enable us to expand our addressable market of potential subscribers," said CEO Meredith Kopit Levien in a news release Thursday [2022-01-06]. It's one of The New York Times' largest-ever acquisitions. The company spent $1.1 billion on the The Boston Globe in 1993 and $410 million for About.com in 2005, both of which it later sold for less.
After being privately held until 1973, The Boston Globe was sold to The New York Times in 1993 for $1.1 billion, making it one of the most expensive print purchases in U.S. history. The Boston Globe was purchased for $70 million in 2013 by Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. owner John W. Henry from The New York Times, having lost over 90% of its value in 20 years. [Source: Wikipedia, 2022-01-07.]
In 2005-02, The New York Times Company announced it was buying About.com, a purchase that was completed in the first half of 2005 for US$410 million. Google and Yahoo! were reportedly among the other bidders. On 2012-08-26 Barry Diller's holding company IAC announced that it would acquire About.com [now, as of 2017-05-02: Dotdash] instead for US$300 million in cash. [Source: Wikipedia, 2022-01-07.]
Digital media outlets have been consolidating recently to help them compete for online ad revenue with tech giants like Google and Facebook. German media conglomerate Axel Springer SE bought Politico; Vox Media is buying Group Nine Media, Inc. - owner of Thrillist and animals site The Dodo; BuzzFeed bought HuffPost.
San Francisco-based The Athletic covers national and local sports - more than 200 teams, according to the The New York Times. The Athletic was founded in 2016 and has 1.2 million subscribers. The Athletic's website says it has over 400 editorial employees, whereas The New York Times has more than 2,000 editorial employees.
There is a bit of irony that an upstart sports media company is being bought by one of the world's largest legacy media [old media] companies . Alex Mather, a co-founder of The Athletic said during a 2017 interview with The New York Times that, "We will wait every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing. We will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment. We will make business extremely difficult for them." The two sides had started discussing a deal last summer before talks fell through. The Athletic had also been in discussions with Axios last year.
After the sale of The Athletic to The New York Times closes - which is expected in the current quarter [early 2021], The Athletic will be a The New York Times Company subsidiary and operate separately. Alex Mather will stay on as general manager and co-president and co-founder Adam Hansmann as chief operating officer and co-president.
Steven Donziger:
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting has been critical of the U.S. media's coverage of Steven Donziger's trial and house arrest. In July 2021, FAIR wrote that The New York Times had not published an article about Steven Donziger since 2014 and that articles in the U.S. corporate media largely favored Chevron Corporation. FAIR quoted an interview given by Donziger to Breakthrough News in which Donziger said, "No matter what you think of me or Judge Lewis A, Kaplan, isn't it newsworthy that an American lawyer is under house arrest for two years on a misdemeanor?"
[Salon.com, 2020-10-23] New York Times nailed for publishing Republican propaganda - yet again. Two supposedly "average" voters in a Times story turn out to be hardcore Republican. And it's happened before.
New Tang Dynasty Television | NTD | NTD.com
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD). New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD, Chinese: ζ°εδΊΊι»θ¦θΊ) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by Falun Gong practitioners, based in New York City. The station [NTD] was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language broadcaster, but has since expanded its language offerings. NTD retains a focus on mainland China in its news broadcasts.
MediaBiasFactCheck: "Overall, we rate NTD TV Right-Center biased based on editorial positions that favor the right. We also rate NTD TV Mixed for factual reporting due to a lack of transparency with ownership and a failed fact check."
... The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China. ...
NNDB [defunct]
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
NNDB | Wikipedia [owner, Soylent Communications, redirects here]
NNDB is an intelligence aggregator that tracks the activities of people we have determined to be noteworthy, both living and dead. Superficially, it seems much like a "Who's Who" where a noted person's curriculum vitae is available (the usual information such as date of birth, a biography, and other essential facts.)
NNDB mostly exists to document the connections between people, many of which are not always obvious. A person's otherwise inexplicable behavior is often understood by examining the crowd that person has been associating with.
The Adobe Flash-based "NNDB Mapper " [mapper.nndb.com (dead link, 2020-09-01)] is a visual tool for exploring the connections between people in NNDB, linking them together through family relations, corporate boards, movies and TV, political alliances, and shadowy conspiracy groups. Maps can be saved and shared for others to explore.
North99.org [now: The Maple]
π STOP! North99 / The Maple is excluded from sources. Potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
Update (2023-06-09): described here, North99 is now The Maple (no Wikipedia articles, 2023-06-09, for either "North99" or "The Maple"). The Maple redirects here.
See main article: North99.org.
North99 is an independent political movement that supports and opposes candidates based on their commitment or opposition to progressive principles
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2023-06-02): overall, we rate North99 Left Biased for story selection that always favors the left, and Mixed for factual reporting due to a few failed fact checks and misleading context of article headlines."
Factual Reporting: MIXED
History
According to their About page "North99 is a progressive media network for the many, not the few. Our contributors and supporters include progressive people across Canada united by a concern about rising inequality and the increasing influence of the far-right." A whois search reveals the domain was purchased in August of 2017.
Funded by / Ownership
North99 is a non-profit funded through individual donations. The website claims they do not accept donations from corporations, but rather only from individual donors. The website does not list who owns North99, however, the non-profit registration lists Geoff Sharpe as the Director.
Analysis / Bias
North99 is a combination between a media source and an activist portal. The news reported always favors the left and uses loaded language such as this: "Voter Fraud, Illegal Fundraising, Racism - A Timeline of Every Doug Ford Ontario Election Controversy." Essentially, the sole purpose of the website is to discredit right-wing politicians and policy in Canada. News articles are reasonably sourced to mainstream media outlets.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals that North99 has failed a few fact checks. However, they corrected some errors when discovered. Further, on 7/23/2019, the CBC published an article demonstrating North99 using misleading online petitions, and again on 12/5/2019, they published another false claim resulting in a downgrade to "Mixed factual."
NPR (National Public Radio)
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate NPR (National Public Radio) Left-Center Biased based on story selection that leans slightly left and Very High for factual reporting due to thorough sourcing and very accurate news reporting.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1970, NPR (National Public Radio) is a nonprofit organization that produces and distributes news, talk, cultural programming, music, and entertainment programs - including the premier newsmagazines Morning Edition, and All Things Considered - across broadcast and digital platforms. NPR is based in Washington, D.C.
NPR was established after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 [Wikipedia: Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 entry]. The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and National Public Radio (NPR).
The first program broadcast on NPR was live coverage in 1971-04 of the U.S. Senate deliberations on the Vietnam War. NPR has also won numerous awards since its launch. Currently, Jarl Mohn is the NPR CEO, and the Ombudsman / Public Editor is Elizabeth Jensen. A list of NPR's Board of Directors can be found here.
Funded by / Ownership
According to a Columbia Journalism Review article dated 2010, a large portion of NPR's revenue comes from dues and fees paid by member stations and by corporate sponsorships. In another article by the Columbia Journalism Review, they state that as of 2017 NPR receives less than 1 percent of its total funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Other revenue sources include institutional grants, individual contributions, and fees paid by users of the Public Radio Satellite System.
Analysis
In 2000, the conservative pro-Israel media watchdog group CAMERA [Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America] accused NPR of being biased against Israel. In 2001, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) - a progressive media watchdog group - criticized NPR for favoring Israel. FAIR also states, "NPR is definitely skewing right." Timothy Groseclose - a professor in the Economics and Political Science Department at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Jeffrey Milyo, an economics professor at the University of Missouri - reports NPR has a liberal bias.
According to a Pew Research survey, 67% of NPR listeners identify as left of center, with 41% claiming to be consistently liberal. Finally, According to The Washington Post, NPR CEO Jarl Mohn has contributed to Democratic candidates in statewide races, including Robert Reich's campaign, President Bill Clinton's secretary of labor.
Bias
In review, NPR (National Public Radio) uses moderately emotionally loaded headlines such as this: "President Trump's Description of What's 'Fake' Is Expanding." Generally, story selection favors the Left with stories such as these: "Rise of LGBTQ Candidates Could Usher In A 'Rainbow Wave' In 2018," and "Majority of Americans Don't Want Roe v. Wade Overturned." They also report right-leaning opinion pieces such as this: "A Free-Market Economy Keeps Capitalism Ticking."
NPR reports world news with neutral headlines such as "In Bangladeshi Camps, Rohingya Refugees Try To Move Forward With Their Lives." NPR typically sources their information to credible sources such as The Washington Post, Marist Poll, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Economist, UNICEF, The New York Times, and many more. NPR's news reporting is consistently low biased, factual, and covers both sides of issues. However, taken on a whole, NPR is favored by a liberal audience, which indicates programming and story selection tends to lean left to appeal to their core listeners. For example, A 2014 Pew Research Survey found that 67% of NPR's audience is consistently or mostly liberal, 21% Mixed, and 12% consistently or mostly conservative. This indicates that a more liberal audience strongly prefers NPR.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Observer, The
See also; The Guardian.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Observer UK Left-Center biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to several failed fact checks.
Factual Reporting: MIXED.
History
Founded in 1791, The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its sister papers The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993, it claims to take a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. The current editor is Paul Webster.
Funded by / Ownership
The Observer is owned by Guardian Media Group. Revenue is derived through subscriptions and advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Observer is a Sunday only paper published by The Guardian. Articles and headlines contain emotional wording that typically favors the left such as this: "How did Britain fail so badly in dealing with COVID-19?" This story links directly into the Guardian domain. Editorially, The Observer denigrates the right such as this: "The right cannot resist a culture war against the 'liberal elite', even now." In the most simple terms, the online version of The Observer is actually The Guardian. In general, The Observer is moderately left-biased.
Failed Fact Checks
See The Guardian.
One America News Network [OAA | OANN]
π STOP! Excluded from sources. One America News Network is a notorious far-right cable channel prominent for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Disambiguation: not to be confused with Centre for Economic Policy Research (British registered charity).
Wikipedia
Project: Revolving Door Project
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Left-Center biased based on political policy that favors the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; funding controversies; ... - carefully scrutinize.
Wikipedia entry.
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. The CMD publishes PR Watch (PRWatch.org), SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org [see also: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)].
History
The CMD was founded in 1993 by progressive writer John Stauber in Madison, Wisconsin. Lisa Graves is the former President of CMD. Author Sheldon Rampton was formerly an editor of PR Watch (CMD's investigative reporting website).
Lisa Graves is a progressive activist who is senior fellow and former executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Lisa Graves served in this role from 2009 to 2017, when she became President of True North Research, and co-Director of DocumentedInvestigations.org. Graves also serves on the advisory board of "UnKoch" [UnKochMyCampus.org | see also: Charles Koch, Koch Family Foundations].
Note also Lisa Graves' Koch Docs project.
CMD has investigated and reported on donor-advised funds, referring to such donations as a form of "dark money". According to the Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, CMD is a recipient of donor-advised funds via the Schwab Charitable Fund.
See also, re: donor-advised funds: DonorsTrust | Fidelity Charitable | Philanthropy Roundtable | Tides Foundation | ...
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: o verall, we rate the Center for Media and Democracy Left Biased based on editorial positions that always favor the progressive left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1993 by John Stauber, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a non-partisan progressive watchdog group led by Lisa Graves. CMD manages this website and SourceWatch.org [>> π-flagged]. As noted on 's sister site, PR Watch, CMD "strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda such as corporate greenwashing, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism." CMD also manages the BanksterUSA website. Some contend that CMD is not neutral. CMD has been criticized for having an anti-corporate viewpoint.
Funded by / Ownership
The Center for Media and Democracy is a nonprofit that is funded through donations. They claim on their About page that "We accept no funding from for-profit corporations or grants from administrative agencies." However, they do list funding from numerous left-leaning foundations such as George Soros' Open Society Foundations, The Ford Foundation, and the Tides Foundation.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the CMD website covers news with a strong left-leaning bias. Headlines and articles contain loaded emotional wording such as this: Massachusetts Law Could Blunt the Effect of Janus' Attack on Unions. Though biased, this story is properly sourced to The Boston Globe, SourceWatch.org and United States .gov websites. Story selection often favors workers rights and fighting climate change with again proper sourcing of information. In general, story selection and op-eds favor the progressive left.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Center for Public Integrity
See also: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ; entry below). In 1997, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) launched the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (main page). This international network, based in Washington, D.C., includes over 200 investigative reporters in over 90 countries and territories.
Wikipedia entry, 2021-12-17.
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to cause them to operate with honesty, integrity, accountability and to put the public interest first." With over 50 staff members, the CPI is one of the largest nonprofit investigative centers in America. It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has been described as an independent, watchdog group. The Center for Public Integrity releases its reports via its website to media outlets throughout the U.S. and around the globe. In 2004, CPI's The Buying of the President book was on The New York Times bestseller list for three months. As of 2018-12-21, CPI was rated as 3 out of 4 stars overall by Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofits evaluator.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) Left-Center Biased based on story selection and advocacy that favors mostly liberal positions. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is one of the country's oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations with a mission "to serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions, using the tools of investigative journalism." With over 50 staff members, the CPI is one of the largest nonprofit investigative centers in America. The Center for Public Integrity releases its reports via its website to media outlets throughout the U.S. and around the globe. The Center for Public Integrity won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative ReportingPulitzer Prize in 2014.
Funded by / Ownership
The Center for Public Integrity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is funded through donations and grants from foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation, Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation [redirects to / now: Re:Wild (ReWild.org), and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. CPI discloses their largest donors here.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Center for Public Integrity publishes in-depth journalistic research into corruption involving social and political issues. Topics tend to lean left with a focus on campaign finance, support for immigration, and workers' rights. The website reports news with moderate to minimally loaded language such as this: "A PATCHWORK OF ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS DON'T PROTECT LGBTQ WORKERS." This story is appropriately sourced to Supreme Court of the United States documents and Politico. When it comes to reporting on the current administration, the Center for Public Integrity have a negative tone regarding the Trump administration as evidenced by this: "NUMBER OF ICE DETAINEES WITH NO CRIMINAL RECORD RISES SHARPLY, DEFYING TRUMP RHETORIC." This story is also perfectly sourced.
Editorially, the CPI favors liberal policies and denigrates the conservative agenda. For example, the left-leaning Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has described CPI as "progressive" - as has the Los Angeles Times, who have described the Center for Public Integrity as "Liberal."
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals the Center for Public Integrity has not failed a fact check.
Ohio Capitol Journal
β οΈ CAUTION: see Media Bias Fact Check rating, below. Comment (Persagen.com): in our experience, the Ohio Capitol Journal is a reputable news site, based on coverage of the highly polarizing 2023 debates, special issue ballot, etc. over abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, voter rights, electoral fraud. etc. in the Republican Party-controlled Ohio State legislature.
Last updated: 2024-01-24
Home page: Ohio Capitol Journal
Wikipedia: States Newsroom (affiliate Ohio Capital Journal redirects here).
Media Bias Fact Check: Ohio Capitol Journal
Overall, we rate Ohio Capital-Journal Left Biased based on editorial positions that routinely favor the progressive left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting rather than High due to a lack of transparency.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Organization/Foundation | Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY
OpenSecrets.org [The Center for Responsive Politics]
Superb!
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Center for Responsive Politics (Open Secrets) Least Biased and Very High for fact factual reporting due to excellent sourcing of information and being an official source for fact-checkers.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1983, The Center for Responsive Politics (Open Secrets) is nonpartisan, independent, and nonprofit; they are the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
Funded by / Ownership
Open Secrets is a non-profit that is funded through donations. Some notable donors include the Sunlight Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Carnegie Corporation, Open Society Foundations, the Joyce Foundation, and the The Ford Foundation.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Center for Responsive Politics (Open Secrets) provides a database that allows users to view "federal campaign contributions and lobbying by lobbying firms, individual lobbyists, industry, a federal agency, and bills. Other resources include the personal financial disclosures of all members of the U.S. Congress, the president, and top members of the administration."
Open Secrets also publishes news related to spending that utilizes minimal bias, such as this: "The 9/11 victim compensation bill special interests aren't interested in." Like most on the website, this article is properly sourced to credible media outlets such as NPR, NBC News, and congress.gov. Although some of the large donors tend to lean left, the information and content on the website remain low biased and factual.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check. In fact, Open Secrets is used as a resource by IFCN fact-checkers and the Media Bias Fact Check website.
The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on elections and public policy. It maintains a public online database of its information.
"Center for Responsive Politics's vision is for Americans to be empowered by access to clear and unbiased information about money's role in politics and policy and to use that knowledge to strengthen our democracy."
The Center for Responsive Politics' website, OpenSecrets.org, allows users to track federal campaign contributions and lobbying by lobbying firms, individual lobbyists, industry, dark money, federal agencies, and bills. Other resources include the personal financial disclosures of all members of the U.S. Congress, the President, and top members of the administration. Users can also search by ZIP codes to learn how their neighbors are allocating their political contributions.
Examples: Top SuperPACs | Lawmakers' Estimated Personal Wealth
See also: Dark Money: Investigative Resources
Ottawa Citizen
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to Postmedia Network's history of anti-transgender bias, American part-ownership, declining financials, ties to United States Republican Party and support of Donald Trump, ...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Ottawa Citizen Right-Center biased based on some favoritism toward right-leaning politics and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1845, the Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. the Ottawa Citizen has changed ownership many times over the years and with each change, there was a new direction in editorial bias. The current editor is Michelle Richardson.
Funded by / Ownership
The Ottawa Citizen is owned by Postmedia, which owns several right-leaning media outlets throughout Canada. According to a report in the left-leaning CanadaLand, Postmedia has directed its publications to be more "reliably conservative." The newspaper is funded through advertising and subscription fees.
Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey-based hedge fund holds a large equity stake in Postmedia and majority ownership of American Media, Inc. [branded a360media] which owns the National Enquirer. David Pecker - who owns American Media, Inc.Postmedia board, and then resigned from the board of Postmedia in 2018, due to his involvement of hush payments on behalf of his "friends" including President Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.
According to the National Observer, Postmedia is in a downward spiral. After Postmedia announced a $1.4M loss for the last quarter of 2018, Paul Godfrey stepped down as CEO of the Postmedia Network and was replaced by Andrew MacLeod, as of 1/10/2019. Godfrey will remain as executive chair. Godfrey was also criticized for cutting 800 full-time jobs across Postmedia in 2016 while earning an annual salary of $1.7 million.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Ottawa Citizen covers local news via journalists and national news via the Canadian Press and international news through a variety of sources such as Bloomberg News for business news, The Associated Press, and The Telegraph [The Daily Telegraph]. All information is properly sourced to credible media outlets.
Editorially, there are more negative articles regarding liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than positive. While the Ottawa Citizen does criticize President Donald Trump they do so lightly. In general, more stories favor the right editorially than the left, but there is a reasonable balance.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals the Ottawa Citizen has not failed a fact check.
Penske Media Corporation
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to ownership by the Penske Media Corporation- noting particularly this report:
Wikipedia
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include funding of the Poynter Institute from the notoriously neoliberal billionaire Charles Koch via the Charles Koch Institute, left-wing billionaire George Soros via the Open Society Foundations, and other wealthy contributors. PolitiFact was founded by the Tampa Bay Times, which is a for-profit new organization owned by the non-profit Poynter Institute, a preeminent journalism training organization.
PolitiFact: Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate PolitiFact Left-Center Biased based on fact checks that tend to be more favorable for the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting and a credible fact-checker that is not without bias.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2007 by the Tampa Bay Times, PolitiFact.com utilizes reporters and editors from the Times and affiliated media outlets to "fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists, and interest groups." They publish original statements and their evaluations on the PolitiFact website and assign each a "Truth-O-Meter" rating. The ratings range from "True" for completely accurate statements to "Pants on Fire" (from the taunt "Liar, liar, pants on fire") for false and ridiculous claims. In 2018, PolitiFact became affiliated with the IFCN.
Funded by / Ownership
According to their "Who Pays For PolitiFact?" page [local copy, 2021-02]:
Who Pays For PolitiFact ?
(Last updated: February 2021)
PolitiFact is a nonpartisan fact-checking website to sort out the truth in American politics. PolitiFact was created by the Tampa Bay Times, a Florida newspaper, in 2007. In 2018, PolitiFact was acquired by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists.
You can view The Poynter Institute's most-recent public financial disclosure (IRS Form 990) here.
While PolitiFact relies on administrative support from the Poynter Institute, it is otherwise financially self-sustaining. It receives funding from online advertisements placed on the website. PolitiFact also receives compensation for selling its content to media publishers and companies. Organizations that contributed more than 5 percent of total PolitiFact revenues in the previous calendar year will be listed here:
/mnt/Vancouver/domains/persagen/04/docs/facebook.html
TikTok
PolitiFact also accepts grants, which are listed by calendar year below.
In 2017, PolitiFact launched a membership campaign called the Truth Squad to allow individual donations.
Accepting financial support does not mean PolitiFact endorses the products, services or opinions of its donors. Donors have no say in the ratings PolitiFact issues. PolitiFact does not give donors the right to review or edit content.
As part of PolitiFact's mission to remain transparent and independent, PolitiFact will disclose on this page any individual donation in excess of $1,000. PolitiFact does not accept donations from anonymous sources, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office, or any other source with a conflict of interest as determined by PolitiFact's executive director.
2020
See PolitiFact's 2020 annual report.
Individual donations to the Truth Squad: $585,069
Truth Squad members: 4,207
Truth Squad donations in excess of $1,000: 8
Bessie Rattner Foundation: $5,000
Community Foundation of New Jersey: $5,000
The Stelter Foundation: $2,000
Grounds for Promotion LLC: $1,150
Pryor, Jack: $2,500
Arens, Edward: $2,000
Beason, William: $1,500
Koenig, Ethan: $1,500
Democracy Fund: $75,000 (for general operating support)
Craig Newmark Philanthropies: $100,000 (misinformation coverage around COVID-19)
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust: $73,000 (fact-checking of the 2020 elections)
Google: $50,000 (fact-checking of coronavirus misinformation)
International Fact Checking Network: $39,319 (video fact-checking on coronavirus)
2019
Analysis
In review, PolitiFact has been called left-biased by some right-leaning sources. In fact, there is a conservative source called PolitiFact that is dedicated to pointing out PolitiFact's biases. PolitiFact is also a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which outlines a code of principles for credible fact-checkers.
PolitiFact uses minimally loaded language in their articles and headlines such as this: "Trump falsely claims NATO countries owe United States money for defense spending." They source information from credible media and/or direct statements from experts in the field or the politicians themselves. Despite Democrats currently controlling all branches of government, fact-checks continue to favor the left.
Bias
Editorially, PolitiFact does not directly produce op-eds; however, many fact-checks attempt to rationalize statements rather than stating directly if the statement was said and if it is true. For example, they fact-checked this statement by Republican Ted Cruz: "You didn't see Republicans when we had control of the Senate try to rig the game. You didn't see us try to pack the court." PolitiFact rated this claim false, and on many levels, it is false.
The Republicans clearly denied Democratic appointee Merrick Garland's confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States in 2016, and clearly rushed conservative Amy Coney Barrett through while they still had control of the Senate. They clearly tried to rig the game. However, it is not true that they tried to pack the court in the way Democrats are currently proposing. The Democrats are proposing adding four more seats to give them a majority over the court. The Republicans did not do this. They packed the court in a much different way. The claim should be rated mostly false or half true.
In reviewing PolitiFact for over 10 years now and using them as a primary fact-checking source for this website, we have seen this trend of rating Republicans more harshly on numerous occasions. This update moves PolitiFact to Left-Center Biased based on this reasoning.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date. They are an IFCN certified fact-checker.
Politico
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to Politico's content partnership with the South China Morning Post. Of additional concern, Politico was acquired by Axel Springer SE in 2021-10. Axel Springer SE is majority owned by KKR & Co. Inc. - which was co-founded by Republican Donald Trump supporter Henry Kravis. When KKR owned New York Magazine [now owned by Vox Media], Henry Kravis interfered in the editorial operation of that magazine (New York Magazine).  Axel Springer SE / Henry Kravis also owns Business Insider.
- see also: [CommonDreams.org, 2022-02-15] Private Equity Executives Hide Behind Philanthropy as Their Firms Ravage the Earth. The new report's co-author says it's a "serious problem" that executives can invest in fossil fuels and then "greenwash their reputations." | "The private equity industry largely evades public scrutiny, despite investing billions in fossil fuel investments." | "Private equity threatens to undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice."
Additional concern: media ownership by Axel Springer, which has minority stakeholder ownership of Group Nine Media, Inc. - thus associated with the Vox Media ecosystem via Vox Media's of 2021-12 purchase of Group Nine.
See also: Axios.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Politico Left-Center biased based on story selection and editorial positions that slightly favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2007 by two former The Washington Post Journalists John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei, Politico is a news and opinion website based in Virginia, USA. Currently, Matthew Kaminski is the editor-in-chief. In 2016, Jim VandeHei left Politico and is now the co-founder and CEO of Axios. They describe their vision as "Politico strives to be the dominant source for politics and policy in power centers across every continent where access to reliable information, non-partisan journalism, and real-time tools creates, informs and engages a global citizenry." It distributes content via the internet, the Politico newspaper, radio, and podcasts. In Washington, D.C., its coverage includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media, and the presidency. They also have their own bi-monthly magazine that covers politics, news, and opinions.
Funded by / Ownership
On 8/26/2021 German publisher, Axel Springer purchased Politico for a reported 1 billion dollars. Axel Springer owns numerous publications include Bild, Business Insider, and Fakt. Politico has a subscription-based service called Politico Pro, launched in 2010 for professionals, such as lobbyists and analysts, which provides policy intelligence coverage on technology, energy, and other sectors. Politico.com does not require a subscription and their print newspaper is available for free in locations throughout Washington D.C., however outside of Washington D.C., and overseas it is subject to a subscription fee. Both the website and print editions feature advertising.
Analysis / Bias
Both sides of the political spectrum have accused Politico of either having a left or right bias. For example, ...
... In review, Politico occasionally publishes listicles such as "All of Trump's Russia Ties, in 7 Charts." They also publish articles with minimally loaded words such as "Ocasio-Cortez warns Trump Jr. about subpoena power in response to the meme," and the source to credible media outlets such as Reuters and The New York Times. However, they sometimes use emotional headlines: Establishment looks to crush liberals on Medicare for All. Politico has a content partnership with the South China Morning Post, which we rate Mixed for factual reporting.
Editorially, Politico provides a balance of opinions in the past, as evidenced by the criticism they have received from both sides. However, since our last review, many more op-eds and news stories favor the left through story selection, and wording such as this: "Republicans gripped by dread as multiple crises swirl, and this Trump official pressured CDC to change report on COVID and kids." They generally report news factually and recently with a more left-leaning bias in both story selection and editorial positions.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Popular Information [Popular.info]
Wikipedia entry, 2021-10-27.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Popular Information Left Biased based on story selection and editorial content that routinely favors liberal causes. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 2018 by Judd Legum, Popular Information is a news and opinion blog that publishes a subscription newsletter. Judd Legum is the sole writer and was the original founder of the liberal news website, ThinkProgress, which is now defunct. Judd Legum also worked for the Clinton campaign in 2008. According to their about page "You won't just learn about who is up and who is down. You'll get in-depth information and perspective on the things that really matter."
Funded by / Ownership
Popular Information is held by Popular Information LLC, which is owned by Judd Legum. The newsletter is published through Substack, which charges subscription fees for newsletter creation. Therefore, revenue is generated through these subscriptions.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the website and newsletter publish news and opinion content with a left-leaning bias in story selection. Headlines sometimes contain moderately loaded language such as this: "The cover-up of the cover-up." Most articles are strongly sourced from credible outlets and information such as this: "An interview with the Ukrainians who created the 'I Love America' Facebook page." Editorially, Popular Information is liberal-progressive, with frequent negative reporting on conservatives and the Trump administration such as this, "How the Trump campaign scams its supporters on Facebook." In general, Popular Information is solidly left biased in both story selection and editorially, while usually properly sourced and factual.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Overall, we rate Popular Information Left Biased based on story selection and editorial content that routinely favors liberal causes. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Postmedia Network [Canada]
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to Postmedia Network's history of anti-transgender bias, American part-ownership, declining financials, ties to United States Republican Party and support of Donald Trump, ...
EXCLUDED π POSTMEDIA NETWORK PUBLICATIONS:
Wikipedia, 2020-09-18:
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former CanWest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news gathering and internet operations.
- Name: Postmedia Network Canada Corp.
- Founded: 2010-07-13
- Type: Public
- Traded as: TSX: PNC.A, PNC.B
- Industry: Mass media
- Predecessor: CanWest
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Products: Newspapers
- Revenue:
- (2018): $676 million CAD
- (2019): $619.6 million CAD (down from 2018)
- Owner: Chatham Asset Management (66%)
- Number of employees: 2,006
- Subsidiaries: Postmedia News
- Website: Postmedia.com
- Data above updated 2022-02-18.
The company's strategy has seen its publications invest greater resources in digital news gathering and distribution, including expanded websites and digital news apps for smartphones and tablets. This began with a revamp and redesign of the Ottawa Citizen, which debuted in 2014.
History
On 2010-07-13, the Manhattan-based hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management acquired the Asper family's bankrupt CanWest media empire for $1.1 billion.
On 2014-10-06 Postmedia's CEO Paul Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations of Sun Media. The purchase received regulatory approval from the federal Competition Bureau on 2015-03-25, even though the company manages competitive papers in several Canadian cities; while the Sun Media chain owns numerous other papers, four of its five Sun-branded tabloids operate in markets where Postmedia already publishes a broadsheet competitor. Board chair Rod Phillips has cited the Vancouver, British Columbia market, in which the two main daily newspapers, the Vancouver Sun, and The Province, have had common ownership for over 30 years, as evidence that the deal would not be anticompetitive. The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunct Sun News Network. The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on 2015-03-25 and closed on 2015-04-13.
Margo Goodhand, a former Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief, wrote in a 2016 Walrus article that Postmedia executives were behind outsourcing of Postmedia content to produce "Regina Leader-Post sports pages, arts fronts for the Montreal Gazette, editorial pages for the Vancouver Sun" to a site within an office in Canada.
In 2016, the company sought to restructure its compensation plans and reduce spending by as much as 20%, after reporting a net loss of $99.4 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, in the fourth-quarter ended Aug 31, compared with a $54.1 million net loss, or 19 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier. This resulted in 90 newsroom staff losing their jobs.
On 2017-11-27 Postmedia and Torstar announced a transaction in which Postmedia will sell seven dailies, eight community papers, and the Toronto and Vancouver 24 Hours to Torstar, in exchange for 22 community papers and the Ottawa and Winnipeg versions of Metro. Except for the Exeter Times-Advocate, St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Peterborough Examiner, and Welland Tribune, all acquired papers will be closed.
In 2018-03, the Competition Bureau issued a court filing accusing the two companies of structuring the deal with no-compete clauses in an effort to reduce competition in the newspaper industry, in violation of the Competition Act.
On 2018-06-26, the Canadian Press reported that, by the end of 2018-08 Postmedia will be closing the Camrose Canadian in Camrose, Alberta, Strathmore Standard in Strathmore, Alberta, Kapuskasing Northern Times in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Ingersoll Times in Ingersoll, Ontario, Norwich Gazette in Norwich, Ontario, and Petrolia Topic in Petrolia, Ontario. It will also cease printing the Portage Daily Graphic in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, the Northern News in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, and The Daily Observer in Pembroke, Ontario - while maintaining a digital presence for the three publications. As well, the High River Times in High River, Alberta will go from being published twice a week to once a week.
On 2018-11-27 The Competition Bureau applied for a court evaluation contesting Postmedia's claims of solicitor-client privilege, for records seized by the bureau during raids at the company's offices.
On 2019-06, Kevin Libin, the National Post and The Financial Post comments editor and editorials editor and a founding editor of the Western Standard, was assigned "executive editor of Postmedia politics." The role focuses on coverage for federal politics in the National Post. In addition, it focuses on coverage of federal politics and provincial politics within all of the dailies owned by Postmedia.
In 2019-11, Postmedia announced that 66% of its shares were now owned by Chatham Asset Management, an American media conglomerate which owns American Media, Inc., and is known for its close ties to the Republican Party.
[ ... snip ... ]
[CBC.ca, 2022-02-18] Telegraph-Journal, other Irving-owned N.B. newspapers to be sold to Postmedia. Brunswick News Inc. is being sold for $7.5M in cash and $8.6M in variable voting shares of Postmedia Network.
Brunswick News Inc., which publishes three daily newspapers and six weeklies in New Brunswick, Canada, has been sold to Ontario-based Postmedia Network Inc. (BNI). Postmedia announced Thursday night it has reached a deal with J.D. Irving Inc. to buy BNI, including its parcel delivery business. The papers produced by BNI include the following newspapers.
Telegraph-Journal
Times & Transcript in Moncton
Daily Gleaner in Fredericton
Miramichi Leader
Woodstock Bugle-Observer
Bathurst Northern Light
Kings County Record
Campbellton Tribune
Victoria Star in Grand Falls
James K. "Jim" Irving, co-CEO of J.D. Irving, Limited, is quoted in the news release as saying the sale "represents an exit from the media business" for J.D. Irving, Limited. The Irving family's involvement in media dates back to the 1930s, when K.C. Irving - Jim Irving's grandfather - purchased a Saint John, New Brunswick newspaper as he built an empire that also included forestry and forest products, oil and shipbuilding. Additional purchases led to the family owning every daily newspaper in New Brunswick except the French-language paper L'Acadie Nouvelle - although L'Acadie Nouvelle is printed by BNI.
Postmedia already owns more than 120 papers, including the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, and Ottawa Citizen. Andrew MacLeod, president and CEO of Postmedia, is quoted in the news release as saying the BNI papers have a proud history. "We look forward to continuing that legacy," he said. Phyllis Gelfand, spokesperson for Postmedia, said the company is "not doing interviews today." Postmedia said the deal to acquire Brunswick News is subject to closing conditions.
On 2022-02-17 Postmedia announced that it was buying Brunswick News Inc. (BNI). A definitive agreement between the parties set the sale price at "$7.5M in cash and $8.6M in variable voting shares of Postmedia at an implied price of $2.10 per variable voting share (subject to working capital adjustment)". BNI's co-CEO James K. Irving stated that the sale marked J.D. Irving, Limited's "exit from the media business". [Source: Wikipedia, 2022-02-18.]
Poynter Institute for Media Studies ["Poynter Institute"]
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include funding of the Poynter Institute from the notoriously neoliberal billionaire Charles Koch via the Charles Koch Institute, left-wing billionaire George Soros via the Open Society Foundations, and other wealthy contributors.
See also:
Main article.
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Poynter Institute Least Biased based on low emotional reporting and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies [Poynter] is a non-profit school for journalism located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper. The school began on May 29, 1975, and offers courses for journalists and students. The website was launched in 1999.
In 2015, the institute launched the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) dedicated to bringing together fact-checkers worldwide to support the growing number of initiatives by promoting best practices and exchanges in the field. The current President is Neil Brown.
Funded by / Ownership
The website is owned by the non-profit Poynter Institute for Media Studies. They are funded through tuition and donations. The website discloses donors who give over $50,000, including a diversified list such as the right-leaning Charles Koch Foundation and the left-leaning George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations.
Poynter's Top Funding Sources
Source for the following section: Poynter.org/major-funders/, 2021-09 | local copy, 2021-10-20
Last Updated: Sept. 2021
The Poynter Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit global leader in journalism, serving democracy through the teaching, practice, promotion and advocacy of ethical, independent reporting for all. We are the home of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, as well as three fact-checking enterprises - the International Fact-Checking Network, the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, and MediaWise [Poynter Institute; Poynter Institute description, Wikipedia].
We rely on support from several funding sources who value the essential role of the free press in our society, including corporate partners, philanthropic foundations, government agencies and individual donors. We prize our reputation for teaching and journalistic excellence, developed over more than four decades. To protect that reputation, we retain complete independent control over our editorial content, and teaching programs. Regardless of the funding model, Poynter's faculty and staff have final authority over our work, as outlined in our Ethics Policy.
While all gifts, no matter the size, help us fulfill our mission, we consider contributions of $50,000 or more as significant funding sources that should be revealed to the public. Sources are organized by area of support and listed alphabetically.
Gifts & Grants to Support Quality Journalism
Gifts help advance and preserve journalism's role in democracy by supporting relevant programs that set the standards for the industry's future. Together, we are improving the quality of journalism by investing in our programs that strengthen and sustain local news, elevate diverse voices in newsrooms and connect journalists and the citizens they serve.
Charles Koch Institute. Accelerating the careers of emerging journalists across the country through yearlong programs including Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship, and Poynter College Media Project.
Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Elevating discourse and fact-based expression while battling disinformation and bias at The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership
Gannett Foundation. Transforming the careers of hundreds of women in news media and tech through the Poynter Leadership Academy for Women in Media.
Gill Foundation. Providing unrestricted support to make good journalism better.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Expanding fact-checking training worldwide with the International Fact-Checking Network, serving more than 20 countries including Tunisia, Chile, Sri Lanka, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Fiji, Pakistan and Myanmar.
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Providing local newsrooms with transformational change consulting.
Lumina Foundation. Helping journalists tell more impactful stories through topical training.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Teaching journalists how to improve jails and policing coverage.
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust. Supporting journalistic excellence in a democratic society.
Rays Baseball Foundation. Providing sponsorship support at our annual gala for innovative programs that strengthen reporting.
Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Improving diversity and inclusion in news organizations to better serve audiences nationwide.
TEGNA Foundation. Providing access and resources to our high school journalism programs.
The Washington Post. Training journalists of color working in digital media to thrive, professionally and personally, through the Leadership Academy for Diversity in Media.
Organizational Training & Newsroom Consulting Clients
[ ... snip ... ]
Support for Content & Training to Strengthen Media Literacy
[ ... snip ... ]
2019 IRS Form 990
2018 IRS Form 990
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Poynter website features news related to the press and news industry. Headlines utilize mild to moderate loaded emotional language such as this: "Across the world, politicians promote conspiracy theories to get ahead." This story is properly sourced to scientific studies as well as the Least Biased Reuters. Poynter also established the International Fact-Checking Networksp (IFCN), which established a code of principles for fact-checking. In order to be a signatory of the IFCN, a media source must apply and adhere to its guidelines. Further, Poynter owns the fact-checker PolitiFact, which is also a part of the IFCN. In general, Poynter reports news with low bias and proper sourcing.
Failed Fact Checks
A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check. However, in May of 2019, Poynter published an article called UnNews, which listed 515 media sources deemed unreliable. This article was met with criticism due to the list containing some biased but credible sources. Within two days, Poynter retracted the article and issued an apology. Media Bias Fact Check covered this story, which you can read here.
Post Millennial, The [Canada]
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
The Post Millennial publishes national and local news and has a large amount of opinion content. The Post Millennial has been criticized for releasing misinformation and articles written by fake personas, for past employment of an editor with ties to white supremacist-platforming and pro-Kremlin media outlets, and for opaque funding and political connections.
DESPITE the conclusions from MediaBiasFactCheck.com, given the highly disconcerting Wikipedia entry and other media (web) reports, it is concluded that "The Post Millennial" is an internet trolling, disinformation site.
[FreshDaily.ca, 2020-09-08] Here's what you need to know about the "Hugs Over Masks" groups in Canada. | local copy (html, captured 2020-10-19)
PressProgress | PressProgress.ca [Canada]
Home page: PressProgress.ca
Wikipedia: PressProgress, 2022-02-07:
In 2013, the Broadbent Institute launched PressProgress, a news website.
Canadaland included PressProgress along with The Nectarine, North99.org, Ontario Proud, The Post Millennial, 'and SpencerFernando.com in its 2019 series - "Guide to new popular, populist political media" - in which they profiled "six relatively new startups that continue to grow more influential by the day in shaping political discourse in Canada." The series described the startups as "new operations" "looking to sway voters in the lead-up" to the 2019 Canadian federal election. Canadaland said that PressProgress regularly reports critical stories about Conservative Party of Canada politicians, business, and media organizations associated with right-wing politics.
In a 2017 Canadaland podcast with PressProgress editor Luke LeBrun and writer and producer Luke Savage, journalist Jesse Brown questioned the claim "that there were no formal links between the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) and the think tank", by pointing out that stories by PressProgress often "run parallel with NDP talking points and never criticize the NDP for non-progressive choices like supporting a west-to-east pipeline". They responded that they used "traditional tools of journalism, like access to information requests, fact-checking and seeking comment from politicians".
During the 2019 Canadian federal election, the Green Party of Canada filed a complaint to National NewsMedia Council after PressProgress published a report on the Green Party's stance on abortion.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Press Progress Left Biased based on story selection and wording that consistently favors the left and High for factual reporting due to strong sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH
History
Founded in 2013, Press Progress is an online news and analysis website, which is a project of the Broadbent Institute that seeks to provide an online Progressive Political news source. According to their about page "Our work focuses on investigative reporting, fact-checking and keeping tabs on issues that don't get enough attention. We aim to break original stories that Canada's big news outlets miss and advance stories on issues that matter to our progressive readership."
Funded by / Ownership
Press Progress is owned by the Broadbent Institute, which a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank. It was founded by Ed Broadbent in 2011. Press Progress is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Press Progress reports news and opinions that are favorable to the left. There is the frequent use of loaded language that favors the left such as this: "10 Cruel and Unusual Ways Doug Ford Has Made Life Worse 'For the People' of Ontario Since Last Year's Election." This story is appropriately sourced to credible outlets such as the Toronto Star, CBC, and the National Post. In general, story selection always favors the left and denigrates the right through the use of emotional language such as this: "Conservative Witness for 'Online Hate' Hearing Was a Recent Guest on a White Nationalist's YouTube Channel." This story is also properly sourced to credible media outlets, though the wording is emotional.
A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check.
PressProgress.ca:
About PressProgress
We're producing original, progressive journalism that holds Canada's rich and powerful accountable. PressProgress is a non-profit Canadian news organization that produces original reporting and critical analysis.
Our new coverage prioritizes under-covered topics that matter to our progressive readership and serve the public interest, including social and economic equality, environmental sustainability, democracy as well as a critical focus on fiscal and social conservative actors and ideas.
PressProgress was launched as a counter-balance to corporate ownership in Canadian media and the growing influence of right-wing think tanks.
Our head office is located in Ottawa, with reporters on the ground based in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and the Prairies.
Organizational Structure
PressProgress was founded in 2013 by the Broadbent Institute, an independent progressive organization dedicated to policy research, leadership training and promoting social democratic values.
PressProgress operates on a non-profit model and receives funding through the Broadbent Institute. Funding includes individual donations and a monthly donor program called the PressProgress Society.
All news content published by PressProgress is the original work of PressProgress' dedicated team and is produced according to PressProgress' ethics statement and journalistic standards.
Note; full-time editorial and reporting positions for PressProgress are governed under a collective agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers' local 1006-A.
Broadbent Institute
In 2013, the Broadbent Institute launched PressProgress, which describes itself as "Canada's most shared source for progressive news and information." CanadaLand's "Guide To New Popular, Populist Political Media" says that PressProgress regularly reports critical stories about politicians, business, and media organizations associated with right-wing politics. A 2017 podcast with PressProgress editor Luke LeBrun when questioning the Broadbent institute's role in coverage, noted that they used the "traditional tools of journalism, like access to information requests, fact-checking and seeking comment from politicians."
However, CanadaLand also reports that PressProgress was absent of any critical coverage of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Journalist Jesse Brown questioned the claim "that there were no formal links between the federal NDP and the think tank" by stating that "PressProgress' news stories often run parallel with NDP talking points and never criticize the NDP for non-progressive choices like supporting a west-to-east pipeline." During the 2019 federal election, the Green Party filed a complaint to National NewsMedia Council after a PressProgress report over the Green Party stance on abortion.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com:
History
Founded in 2013, Press Progress is an online news and analysis website, which is a project of the Broadbent Institute that seeks to provide an online Progressive Political news source. According to their about page "Our work focuses on investigative reporting, fact-checking and keeping tabs on issues that don't get enough attention. We aim to break original stories that Canada's big news outlets miss and advance stories on issues that matter to our progressive readership."
[MediaBiasFactCheck] Read our profile on Canada's media and government.
Funded by / Ownership
Press Progress is owned by the Broadbent Institute, which a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank. It was founded by Ed Broadbent in 2011. Press Progress is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Press Progress reports news and opinions that are favorable to the left. There is the frequent use of loaded language that favors the left such as this: "10 Cruel and Unusual Ways Doug Ford Has Made Life Worse 'For the People' of Ontario Since Last Year's Election." This story is appropriately sourced to credible outlets such as the Toronto Star, CBC, and the National Post. In general, story selection always favors the left and denigrates the right through the use of emotional language such as this: "Conservative Witness for 'Online Hate' Hearing Was a Recent Guest on a White Nationalist's YouTube Channel." This story is also properly sourced to credible media outlets, though the wording is emotional.
A factual search reveals they have not failed a fact check.
Overall, we rate Press Progress Left Biased based on story selection and wording that consistently favors the left and High for factual reporting due to strong sourcing and a clean fact check record. [2017-02-18 | updated 2019-07-06]
[PressProgress.ca, 2022-07-14] PressProgress Joins Canada's National NewsMedia Council. 'This is another step that proves PressProgress takes its commitment to accuracy and responsible journalistic practices seriously'.
[PressProgress.ca, 2024-02-14] PressProgress Hires New Associate Editor. Rumneek Johal takes on new role as PressProgress expands.
British Columbia Reporter, Rumneek Johal, will be stepping up to the role of PressProgress Associate Editor. Rumneek joined the PressProgress team in 2022, and hit the ground running with strong investigative work. Her award-nominated story on international students dying at alarming rates bolstered community conversations that encouraged real-world impact and prompted a government response. Before joining PressProgress, Rumneek received an MA in journalism from the University of British Columbia, and worked at CBC News, Daily Hive, Overstory Media, and more recently served as Editor-in-Chief at 5XPress.
PressProgress has evolved over the last decade into an outlet with full-time unionized journalists spanning across Canada, and adding staff capacity is part of the next phase of growth. Rumneek joined as a regional reporter, but has taken her investigations to specialize in Canada's overdose crisis and covering immigrant and diaspora communities - encouraging PressProgress to strengthen its mandate to produce impact-based journalism. "My motivation for being a reporter has always been to try to enact real world change, and tell stories that are often overlooked in mainstream media," Rumneek says. "In this role, I hope to further advance this objective, both individually and within PressProgress as an organization."
According to Publisher, Romy Garrido, Rumneek has been a valuable member of the PressProgress editorial team while demonstrating leadership and initiative early on. "When I joined PressProgress, I was inspired by what this team of journalists has accomplished," says Romy. "But there is potential to do even more. Rumneek will be an essential part of that project, I'm excited to work with her and take PressProgress to new heights."
PR Newswire
Wikipedia, 2022-01-05:
PR Newswire was a distributor of press releases headquartered in New York City. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, at first using teleprinters. The founder, Herbert Muschel, operated the service from his house in Manhattan for approximately 15 years. The business was eventually sold to Western Union, and then United Newspapers of London. In 2015-12 Cision Inc. announced it would acquire the company. On 2021-01-01, Cision Inc. formally merged PR Newswire into the company, ending its status as a legal entity after 66 years. Cision plans to continue utilizing the brand name for the foreseeable future in the United States, as well as in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2022-01-05: overall, we rate PR Newswire Least Biased based on publishing press releases from various outfits. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases based in New York City. PR Newswire was created in 1954 to allow companies to send press releases to news organizations electronically. According to PR Newswire's about page, their network reaches nearly 3,000 newsrooms, like The New York Times, ABC News, BuzzFeed, and more. PR Newswire sends content to more than 550 news content systems like Moody's [Moody's Investors Service], SmartBrief [In 2019-07 Future plc acquired SmartBrief - a digital media publisher of targeted business news and information - for an initial sum of $45 million.], LexisNexis, and McGraw-Hill [McGraw Hill Education].
Funded by / Ownership
Platinum Equity, LLC owns PR Newswire after purchasing Cision Ltd. (though Cision is still listed on the website as of this Media Bias Fact Check review in 2021). Revenue is derived through subscriptions to the service to publish press releases.
Analysis / Bias
In review, primarily, PR Newswire collects press releases from companies and organizations and then republishes them without alteration. Although they publish press releases from left-biased and right-biased organizations, they do not select or favor releases. Besides publishing press releases, PR Newswire publishes content geared toward helping companies market their brands. In general, PR Newswire remains neutral and publishes press releases without bias. While the press releases may be questionable, PR Newswire is a credible source for press releases without alteration.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
ProPublica
See also: The Markup.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Propublica Left-Center biased based on story selection that favors the left and factually High due to proper sourcing and evidence-based reporting.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
Propublica, headquartered in New York City, is a non-profit investigative journalism organization founded in 2007 by businessman Herbert Sandler and his partner and late wife, . They state their mission as: "To expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing." ...
... Propublica has won the Pulitzer Prize 4 times since 2010 and numerous other awards for journalism. On August 8th, 2018, they announced they would expand their local reporting network to focus on State Governments.
Funded by / Ownership
Herbert Sandler is the Founding Chairman of ProPublica. In addition to Sandler Foundation, which was formed in 1991 by Herbert Sandler and Marion Sandler and provided initial financial support ( $30 million for the first three years), Propublica has also received funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society [George Soros' Open Society Foundations], among others. The complete donor list is here, and the annual financial statement here. As a nonprofit news organization, Propublica is primarily funded by individual donations and online advertising.
Analysis
Propublica partners with 47 sources, including reputable left-leaning news organizations such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Politico, Bloomberg News, NPR, PBS, ABC, BBC, Miami Herald, and many others to produce and publish stories, and unless otherwise stated most of their stories are available for reprint under a Creative Commons license.
As a philanthropist, Herbert Sandler has donated approximately $1.5 billion in support of organizations involved in medical research, civil liberties groups such as the ACLU, and scientific research, especially for diseases that affect low-income people, the environment, and human rights. According to a Vanity Fair article and The Washington Post, Herbert Sandler is an influential Clinton donor.
[ ... snip ... ]
Project Veritas
Wikipedia: Project Veritas.
Project Veritas is an American far-right activist group founded by James Edward O'Keefe III in 2010. The group produces deceptively edited videos of its undercover operations, which use secret recordings in an effort to discredit mainstream media organizations and progressive groups. Project Veritas also uses entrapment to generate bad publicity for its targets, and has propagated disinformation and conspiracy theories in its videos and operations.
[ ... snip ... ]
As a non-governmental organization, Project Veritas is financed by conservative fund DonorsTrust (which provided over $6.6 million from 2011 to 2019) and other supporters including the Donald J. Trump Foundation. In 2020, The New York Times published an exposΓ© detailing Project Veritas' use of spies recruited by Erik Prince, to infiltrate "Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda". The New York Times piece notes O'Keefe's and Prince's close links to the Trump administration, and details contributions such as a $1 million transfer of funds from an undisclosed source to support their work. The findings were based in part on discovery documents in a case brought by the American Federation of Teachers, Michigan, which had been infiltrated by Project Veritas.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Project Veritas Right Biased and Questionable based on the promotion of misleading videos and several failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2010, Project Veritas was created by James Edward O'Keefe III, an American conservative political activist. He produces secretly recorded undercover audio and video encounters, some selectively edited to imply its subjects said things they did not, with figures and workers in academic, governmental, and social service organizations, purporting to show abusive or allegedly illegal behavior by employees and/or representatives of those organizations. Project Veritas primarily targets liberals and liberal organizations.
In April 2021, Project Veritas was permanently suspended by Twitter for violating its "platform manipulation and spam policy," suggesting he was operating multiple accounts in an unsanctioned way. O'Keefe has already announced that he will sue the company for defamation as he claims to have only one account.
History
Founded in 2010, Project Veritas was created by James Edward O'Keefe III, an American conservative political activist. He produces secretly recorded undercover audio and video encounters, some selectively edited to imply its subjects said things they did not, with figures and workers in academic, governmental, and social service organizations, purporting to show abusive or allegedly illegal behavior by employees and/or representatives of those organizations. Project Veritas primarily targets liberals and liberal organizations.
In April 2021, Project Veritas was permanently suspended by Twitter for violating its "platform manipulation and spam policy," suggesting he was operating multiple accounts in an unsanctioned way. O'Keefe has already announced that he will sue the company for defamation as he claims to have only one account.
Funded by / Ownership
James O'Keefe owns project Veritas. Funding primarily comes from donations. However, most of these donations come from the DonorsTrust. The purpose of the Donor's Trust Fund is to "safeguard the intent of libertarian and conservative donors." In other words, it allows the source to receive funds without disclosing who they come from ["dark money"]. Needless to say, most funding for Project Veritas comes from conservative and libertarian organizations.
[ ... snip ... ]
Quanta Magazine
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Quanta Magazine a low-biased Pro-Science source that is Very High in factual reporting.
Bias Rating: PRO-SCIENCE | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2012, Quanta Magazine is a hard science news site founded by the Simons Foundation and focused on recent advances in physics, mathematics, biology, and computer science. As their About page states, "Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism."
Funded by / Ownership
The Simons Foundation owns and publishes Quanta Magazine. Advertising and an online store generate revenue.
Analysis / Bias
Quanta Magazine takes complex subjects and presents them so that laypeople can understand without simplifying the subject matter or sacrificing the basic content. The articles on Quanta Magazine are well written, factual, well-sourced, and authored by experts in their respective fields. Headlines are presented with minimal bias and explain the content of the articles, such as this: "Turing Patterns Turn Up in a Tiny Crystal."
Editorially, they rarely publish anything political and stick to science.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Quillette [Australia]
π STOP! Excluded from sources. due to libertarian bias, conspiratorial content including hoax articles, promulgation of culture wars including homophobia, transphobia, anti-theism; misogyny; pseudo-science (including climate change denial); racism; association and promotion of right-wing figures and conspiracy theorists; ...
See also main article: Quillette.
Wikipedia: Quillette, 2023-01-30:
Quillette is an online magazine founded by Australian journalist Claire Lehmann. Quillette primarily focuses on science, technology, news, culture, and politics. Quillette also has a podcast, hosted by Jon Kay [Jonathan Kay].
Quillette was created in 2015 to focus on scientific topics, but has come to focus on coverage of political and cultural issues concerning freedom of speech and identity politics. Quillette has been described as libertarian-leaning. A 2021 study found Quillette's website to be the 14th most influential internet domain in Australia.
History
Quillette was launched in October 2015 in Sydney, Australia, by Claire Lehmann. Quillette is named after the French word "quillette" - which means a withy cutting planted so that it takes root - used here as a metaphor for an essay. Claire Lehmann stated that Quillette was created with the aim of "setting up a space where we could critique the blank slate orthodoxy" - a theory of human development which assumes individuals are largely products of nurture, not nature - but that it "naturally evolved into a place where people critique other aspects of what they see as left-wing orthodoxy".
In August 2017, Quillette published an article written by four academics in support of James Damore's "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber" memo. Quillette's website was temporarily disabled. According to Claire Lehmann, this was caused by a DDoS attack after publishing the piece.
In a profile of Quillette, Politico reported that Claire Lehmann knew about the grievance studies affair before it was first reported in October 2018, and was part of planning how to "fan the flames" of that controversy with the Quillette's subsequent story defending the hoax.
In May 2019, Quillette published an article that alleged connections between antifa activists and national-level reporters who cover the far-right based on the accounts these reporters followed on Twitter. Shane Burley and Alexander Reid Ross - who were mentioned in the article - said that they and other journalists received death threats after the claims were published.
In August 2019, Quillette published a hoax article titled "DSA Is Doomed" submitted by an anonymous writer claiming to be a construction worker named Archie Carter who was critical of the organisation Democratic Socialists of America. Quillette retracted the article after the hoax was brought to its attention. According to socialist magazine Jacobin [Jacobin Magazine], the hoax brought Quillette's fact-checking and editorial standards into question.
Quillette has, controversially, published articles supporting the "Human Biodiversity Movement" (HBM). HBM refers to beliefs that human behaviors are impacted by inherited genes, and certain predispositions are unique to certain ethnic groups. Quillette published articles supporting Noah Carl. Quillette has been accused of promoting eugenics.
Podcasts
Quillette publishes two podcasts: Quillette that began in 2018, and a second podcast, Wrongspeak, launched in May 2018 and hosted by Quillette associate editor Jonathan Kay and Debra W. Soh. Wrongspeak is about "the things we believe to be true but cannot say".
Guests have included Jordan Peterson, Coleman Hughes, James Damore, Lindsay Shepherd, Susan Bradley, Ed the Sock, Adrienne Batra, Steven Pinker, Bill Kristol, Michael Shermer, Matthew Goodwin, Irshad Manji, Sir Roger Scruton, Claire Fox, Francis Fukuyama, Peter Boghossian, Douglas Murray, Brian C. Kalt, and David Frum.
Reception
In an article for The Outline, writer Gaby Del Valle classifies Quillette as "libertarian-leaning", "academia-focused" and "a hub for reactionary thought." In the Seattle newspaper The Stranger, Katie Herzog writes that Quillette has won praise "from both Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins", adding that "most of the contributors to Quillette are academics, but the site reads more like a well researched opinion section than an academic journal". In an opinion piece for USA Today, columnist Cathy Young describes Quillette as "libertarian-leaning". An article in Vice [Vice Media] described Quillette as a "libertarian magazine".
Politico and Vox reported that Quillette has been associated with the "intellectual dark web," a term used - according to Politico - to describe "a loose cadre of academics, journalists and tech entrepreneurs who view themselves as standing up to the knee-jerk left-leaning politics of academia and the media." Writing for The New York Times [The New York Times], Bari Weiss referred to Claire Lehmann as a figure in the "intellectual dark web".
Writing for The Guardian [The Guardian], Jason Wilson describes Quillette as "a website obsessed with the alleged war on free speech on campus". Writing for The Washington Post [The Washington Post], Aaron Hanlon describes Quillette as a "magazine obsessed with the evils of ' critical theory' and postmodernism". Writing for New York magazine [New York Magazine]'s column The Daily Intelligencer, in 2018 Andrew Sullivan described Quillette as "refreshingly heterodox." In a piece for Slate [Slate Magazine], Daniel Engber suggested that while some of its output was "excellent and interesting", the average Quillette story "is dogmatic, repetitious, and a bore". Daniel Engber wrote that Quillette describes "even modest harms inflicted via groupthink - e.g., dropped theater projects, flagging book sales, condemnatory tweets - as 'serious adversity'", arguing that various authors in Quillette engage in the same victim mentality that they attempt to criticise. In an article for The Daily Beast [The Daily Beast], writer Alex Leo described Quillette as "a site that fancies itself intellectually contrarian but mostly publishes right-wing talking points couched in grievance politics".
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: Quillette, 2021-05-19:
Reasoning: Pseudoscience, Poor Sourcing, Failed Fact Checks | Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | Country: Australia (25/180 Press Freedom) | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
Overall, we rate Quillette Questionable based on the promotion of racial pseudoscience, the use of poor sources, and failed fact checks.
History
Founded in 2015 by Claire Lehmann, Quillette is an Australian online magazine that primarily focuses on science, technology, news, culture, and politics.
According to their about page, "Quillette is a platform for free thought. We respect ideas, even dangerous ones. We also believe that free expression and the free exchange of ideas help human societies flourish and progress. Quillette aims to provide a platform for this exchange."
Funded by / Ownership
Quillette states on their about page that they are a "for-profit venture and funded primarily through reader donations. We also receive modest funding through online advertising via Amazon Affiliates."
Analysis
In review, Quillette is a right-leaning blog that features lengthy, well-written articles. Headlines occasionally utilize loaded language such as this: "Cowardice at Columbia". This story is also properly sourced to credible local media and provides video evidence. In another article, "Jordan Peterson And the New Chivalry", Quillette reports favorably on [transphobe] Jordan Peterson, who has made several anti-feminist statements and has called for "enforced monogamy," and "The people who hold that our culture is an oppressive patriarchy, they don't want to admit that the current hierarchy might be predicated on competence".
QuilletteEditor-in-Chief and Founder Claire Lehmann is considered a part of the Intellectual Dark Web - a term used to describe a "group of public personalities who oppose what they see as the dominance of progressive identity politics and political correctness in the media and academia." The primary mission of the Intellectual Dark Web is to reject political correctness, and embrace a free-thinking discussion of controversial topics. Further, according to the left-leaning Village Voice, Claire Lehmann, believes "nationalism is the antidote to racism" and claims to have been "blacklisted" for "criticizing feminism".
Bias
In general, Quillette promotes right-leaning positions such as anti-feminism and questionable viewpoints regarding racism. For example, in this article, they state, "Racist attitudes of whites towards Blacks have long become socially unacceptable in America, although the reverse, racism of a minority directed at the white majority, is still tolerated or even encouraged". ... Reverse racism is controversial and disputed by some. It is certainly possible for minorities to be prejudiced against whites; however, some believe racism requires "systematic oppression built into the government, institutions and social structures. Without this factor of systematic oppression, there cannot be racism." This article also talks at length about IQ differences between whites and Blacks and, while not definitively stating it, repeats over and over that genetics are a factor in racial IQ differences (hereditarianism, which is a pseudoscientific viewpoint).
Further, on May 29, 2019, Quillette published an article by Eoin Lenihan, claiming "connections between anti-fascist activists and national-level reporters who cover the far-right." According to Columbia Journalism Review, Eoin Lenihan "identified himself as an online extremism researcher, despite having no association with any previously known organization that researches extremism. In reality, Eoin Lenihan was already an established right-wing troll, now blanket banned for 'violating rules against managing multiple Twitter accounts for abusive purposes.'" When asked by Columbia Journalism Review if the information contained in the story was fact-checked, Quillette declined to comment.
Failed Fact Checks
"On Behalf Of Environmentalists, I Apologize For The Climate Scare." - Low Scientific Credibility
"Police in Portland, Oregon determined that anti-fascist activists mixed quick-dry concrete and caustic chemicals into milkshakes that were both thrown and consumed." - False
"People who confronted an elderly woman as she attempted to cross a street using a walker were allied with anti-fascist (or "antifa") movements." - No Evidence
Quillette is favored by several homophobic British Columbia Liberal Party members, as well as neoliberal luddites in Alberta, including Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party; e.g.:
Transphobe Jonathan Kay, the Canadian editor for Quillette, was formerly a blogger for the National Post. Transphobic collusion among { National Post | Quillette | Jonathan Kay } manifests in the following disingenuous "debate" - which somehow involves Jonathan Kay defending Meghan Murphy.
Transphobic trolls Meghan Murphy, and Jordan Peterson have both written for Quillette
rabble.ca [Canada]
See main entry: rabble.ca
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
Raw Story, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to tabloid journalism, and other concerns (below).
Website: RawStory.com
Wikipedia
See also: AlterNet
Salon republishes some content from: AlterNet | Raw Story | ...
The Raw Story (also stylized as RawStory) is an American online tabloid founded in 2004 by John K. Byrne. It covers current national and international political events and publishes its own editorials which tend to advocate for progressive positions. The Raw Story is a news site, bringing attention to stories that it sees as downplayed or ignored by other media outlets. It is owned by Raw Story Media, Inc.
Citation in other media
The Raw Story has been reported on and featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, LA Weekly, the New York Post, the The Toronto Star, The Hill, Rolling Stone, The Advocate, Roll Call, and Mother Jones. With an average 10.7 million readers per month (2015), the site is described by Newsweek as, "Muck, raked: If you're looking for alleged GOP malfeasance, the folks at RawStory.com are frequently scooping the mainstream media."
On August 4, 2008, the Online News Association announced that RawStory.com was a finalist in the 2008 Online Journalism awards in the "Investigative, Small Site" category for the story, "The permanent Republican majority," about improper partisan influence in the prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama.
The website's original reporting has also been referenced by MSNBC's Ed Schultz and Lawrence O'Donnell, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It was also referenced in 2011 by The Telegraph [The Daily Telegraph] newspaper, as being the news website that first revealed a contract had been awarded to Ntrepid by United States Central Command as part of Operation Earnest Voice, intended to deploy operatives to create fake online personas abroad.
Management
According to the site's masthead, as of July 2018, the editor and publisher is Roxanne Cooper. Other editors include Eric W. Dolan, managing editor, and senior editors David Edwards, Travis Gettys, Martin Cizmar, Tana Ganeva and Sarah Burris.
Raw Story Media, Inc.
Raw Story is wholly owned by Raw Story Media, Inc.
John K. Byrne - founder, chairman and CEO, partner; and,
Michael Rogers - vice chairman and managing director, partner.
Raw Story partners John K. Byrne and Michael Rogers announced on April 2, 2018, that they had acquired AlterNet via a newly created company "AlterNet Media." Byrne stated, "AlterNet will continue to carry content from the Independent Media Institute, its prior owner, and former AlterNet writers may appear with Independent Media Institute bylines.
On 2018-04-09, it was announced that AlterNet was acquired by owners of Raw Story, an online news organization, under the newly created company AlterNet Media. In an online statement, Raw Story founder John K. Byrne stated, "AlterNet will continue to carry content from the Independent Media Institute, its prior owner. Thus, much of the content you expect will remain the same. You will see articles by former AlterNet writers appearing with the Independent Media Institute byline." [Source: Wikipedia, 2021-10-15.]
Raw Story, MediaBiasFactCheck, 2020-09-09. Factual Reporting: MIXED
Left Bias. These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.
Overall, we rate Raw Story "Left Biased" based on story selection that favors the left and "Mixed" for factual reporting due to half-true, false and unproven claims, as well as promotion of mild pseudoscience misinformation.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Raw Story is mostly a news aggregation site that aggregates news from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Raw Story also summarizes news from other sources such as this: "Irate customer drags salon owner 50 feet to her death after running out on manicure without paying." Infrequently, they publish original stories such as this: "Trans activist detained in Arizona and threatened with deportation due to bureaucratic catch-22." Raw Story consistently utilizes strong emotionally loaded headlines such as "Trump insists border wall will be 'all concrete' - except where it's 'see-through': 'Makes sense to me!'," and "MSNBC's Morning Joe mocks 'confused' Trump over shutdown boasts: 'Voters are blaming him'".
When it comes to sourcing, Raw Story generally sources to credible media outlets such as the Washington Blade, Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. In general, story selection always favors the left and frequently has an anti-Trump tone. Raw Story has published misleading articles that promote miracle cures such as this one: "Scientists discover virus that kills all grades of breast cancer 'within seven days'." This headline is misleading, as within the article they clearly state "but not in normal mammary epithelial cells." When it comes to consensus science, they sometimes promote anti-GMO propaganda, however they also publish credible scientifically sound information as well.
A factual search reveals a Half-True claim from PolitiFact as well as a false claim and an Unproven claim with Snopes.
Overall, we rate Raw Story Left Biased based on story selection that favors the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to a half-true, false and unproven claims, as well as promotion of mild pseudoscience misinformation. (5/15/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 7/26/2019)
Real News Network, The
The Real News Network, Wikipedia, 2023-04-04:
The Real News Network (TRNN) is an independent, nonprofit news organization based in Baltimore, MD that covers both national news and international news.
History
The Real News Network (TRNN) was founded by documentary producer Paul Jay and Mishuk Munier in 2003-09, with the goal of creating a news network that made complicated concepts accessible to the average person.
TRNN moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 2014-06, with the focus of telling stories about urban America - specifically focusing on Baltimore's issues, including crime, education, and housing that are found throughout the United States. Communications executive John Duda became the TRNN's executive director in 2020-06.
TRNN does not accept funding from advertising, governments, or corporations - it is sustained through donations from viewers and foundations, and has a small for-profit segment.
Content
The Real News Network (TRNN) produces five-to-seven minute news reports available online or video on demand.
In 2016, former Black Panther Party Marshall "Eddie" Conway became the host and producer of "Rattling the Bars" - a weekly investigative program about prison systems in the US and abroad.
Independent journalist Michael Fox's podcast "Brazil on Fire" is a joint project of The Real News Network and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA).
Staff
Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez was formerly a temporary warehouse worker, an experience which he says impacts whose stories he covers and how.
Reporters Stephen Janis and Taya Graham were some of the first journalists to cover the story of Anton Black, a 19 year old who died after being pinned to the ground by police in rural Maryland.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Chris Hedges records his weekly digital television show, The Chris Hedges Report, in cooperation with The Real News Network.
Boston Globe climate reporter Dharna Noor previously led the climate team at TRNN.
The Real News Network, MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2022-12-18: overall, we rate The Real News Network (TRNN) Left biased based on story selection that favors the left but with minimally loaded wording. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to strong sourcing and a clean fact-check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY | FREE Media Type: Organization/Foundation | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Failed Fact Checks: none in the last 5 years.
Reason (magazine)
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to pronounced libertarian bias, funding from the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation [Koch Family Foundations] and the Sarah Scaife Foundation [Scaife Family Foundations], criticism of Jacobin magazine, and climate change denial.
Website: About Reason.
Wikipedia: Reason (magazine).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com [2021-04-07]: Reason: overall, we rate Reason ("Reason Magazine") Right-Center biased based on story selection that favors libertarian positions and High for factual reporting due to mostly proper sourcing, and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA (45/180 Press Freedom) | Media Type: Magazine | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Reason is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. Reason has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune. Reason was founded in 1968 by Lanny Friedlander and offers the tagline "free minds and free markets," covering politics, culture, and ideas with a mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. The current editor is Katherine Mangu-Ward.
Funded by / Ownership
Reason Magazine is owned and published by the Reason Foundation, an American libertarian think tank founded in 1978. Reason is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, supported by donations and publication sales. According to disclosures, its largest donors are the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation ($1,522,212) [Koch Family Foundations] and the Scaife Family Foundations ($2,016,000) [Sarah Scaife Foundation].
Analysis / Bias
In review, Reason Magazine utilizes moderately loaded emotional language in their headlines and articles such as this: "The Winningest Losers in Trump's Trade War." Although this article is clearly an opinion piece, it does not provide hyperlinked sources to support its claims. In another article on their "Hit and Run Blog" titled: "Trump Blames Hurricanes for Growing Budget Deficit. Entitlements Are the Real Problem," Reason utilizes numerous credible hyperlinked sources to support their claims.
Editorially, Reason takes Libertarian positions such as low taxes, free markets, low regulations, and socially liberal positions such as marijuana legalization and pro-abortion rights. Politically, Reason falls within the Right-Center category based on economic positions (right-wing) and socially liberal positions (left-wing). These positions often put Reason Magazine at odds with President Donald Trump's agenda regarding tariffs and free trade.
When it comes to low regulations, Reason Magazine resists taking action on climate change [climate change denial]. Although Reason does not deny climate change is occurring and influenced by humans [anthropogenic climate change], Reason minimizes the impact in favor of fewer regulations.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Rebel News [Canada]
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Notorious conspiracy, disinformation and troll site similar to Breitbart News.
See: Rebel News
Notable associations:
The Register
website | Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Register Least Biased based on minimal editorializing. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1994, The Register is a British Technology news and opinion site based in London, U.K. The Register was founded by Mike Magee, John Lettice, and Ross Alderson and published by Situation Publishing Ltd. The Register provides news coverage related to software, hardware, networking, science, tech culture, and IT.
Funded by / Ownership
Situation Publishing Ltd. owns and publishes The Register. Advertising generates revenue.
Analysis / Bias
The Register publishes news related to software, hardware, networking, science, tech culture, and IT. They utilize minimally loaded words in their articles, and they do present low biased coverage of science news and source verifiable credible sources.
Editorially, they have regular columnists who produce opinion pieces that usually stay away from politics. In general, they are considered least biased and could also fit into the pro-science category.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Regnery Publishing
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Notorious conspiracy theory, disinformation site, owned by Salem Media Group.
See: Salem Media Group subentry, this page.
See also main article: Regnery Publishing.
Responsible Statecraft
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to funding of Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, launched 2019-11 with funding that included half a million dollars each from the Open Society Foundations (George Soros) and the Koch Foundation (Charles Koch).
ResponsibleStatecraft.org: About; "Responsible Statecraft is the online magazine of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Responsible Statecraft publishes outside contributors and reporters as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news to promote a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy - and the ideologies and interests behind them - that have mired the United States in counterproductive and endless wars and made the world less secure. ..."
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Formation: 2019 | Type: 501(c)(3) organization | Tax ID no.: 84-2285143 | Website; QuincyInst.org
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is a U.S. think tank founded in 2019 and located in Washington, D.C., named after former U.S. president John Quincy Adams. It has been described as " realist" and advocating for "restraint" in U.S. foreign policy.
History
Initial funding for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, in November 2019-11, includes half a million dollars each from the Open Society Foundations (George Soros) and the Koch Foundation (Charles Koch).
The think tank (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft) is named after U.S. President John Quincy Adams, who as Secretary of State said, in a speech on 1821-07-04, that the U.S. "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy." The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft has been described as " realist" and advocating for "restraint" in orientation.
David Klion writes: "Quincy's founding members say again and again that 9/11 and the Iraq War were turning points in their careers."
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft has been described as having significant agreements with the foreign policy of the Trump administration.
Criticism
Writing in Survival - the journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies - international relations experts Daniel Deudney and John Ikenberry criticized the "restraints" that the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft advocates for as "outdated" and "misplaced." They find that the Quincy Institute is unaware of great power competition, and how it has changed since the early 2000s post-Cold War moment. Daniel Deudney and John Ikenberry argue that the Quincy Institute discards liberal internationalism, even though it would offer a more historically effective basis for institution-based restraint, than transactional agreements between states supported by the geopolitical restraint school [restraint of trade, a common law doctrine relating to the enforceability of contractual restrictions on freedom to conduct business. It is a precursor of modern competition law.].
In 2020-01, Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton accused the Quincy Institute of antisemitism, describing the Quincy Institute as an "isolationist, blame America First money pit for so-called scholars who've written that American foreign policy could be fixed if only it were rid of the malign influence of Jewish money." Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft president Andrew Bacevich described Tom Cotton's claim as "absurd."
The Jerusalem Post identified a number of fellows of the Quincy Institute who have been controversial due to their comments on Israel and Jews, including Lawrence Wilkerson, Stephen Walt, and John Mearsheimer. Eugene Kontorovich has said many Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft scholars singled out Jews and Israel for "special opprobrium" [opprobrium: disgrace arising from exceedingly shameful conduct].
According to an 2021-04 Tablet article, Quincy Institute fellows have taken public positions denying the Uyghur genocide.
Co-founders
According to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, its co-founding leaders include:
Andrew Bacevich, President
Eli Clifton [local copy], Senior Advisor
Suzanne DiMaggio [local copy | spouse: Ben Allison, American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator], Chairman
Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President
Stephen Wertheim [local copy]
Texas Observer, The
Last updated: 2024-01-24
Home page: The Texas Observer
Wikipedia: The Texas Observer
Media Bias Fact Check: The Texas Observer
Texas Tribune, The
Last updated: 2024-01-24
Home page: The Texas Tribune
Wikipedia: The Texas Tribune
Media Bias Fact Check: The Texas Tribune
[TexasTribune.org, 2024-01-24] T-Squared: A message from our CEO. A group of Tribune employees has announced their intent to unionize.
A group of Texas Tribune employees has announced their intent to unionize. A group of colleagues has shared with us their intent to form a Texas Tribune union. Our response is simple. If Texas Tribune employees want to be represented by a union, we will respect their right to representation. We will now start the process of working through the details of this request. When completed, we will respect the employees' decision. I do want everyone involved to understand there is a legal process, and it will require some time. We respect our colleagues' right to collectively bargain. Free, trustworthy and reliable news and information make Texas a better, healthier, more vibrant place to live and work. We have provided quality journalism for 14 years and will continue to do this important work together.
Reuters
Wikipedia | Controversies
See also:
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Reuters Least Biased based on objective reporting and Very High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information with minimal bias and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
In April 2008, the British company Reuters Group was acquired by Thomson Corporation and formed Thomson Reuters. Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, which is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals and is owned by The Woodbridge Company Limited - a Canadian private holding company based in Toronto and the principal and controlling shareholder (62.35% of common shares) of Thomson Reuters, and is the principal and controlling shareholder of Reuters - see Fact Book 2017 (pg 83) and Annual Report 2017. The chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters is James (Jim) C. Smith, and the chairman is David Thomson, who is also a Chairman of The Woodbridge Company Limited.
Analysis / Bias
In 2018, Reuters was named the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes on international reporting for exposing the methods of police killing squads in Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs and for feature photography documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh. ...
Failed Fact Checks
Reuters is a certified IFCN Fact-Checker.
Revolving Door Project
Project of: The Center for Economic and Policy Research
theRevolvingDoorProject.org
"The Revolving Door Project (RDP), a project of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement.
"Many of the deep rules that govern our rigged economy are written within the executive branch and outside the purview of most of civil society. From the semi-independent bureaus of the Treasury Department (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the IRS) to the Federal Reserve, OMB, FTC, and beyond, executive branch personnel play a significant role in determining the fundamental rules that govern our economy.
"The Revolving Door Project educates civil society in order to counteract the advantage that Wall Street and corporate America have in this rule writing process. We do this by alerting and educating the media and activists when hardworking people are being taken advantage of and clarifying by whom. If we want the executive branch to write rules that structure the economy away from rent extraction and in the direction of greater economic equality, we need to ensure the right people hold key executive branch positions like the Treasury Secretary and SEC Commissioner. The executive branch needs to empower dedicated civil servants rather than self-interested people rotating between relatively short stints in government and longer stints in the very industries they're supposed to regulate."
Rewire News Group
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Rewire News Group Left Biased based on reporting and policy positions that almost always favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Rewire News Group is a website focused on reproductive and sexual health from a pro-reproductive rights perspective. The website began as a UN Foundation blog in 2006 and became its own nonprofit organization in January 2012. The publication focuses on reproductive and sexual health from a pro-reproductive rights perspective. It also covers issues such as racial, environmental, immigration, and economic justice. According to their about page "We publish news, analysis, and investigative reporting created by professional journalists, editors, and multimedia experts. We also offer vigorous commentary, debate, and opinion rooted in fact and considered thinking."
The current President and editor is Galina Espinoza.
Funded by / Ownership
Rewire.news is a nonprofit organization that is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Rewire News Group primarily covers reproductive news with moderately loaded words such this: Telemedicine Abortion Is Safe, No Matter What Anti-Choice Lawmakers Claim. This story is properly sourced to medical journals as well as the think tank Guttmacher Institute and Amnesty International. Other stories cover economic justice such as this: "Trump's Newest Plan for SNAP Would Trap Workers in Poverty." Again, this is sourced properly to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. When it comes to science they support the consensus on climate change. In general, Rewire News Group reports news with a strong left-leaning political bias but properly sources their information to factual content.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Ricochet.com
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
"Ricochet.com" ["dot com"] is an online disinformation source that includes content and discussion (e.g.) associated with the disinformation troll Mark Steyn.
Ricochet.media ["dot media;" below] - a high quality, reputable Canadian news site - makes no mention of Mark Steyn.
Wikipedia entry.
Ricochet.com is an online community portal founded as a "politics website intended to resemble Facebook and Twitter." It is a subscription site which has articles posted by contributors and members on which members can comment and discuss the issues raised. The site describes itself as a place for "center-right conversation" and is listed on a libertarian website as being for "Conservative/National Review Types." Members pay a fee to post and comment on the website.
The site was started in May 2010 and founded by Rob Long and Peter Robinson. Its flagship podcast is hosted by Long, Robinson, and Minneapolis writer James Lileks. Bethany Mandel is one of the current editors. Past editors have included Mollie Hemingway and Claire Berlinski.
Ricochet.com serves as a host for conservative podcasts including ones produced by National Review. In 2016, the site grouped its podcasts into the Ricochet Network which can be downloaded on a group feed. Some of the podcasts are hosted or led by conservative-leaning figures such as Bill Bennett, James Delingpole, Richard Epstein, Erick Erickson, Jim Geraghty, Jonah Goldberg, Victor Davis Hanson, Steve Hayward, Andrew Klavan, Jay Nordlinger, Larry O'Connor, John Podhoretz, Byron York, John Yoo, and Toby Young.
Ricochet.media
Ricochet.media
Ricochet.media ["dot media"] is a high quality, reputable Canadian news site.
"Ricochet.com" ["dot com"] is an online disinformation source that includes content and discussion (e.g.) associated with the disinformation troll Mark Steyn.
Ricochet.media: About
We practise public-interest journalism.
Media concentration, layoffs, advertising so pervasive it becomes the content: the world of journalism is in crisis. Ricochet is an audacious response to a difficult context. Independent, dedicated to investigative journalism and incisive opinion, Ricochet seeks to illuminate the cultural and political diversity within Canada.
Ricochet is the product of collaboration between anglophones and francophones in a plurinational Canada, informed by an understanding of our colonial histories and supportive of contemporary Indigenous struggles. Bringing together English and French, Ricochet is composed of two distinct editions that maintain editorial independence.
Crowdfunded and serving the public interest, Ricochet provides entirely free content, contrary to the current tendency to hide information behind paywalls. By supporting a new model of media, our readers are financing real independent journalism.
Founded in 2014, Ricochet is a multiplatform news outlet, with offices in Vancouver and Montreal.
Ricochet.media: Conflict Policy
No editor may assign a story, and no journalist may cover one, in which they have a current personal or pecuniary interest. In the case of opinion writing, any current personal or pecuniary interest should be disclosed.
Ricochet.media: Miscellany
[2020-09-08] Christopher Curtis: Why I'm quitting Postmedia Network to test a new model of journalism. Award-winning journalist launches new reporting project with Ricochet
Right Wing Watch | RightWingWatch.org
Website: RightWingWatch.org
Wikipedia:
People for the American Way (PFAW) monitors what it considers right-wing activities by sponsoring a website called Right Wing Watch that showcases video footage of groups and individuals who take conservative stances on social issues. The web site, Right Wing Watch, was founded in 2007, expanding on PFAW's earlier practice of VHS recording controversial clips from conservative television programs, such as Pat Robertson's 700 Club, for distribution to news media. In 2013, evangelist and politician Gordon Klingenschmitt sent DMCA takedown notices for Right Wing Watch's using clips of his program, in which Right Wing Watch was defended by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In 2014, Jason and David Benham lost the opportunity to host their own HGTV television show after Right Wing Watch labeled the brothers as "anti-gay, anti-choice extremists" because of their statements at various events about homosexuality.
In 2018, Jared Holt, a Right Wing Watch researcher, was credited for getting conservative radio show host Alex Jones's InfoWars program removed from multiple content distribution sites, including Apple, Inc, YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify. Afterwards Holt says he received death threats.
Right Wing Watch has been quoted by NPR, Fortune, The Daily Beast, the Huffington Post, and a local Fox News affiliate.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
LEFT BIAS. These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.
Overall, we rate Right Wing Watch Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
FACTUAL REPORTING: HIGH History. Right Wing Watch keeps track of a variety of organizations, but the groups they track do tend to be conservative extremists in one regard or another. According to their about page "Right Wing Watch is a project of People for the American Way (PFAW) dedicated to monitoring and exposing the activities and rhetoric of right-wing activists and organizations in order to expose their extreme agenda." Adele M. Stan is the research director.
FUNDED BY / OWNERSHIP. Right Wing Watch is a project of the People For the American Way (PFAW), which is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. "Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear. PFAW was founded in opposition to the publicized agenda of the Moral Majority, a formerly prominent and influential American political organization associated with the Christian Right." Funding is derived from donations to the People For the American Way.
ANALYSIS / BIAS. In review, the mission of Right Wing Watch is to "expose the activities and rhetoric of right-wing activists and organizations in order to expose their extreme agenda." They frequently report on right-wing conspiracy theories such as this: "This GOP Challenger to Ilhan Omar '100%' Stands with QAnon." This story is properly sourced to the left-leaning sources The Daily Beast and Rolling Stone. Right Wing Watch also frequently reports negatively on the Trump administration, such as this: "Is Donald Trump Fulfilling White Nationalist Jared Taylor's Dreams?" This story is also properly sourced to The Guardian and Vanity Fair. Finally, they report on the Alt-right and white nationalism, such as this: "Infowars is Working to Sanitize the White Nationalist Group Formerly Known as Identity Evropa." In general, story selection always favors the left and is properly sourced.
FAILED FACT CHECKS. None to date. In fact, Right Wing Watch is frequently used as a reliable source for the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) fact-checkers.
Overall, we rate Right Wing Watch LEFT BIASED based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left. We also rate them HIGH for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record. (5/15/2016) Update (D. Van Zandt 5/04/2020)
Rolling Stone
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Rolling Stone Left Biased based on strongly left-leaning editorial positions and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
[Persagen, 2021-06-01] Concerned by the frequent product recommendations in the Rolling Stone RSS feed, I took a closer look at this magazine. Based on that review - and despite the favorable MediaBiasFactCheck.com report, I strongly encourage Readers to carefully scrutinize all content from Rolling Stone for bias. Due to ownership concerns and the constant shilling of commercial products, I no longer include Rolling Stone among my informational sources.
Wikipedia
Rolling Stone is owned by the Penske Media Corporation.
[theGuardian.com, 2017-09-18] Rolling Stone, rock'n'roll magazine turned liberal cheerleader, up for sale. After almost 50 years of seminal covers and epoch-shifting articles, owners seek buyer with 'lots of money.'
"It is the magazine that described investment bank Goldman Sachs as 'a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,' George W. Bush as the 'worst president in history,' and featured a photo of a naked John Lennon curled around Yoko Ono on its front page. But after almost 50 years of seminal covers and epoch-shifting articles, the owners of Rolling Stone have put the title up for sale amid financial difficulties.
"[Rolling Stone magazine founder and publisher Jann Wenner] says he wants to find a buyer that understands Rolling Stone and has 'lots of money'. ..."
[NYTImes.com, 2017-12-20] Rolling Stone Publisher Sells Majority Stake to Penske, Owner of Variety
[HillReporter.com, 2021-04-01] The Demise of Rolling Stone: How A Legendary Magazine Sold Out to Trump and the Saudis. | local copy
"Rolling Stone magazine was once a shining beacon of rebellion. Devoted to telling the truth about its subjects, the publication has often caused controversy throughout its more than fifty years. But in more recent years, the magazine has seen its share of bad publicity in light of bad decision making, which led to the ultimate bad decision: Rolling Stone was sold to Jay Penske, the son of Trump-backing multimillionaire Roger Searle Penske. Jay Penske is a high-profile Republican donor who fired tenured and experienced journalists, then hired hacks to write tabloid level pieces that leaned so far to the right, he was awarded a Presidential Medal from the former guy himself.
"One member of Jay Penske's stable is Seth Hettena, a freelance journalist who encouraged people to donate to Trump in 2016 and whose tweets have emerged showing he's against a living wage and also mocked the SEIU for fighting for $15 an hour. Hettena is a journalist who is also known for going after the likes of Erik Prince and Blackwater. One might infer that Hettena now appears corrupted by the very forces he once sought to investigate.
"Hettena recently contacted MeidasTouch, the PAC founded by the Meiselas Brothers, with a list of accusations he was about to write in an article specifically crafted to defame them. [MeidasTouch founders are Ben Meiselas, Brett Meiselas, and Jordan Meiselas. Ben Meiselas is an attorney who served former NFL player Colin Kaepernick] Hettena demanded an explanation, but MeidasTouch simply tweeted a reply. And now Hettena's attempts to smear and silence a group who are clearly seen as a threat to Republicans has just backfired, as the spotlight is now not just on him, but the practices of his boss and his son, Jay Penske, who now runs the magazine.
"Jay Penske lives the millionaire playboy lifestyle, with a supermodel wife and a lot of wealthy friends. He was once arrested with his brother in Nantucket for assaulting a woman and urinating on her. But the most compelling thing about Jay Penske is that both he and his father have close ties to the Saudis. Jay Penske took $200 million from a Saudi Arabian government-backed company, SRMG [Saudi Research and Marketing Group], but has neither explained the loan nor the relationship. And Penske Media Corporation, which employs hundreds of journalists at Variety, Deadline, The Robb Report, WWD, and others as well as Rolling Stone, has never publicly addressed the investment tie to the regime, either to defend or explain it.
But Rolling Stone did report that Mohammed Bin-Salman (MBS), who is directly connected to the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi, acquired a $500 million stake in LiveNation, the biggest producer of live events and concerts in America, via the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund. Seeing as Jay Penske was seen partying with MBS and others aboard his yacht immediately after Khashoggi's murder, it's assumed that some or possibly all of the $200 million Jay Penske received was from MBS as well.
"Jay was also in the Oval Office the day his father Roger was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the former guy. So what we have is a smear campaign written by a freelance journalist who hates unions but loves Trump writing for a publication owned by a Trump shill who parties with the Saudis. Both Rolling Stone and Seth Hettena are also now targeting the vendors who work with MeidasTouch."
RT.com | RT (TV network)
π STOP! Excluded from sources. RT.com (<< Wikipedia entry)
RT (formerly Russia Today) is a Russian government-funded international television network directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing internet content in English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Russian.
Russia Today is a brand of "TV-Novosti," an "autonomous non-profit organization," founded by the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, on 2005-04-06. During the economic crisis in 2008-12, the Russian government, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, included ANO "TV-Novosti" on its list of core organizations of strategic importance of Russia.
Russia Today has been described as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government and its foreign policy. Russia Today has also been accused of spreading disinformation by news reporters, including some former Russia Today reporters. The U.K. media regulator, Ofcom, has repeatedly found Russia Today to have breached its rules on impartiality and on one occasion found it had broadcast "materially misleading" content. Russia Today's editor-in-chief compared it with the Russian Army and Defence Ministry and talked about it "waging the information war against the entire Western world." In 2017-09, RT America was ordered to register as a "foreign agent" with the United States Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Under the act, Russia Today is required to disclose financial information to the U.S.
Max Blumenthal established and writes for theGrayZone.com - which purports to be an independent investigative journalism site, but is tainted by Max Blumenthal and his associations (e.g.) with RT.com, and other questionable journalistic practices (e.g.: anti-Zionism).
Airing Conspiracy Theories
A 2013 article in Der Spiegel noted that Russia Today "uses a chaotic mixture of conspiracy theories and crude propaganda," pointing to a program that "mutated" the Boston Marathon bombings into a U.S. government conspiracy.
The launch of RT UK was the subject of much comment in the British press. In The Observer, accused the channel of spreading conspiracy theories and being a "prostitution of journalism" and in The Times, Oliver Kamm called on broadcast regulator Ofcom to act against this "den of deceivers."
In 2015, Peter Pomerantsev in The Guardian accused RT.com of disinformation and of spreading conspiracy theories.
Journalists at The Daily Beast and The Washington Post have noted that RT.com employs Tony Gosling, an exponent of long-discredited theories concerning the alleged control of the world by Illuminati and the Czarist antisemitic forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
For example, Russia Today broadcasts stories about microchips being implanted into office workers in the European Union to make them more "submissive"; about "majority" of Europeans supporting Russian annexation of Crimea; the European Union preparing "a form of genocide" against Russians; in Germany it falsely reported about a kidnapping of a Russian girl; that "NATO planned to store nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe"; that Hillary Clinton fell ill; it has also on many occasions misrepresented or invented statements from European leaders. In response to accusations of spreading fake news RT.com started its own "FakeCheck" project. The Poynter Institute conducted a content analysis of FakeCheck and concluded it "mixes some legitimate debunks with other scantily sourced or dubiously framed 'fact checks.'"
A report by RAND called the RT.com strategy "a firehose of falsehood," where fake stories are distributed in "high-volume and multichanneel, rapid, continuous, and repetitive" with no regard to consistency, where the high volume makes them difficult to counter.
See also [theGuardian.com, 2017-11-29]: 24-hour Putin people: my week watching Kremlin 'propaganda channel' RT.com. Formerly known as Russia Today, the channel gives airtime to pundits from left and right - many of them U.K. politicians. After a week watching its often surreal output, our writer asks himself: is this really the best Moscow can do? | local copy (html)
"More than outright lies, RT.com deals in moral equivalency. Its defenders don't deny bias; they deny the possibility of objectivity. They say western media is equally biased. They liken RT.com to state broadcasters such as the BBC, France 24, and al Jazeera. They say other news channels have been sanctioned by Ofcom. It's a triumph of cynicism: we're all just as bad as each other."
Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings
π STOP! Excluded from sources (notoriously egregious disinformation source).
This section disambiguates Rupert Murdoch's media empire, which has undergone convoluted changes of ownership and rebranding - all of which are considered disinformation sources and are hence excluded as informational sources on Persagen.com. Per the notes below, present-day News Corp (established in 2013) owns Rupert Murdoch's print interests (e.g.: Sky News Australia Sky News New Zealand; ...), and other media interests (including Fox News) are all excluded from Persagen.com.
The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.) was an American multinational mass media corporation operated and owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered in New York City. Prior to its split in 2013, News Corporation was the world's fourth-largest media group in terms of revenue, and News Corporation had become a media powerhouse since its inception, almost dominating the news, television, film and print industries.
On June 28, 2012, after concerns from shareholders in response to its recent scandals and to "unlock even greater long-term shareholder value", founder Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation's assets would be split into two publicly traded companies, one oriented towards media, and the other towards publishing. The corporate spin-off formally took place on June 28, 2013; where the present News Corp. was renamed 21st Century Fox and consists primarily of media outlets, while a new News Corp was formed to take on the publishing and Australian broadcasting assets.
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in New York City. It was one of the two companies formed from the 2013 spin-off of the publishing assets of News Corporation, as founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1980 and operating until 2013. 21st Century Fox was the legal successor to News Corporation dealing primarily in the film and television industries. It was the United States' fourth-largest media conglomerate until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2019. The other company, the present-day News Corporation, holds Murdoch's print interests and other media assets in Australia (both owned by him and his family via a family trust with 39% interest in each). Murdoch was co-executive chairman, while his sons Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch were co-executive chairman and CEO, respectively.
On July 27, 2018, 21st Century Fox shareholders agreed to sell the majority of its assets to Disney for $71.3 billion. The sale covered the majority of 21CF's entertainment assets, including 20th Century Fox, FX Networks, and National Geographic Partners among others. Following a bidding war with Fox, Sky plc (a British media group which Fox held a stake in) was acquired separately by Comcast Corporation, while Fox's FSN regional sports networks were sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group to comply with antitrust rulings. The remainder, consisting primarily of the Fox and MyNetworkTV networks, and Fox's national Broadcasting, Television Stations, news and sports operations, were spun out into a new company, Fox Corporation, which began trading on March 19, 2019. Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox was closed on March 20 after which the remaining 21st Century Fox's assets were scattered across the divisions of Disney.
Thus, the successors to Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. are Fox Corporation (U.S. broadcasting, news and national sports assets), and The Walt Disney Company (entertainment assets, cable networks and international networks). On 2017-12-14, The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire most assets from 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion. The merger included many of Fox's entertainment assets - including filmed entertainment, cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions in the U.K., Europe, and Asia - but excluded divisions such as the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, the Fox News Channel, the Fox Business Network, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, and the Big Ten Network, all of which were to be spun off into an independent company before the merger was complete (which eventually named Fox Corporation).
The Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as the FOX Corporation) is an American mass media company operated and owned by Rupert Murdoch and headquartered in New York City. Fox Corporation was formed in 2019 as a result of the acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company; the assets that were not acquired by The Walt Disney Company were spun off from 21st Century Fox as the new Fox Corporation, and its stock began trading on January 1, 2019.
Fox Corporation's divisions include the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, [notorious disinformation source] Fox News, Fox Business, the national operations of Fox Sports, and others.
Fox Corporation's sister company under Rupert Murdoch's control - the present-day News Corp - holds Murdoch's print interests and other media assets.
Present-day News Corp (established in 2013) owns Rupert Murdoch's print interests (e.g.: Sky News Australia Sky News New Zealand; ...), and other media interests (including Fox News). All of those sources are excluded as informational sources for Persagen.com.
Historically, the British media company Sky News (U.K. | Sky UK) has incurred criticism over the years, much of it centred on overcharging, anti-competitive practices, and the business practices and undue political influence of its one-time majority owner News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch's media company that existed from 1980 to 2013). In 2013 News Corporation's assets were split into two publicly traded companies 21st Century Fox (media), and the present-day News Corp (publishing).
A 2016-12 attempt by 21st Century Fox failed to acquire the 61% share of Sky News U.K. (Sky UK) that 21st Century Fox did not already own; after an auction, 21st Century Fox no longer has any stake in the company. As of October 2018, Sky UK is now wholly owned by Comcast Corporation - whose divisions include Xfinity, NBCUniversal, and Sky Group Limited (the British media and telecommunications conglomerate, which includes the subsidiary Sky UK). One of the news television stations owned by Sky UK is Sky News.
Returning to the historical claims that Sky News may have been biased throughout the 1990s and 2000s due to minority ownership by Rupert Murdoch's right-leaning News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch's media company that existed from 1980 to 2013), and thereafter the Murdoch family's 21st Century Fox ... In a 2010 article in the New Statesman, prominent journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan argued that "in style and in substance, of course, it is nothing like the pro-war, pro-Republican, pro-Sarah Palin Fox News Channel ... Sky News remains, as far as I can see, free of party political bias." As of October 2018, Fox [Rupert Fox] no longer has any stake in the broadcaster.
Salem Media Group [Salem Radio Network | ...]
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to associations with the Christian right, Council for National Policy member Stuart Epperson, libertarian propagandist Lawrence Allen "Larry" Elder, ...
Ontology: Culture - Cultural studies - Media culture - Deception - Media manipulation - Propaganda - Propaganda techniques - Disinformation - News outlets - Salem Media Group
Source: Wikipedia.
Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Camarillo, California, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and what it describes as "family-themed content and conservative values." In addition to its radio properties, the company owns Salem Radio Network, which syndicates talk, news and music programing to approximately 2,400 affiliates; Salem Media Representatives, a radio advertising company; Salem Web Network, an internet provider of Christian content and online streaming with over 100 Christian content and conservative opinion websites; and Salem Publishing, a publisher of Christian themed magazines. Salem owns 117 radio stations in 38 markets, including 60 stations in the top 25 markets and 29 in the top 10, making it tied with Entercom for fifth-largest radio broadcaster. FamilyTalk is a Christian-themed talk format on Sirius XM Radio Channel 131. Additionally, Salem owns conservative websites Townhall.com, RedState, Hot Air, and PJ Media, as well as Twitter aggregator Twitchy.
Salem Media Group was founded by brothers-in-law Stuart Epperson [a member of the ultra-secretive, conservative Council for National Policy (CNP)] and Edward G. Atsinger III. Unlike many Christian broadcasters, Salem Media Group a for-profit corporation, allowing it to buy stations in the commercial radio band which are often higher-powered than those of the FM non-commercial band, and to accept commercial advertising.
Through his involvement in Salem Media Group, Council for National Policy member Stuart Epperson is a member of the board of directors of the National Religious Broadcasters Association. [Source: Wikipedia.]
The founders of Salem Communications supports various religious causes. In 2005, Stuart Epperson was reported in Time Magazine as one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America". In 2004 he co-chaired "Americans of Faith", a religiously based Republican Party electoral campaign. Both founders have served on the Council for National Policy. They gave $100,000 to the George W. Bush presidential reelection campaign and $780,000 to the 2000 "California Defense of Marriage Act" (Proposition 22) ballot measure. [Source: Wikipedia.]
History
In the early 1980s Edward G. Atsinger III (chief executive officer] and Stuart Epperson (chairman of the board) combined their radio assets to create Salem Communications. Beginning with stations in North Carolina and California, Atsinger and Epperson purchased station properties in Boston, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and other markets, converting them to Christian talk stations. In the 1990s, they expanded formats to include contemporary Christian music (with most stations under this format branded as "The Fish"), news talk (branded as "The Answer"), Spanish-language Christian content, and business programming.
Many of Salem's stations are licensed to subsidiaries, organized by geographical area and media cluster as the company has acquired new stations and their previous licensees.
Salem Communications Corp acquired Twitter curation site, Twitchy.com. In January 2014, the Company announced the acquisition of the assets of Eagle Publishing, including Regnery Publishing, Human Events [published by Eagle Publishing], and RedState, as well as sister companies Eagle Financial Publications and Eagle Wellness.
On February 23, 2015, Salem Communications changed its name to Salem Media Group.
In 2015, Salem Media Group expanded their digital platform with acquisitions of several businesses and assets, including DividendYieldHunter.com, Stockinvestor.com; DividendInvestor.com, a Spanish Bible mobile app, along with its related website and Facebook properties; the DailyBible mobile app; the Daily Bible Devotion mobile app; and also Bryan Perry's Newsletters.
In 2016, Salem Media Group continued to expand by acquiring the websites ChristianConcertAlerts.com, Historyonthenet.com and Authentichistory.com; as well as Mike Turner's line of investment products, including TurnerTrends.com; the Retirement Watch newsletter and website, Retirementwatch.com; and the King James Bible mobile application. Salem Media Group also acquired Mill City Press from Hillcrest Publishing Group, Inc.
In July 2017, Salem Media Group merged DividendYieldHunter.com and transferred all content into DividendInvestor.com.
In March 2019, political writer Raheem Kassam and lawyer Will Chamberlain purchased Human Events from Salem Media Group for $300,000.
See also:
Salon
π STOP! Excluded from sources. AlterNet.org often lifts articles from Daily Kos, which due to questionable content is excluded from sources. Alternet also frequently lifts articles from Salon.com (and sometimes vice versa). While MediaBiasFactCheck.com rates Salon.com as "mostly factual," due to the overlap between content posted and reposted on DailyKos.com, AlterNet.org, and Salon.com I am excluding these three sources.
Salon.com
Wikipedia:
See also: Raw Story
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: Factual Reporting: HIGH
Funded by / Ownership. Salon is owned by the Salon Media Group and is funded through periodic cash infusions from John Warnock and William Hambrecht. Revenue is generated through online advertising as well as subscription fees for exclusive content and sales from the marketplace.
Analysis / Bias. Overall, we rate Salon Left Biased based on story selection that strongly favors the left and endorsements of political positions that are affiliated with the Democratic Party. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and adherence to the consensus of science.
In review, Salon focuses on U.S. politics and current affairs. Story selection almost always favors the left and there is frequent use of loaded emotional language such as this: "What campus free speech? Arizona case shows how far the right will go to stifle dissent." This story, like most on Salon is properly sourced to credible media such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Arizona Republic. Salon also publishes health and science news that is scientifically based. Editorially, Salon utilizes strong wording that is anti-right in tone such as this: "Donald Trump is running for president as a flat-out racist." Further, they do not clearly label opinion pieces which can be misleading.
A factual search reveals that they have been a part of a failed a fact check, but not the primary source.
Overall, we rate Salon Left Biased based on story selection that strongly favors the left and endorsements of political positions that are affiliated with the Democratic Party. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and adherence to the consensus of science. (D. Van Zandt 5/15/2016) Updated (4/7/2019)
SaltWire Network [Canada]
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize, particularly sources.
See also: The Chronicle herald.
Name: SaltWire Network Inc.
Type: Public
Industry: Mass media
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Area served: Atlantic Canada
Key people: Mark Lever, CEO
Owner: Dennis family
Website: SaltWire.com
SOURCE: Wikipedia, captured 2020-09-18
This page last modified: 2020-08-17 16:14:38 -0700 (PST)
SaltWire Network Inc. is a Canadian newspaper publishing company owned by the Dennis-Lever family of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Saltwire owns and publishes 35 daily and weekly newspapers in Atlantic Canada.
Combined with the Chronicle Herald's existing community newspaper holdings, in 2017 the company published 35 titles overall, mainly acquired from Transcontinental Media.
History
On April 13, 2017, Halifax's independently-owned The Chronicle Herald announced its acquisition of 27 newspapers in the region from Transcontinental Media, via the newly-formed parent company SaltWire Network. The company had begun a gradual exit from mainstream publishing in order to focus on specialty media and educational publishing. The exact purchase price was not disclosed, although business analysts estimated that the publications were worth approximately $30 million in total. The transaction was criticized by a number of analysts, as it occurred in the middle of a strike by Chronicle Herald employees during which the paper had claimed declining revenues as its reason for demanding major concessions including wage reductions, reduced pension contributions and the removal of several staff divisions from the bargaining unit.
In June 2018, SaltWire Network changed the Carbonear-based weekly newspaper, "The Compass," from a subscriber model to a free total market product deliver as a flyer package wrap.
In July 2019, SaltWire Network closed "The Beacon," "The Advertiser," "The Pilot," and "The Nor'wester," and merged them into a free weekly known as "The Central Voice" - which began publication on August 1, 2018.
In March 2019, all SaltWire publications introduced metered paywalls.
In March 2019, SaltWire announced the sale of 10 of its buildings across Atlantic Canada.
Also in March 2019, the company terminated its affiliation with the Canadian Press newswire service, opting instead to become a client of Postmedia and Reuters.
In April 2019, SaltWire announced it was turning "The Western Star" into a weekly delivered free to consumers as a flyer wrap. This resulted in the layoff of around 30 employees. Independent delivery contractors were also affected. At the same time, it was announced that the two Labrador weeklies would merge into one called "The Labrador Voice."
In April 2019, SaltWire filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia against Transcontinental, accusing it of overstating and misrepresenting details surrounding the revenue of the papers it had acquired. The company threatened a counter-suit, stating that the sale was "conducted based on fair, accurate and timely information," and accusing SaltWire of failing to "fulfil its payment obligations."
Publications
[ ... snip ... ]
Science Daily
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Science Daily a Pro-Science Source based on proper scientific sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: PRO-SCIENCE | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1995 by married couple Dan and Michele Hogan, Science Daily is an American news website for topical science articles. It features articles on a wide variety of science topics, including astronomy, exoplanets, computer science, nanotechnology, medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, geology, climate, space, physics, mathematics, chemistry, archaeology, paleontology, and others.
Funded by / Ownership
Science Daily is held by Science Daily LLC, which Dan and Michele Hogan own. The website generates revenue through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Science Daily is primarily a science news aggregation and curation site. The articles are selected from news releases submitted by universities and other research institutions. There is little bias exhibited as they tend only to publish pro-science information. This is a popular science site that summarizes reports in one paragraph and then links to the full article. They never skew data and summarize properly, based on our numerous reviews.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Semafor
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to past grant funds from Sam Bankman-Fried (founder of the fraudulent, now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX), associations of Semafor founder Ben Smith as former editor-in-chief of π BuzzFeed News and media columnist at β οΈ The New York Times, and production of a climate newsletter sponsored by the notorious climate change denial corporation Chevron, ... An additional concern is the past association of Semafor cofounder Justin B. Smith as the former CEO of β οΈ Bloomberg News.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2022-10-19):
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rating: MOST | LY FREE Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Launched on 2022-10-19, Semafor is a news website that hosts 8 newsletters. The website was co-founded by Ben Smith, a media columnist at The New York Times, and Justin Smith, a Bloomberg Media CEO. According to their about page, "We're exposing the architecture of our original journalism in an effort to rebuild trust from our audience. Our journalists are experts in their own right - but they also know the difference between the facts and their analysis. Our "Semaform" structure makes clear the lines between facts, analysis, opinion, counter-narratives, and global perspectives."
Funded by / Ownership
Semafor was funded with $25 million in private capital. Advertising and sponsorships generate revenue. However, according to CNBC, Semafor will move to a paywall and subscription model within 18 months.
Analysis / Bias
The Semafor website features 8 different newsletters: Flagship, Principals, Business, Technology, Climate, Africa, Americana, and Media. News is reported in their "Semaform" format featuring sections for straight facts, the reporter's analysis, and counter-narratives. Each story is broken down as follows: The News; The Reporter's View (or analysis); Room For Disagreement (or counterargument); The View From (or different perspectives on the topic); and, Notable (or some of the best other writing on the subject).
Semafor also features news aggregation, where they "distill news, analysis, and opinion from a global range of sources," summarized so "readers don't have to search the internet trying to triangulate the truth."
Articles and headlines use moderately loaded emotional language such as this Russia headed for demographic disaster due to war. All articles reviewed rely on credible sources such as Bloomberg, New York Times, and Foreign Policy.
Editorially, more stories favor the left, such as this: "Donald Trump's plan to kill mail ballots in Pennsylvania." A biased quote from the author reads, "Trump's involvement in the new attack on Pennsylvania's mail-in voting law puts pressure on the state's divided Republicans to pick a side." However, due to their Semaform style, a counterpoint is given to balance the author's point of view. Generally, the news is factual and well-sourced, while viewpoints tend to favor the left slightly. However, we will initially rate them as least biased based on offering counterpoints to their liberal-leaning perspectives. As the site matures and produces more content, we will re-evaluate and makes changes accordingly.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Wikipedia (2022-12-06):
Semafor is a news website cofounded in 2022 by Ben Smith and Justin B. Smith. Ben Smith was the former editor-in-chief of π BuzzFeed News, and media columnist at β οΈ The New York Times. Justin B. Smith was the former CEO of Bloomberg L.P. (β οΈ Bloomberg News).
History
In early 2022-01 Ben Smith announced he would be leaving The New York Times to start a global news venture (Semafor) aimed at the 200 million college-educated English readers. Justin B. Smith would lead the business side of the new venture, and Ben Smith would be the top editor. The news site says it will break news and supplant complex news stories. In a memo that Justin Smith sent to "close confidants," he described a new company that would "reimagine quality global journalism" aimed at what he said was an "English-speaking, college-educated, professional class" that had "lost trust in all sources of news and information". The name of the new venture, Semafor, was announced in 2022-03.
In 2022-09 David Weigel left The Washington Post [β οΈ The Washington Post] for Semafor.
In 2022-11 it was reported that Semafor had received grant funds from Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the fraudulent, now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
[Popular.info, 2022-12-06] Sponsoring misinformation.
In 2022-10 Popular Information reported that Semafor - a high-profile new media company - launched a climate newsletter sponsored by Chevron.
Chevron is not only one of the world's largest producers of climate emissions, but also is notorious for spreading climate disinformation [climate change denial]. Chevron is currently being sued by 20 cities and states for misleading the public about how its products drive climate change [anthropogenic climate change]. "Big Oil companies have engaged in a decades-long campaign of misinformation that has contributed to global warming, which has disproportionately impacted our residents," Hoboken, New Jersey Mayor Ravi Bhalla said when the city filed a lawsuit against Chevron and other oil companies in 2020.
As Emily Atkin noted in HEATED, Chevron's ads in Semafor were themselves misleading. The ad claims that Chevron is working on "renewable natural gas" developed from cow manure. While Chevron is working to create fuel from cow manure, it "is not renewable or natural - and it is certainly not a large-scale climate solution." More from the Conservation Law Foundation. This is a problem, particularly for a news organization (Semafor) that says its core mission is to "rebuild trust."
... Semafor's conduct is not unusual. Many major media outlets regularly run misleading advertising from fossil fuel companies. Over the last week (2022-12), The New York Times ran this ad from Aramco ["] - Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company. The website associated with Aramco's ad presents blue hydrogen as a way to meet the world's growing energy needs "whilst also addressing CO2 emissions and the overall impact on the environment." But the blue hydrogen promoted by Aramco is derived from methane. A 2021 study found "the greenhouse gas footprint of blue hydrogen is more than 20% greater than burning natural gas or coal for heat and some 60% greater than burning diesel oil for heat." The study accounts for "carbon capture" techniques promoted by Aramco.
Ultimately, it's a similar message to the Chevron ads that appeared in Semafor. Chevron is also a member of the Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition, which promotes blue hydrogen. Both companies are attempting to convince the reader that a key way to address climate change is continuing to burn fossil fuels. The Washington Post, the LA Times, Politico, Axios, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic all regularly run advertising from fossil fuel companies.
Often fossil fuel companies run "native ads"[native advertising] which are indistinguishable from editorial content for the casual reader. Like this ad from the American Petroleum Institute, the corporate lobbying organization from the fossil fuel industry, which claims a transition to renewable energy "may not be achievable."
Native advertising - also called sponsored content - is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. In many cases it functions like an advertorial, and manifests as a video, article or editorial. The word native refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform. Native ads reduce a consumers' ad recognition by blending the ad into the native content of the platform - even if it is labeled as "sponsored" or "branded" content. Readers may have difficulty immediately identifying them as advertisements due to their ambiguous nature, especially when deceptive labels such as "From around the web" are used.
[ ... snip ... ]
Shadowproof | Shadowproof.com
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content, due to pronounced political bias; carefully scrutinize.
website | formerly: Firedoglake
Persons:
Jane Hamsher (born Jane Murphy), creator of Firedoglake:
Firedoglake (abbreviated as FDL) was an American collaborative blog that described itself as a "leading progressive news site, online community, and action organization". Established by film producer Jane Hamsher in 2004, Firedoglake served as a platform for Hamsher, other writers and commenters to engage in debate and activism. Hamsher shut down Firedoglake on 2015-08-01, citing health reasons, and announced that all posts would be archived at the Shadowproof website.
- Kevin Gosztola: "... In December 2014, Firedoglake Jane Hamsher suspended operations indefinitely although parts of FDL, such as The Dissenter, continued. In August 2015, its tradition and legacy were assumed by Shadowproof, with Gosztola as Managing Editor. ...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Shadowproof Left Biased based on editorial positions that favor a progressive perspective. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Shadowproof is a progressive news website and activist organization formed in 2015 by Kevin Gosztola and Brian Sonenstein [Brian Nam-Sonenstein | local copy]. After long-time progressive political blog, Firedoglake shut down and merged its 200K plus articles into Shadowproof. Shadowproof state their mission as "to expose systemic abuses of power in business and government while at the same time developing a model for independent journalism that supports a diverse range of young freelance writers and contributors." You can find more details here about their goals.
Funded by / Ownership
FDL Media Group owns Shadowproof. Donations generate revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Shadowproof uses emotional language both in their headlines and articles such as "Where Was President Obama's 'Decency' When He Was Deporting Dreamers?", "Trump Is Taking Advantage of the Fact That Obamacare Was Made To Be Broken", and "Read DEA Chief's Resignation Memo Admonishing Trump For Endorsing Police Misconduct."
Shadowproof is a strong advocate for a single-payer health care system, and they dedicated one category solely to single-payer under the category "ROAD TO SINGLE-PAYER." They also focus on incarceration and prisoners' rights under the subsection "Prison Protest." Overall, Shadowproof uses credible media sources such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and Politico; therefore, we rate Shadowproof Left Biased based on political positions and wording.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the last 5 years.
Sky News (U.K.)
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
See also Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings, which disambiguates and clarifies Rupert Murdoch's media empire (past and present).
Wikipedia entry. | Criticisms of Sky UK
The British media company Sky UK has incurred criticism over the years, much of it centred on overcharging, anti-competitive practices, and the business practices and undue political influence of its one-time majority owner News Corporation [owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch; later split into FOX News, and News Corp] ...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Sky News Least Biased based on balanced news coverage and a reasonably balanced op-ed page. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to a reasonable fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1989 by Rupert Murdoch, Sky News is a British news organization, which operates a TV network of the same name [Sky News], a radio news service, and news distribution through online channels. Sky News has [had, through former Murdoch ownership] sister outlets around the world such as Australia, Arabia, and Ireland. Sky News has won numerous awards including in 2018 being named Royal Television Society News Channel of the Year, the eleventh time the channel had won the award.
Funded by / Ownership
Sky News is owned by the Comcast Corporation as of 2018-11, and is funded through advertising. Rupert Murdoch is no longer affiliated with Sky News UK [see Rupert Murdoch's Media Holdings continued Murdoch holdings, including Sky News Australia].
Analysis / Bias
This review covers [non-Murdoch owned] U.K. website content only. Sky News reports on the U.K., World, Politics, U.S., Ocean Rescue, Science & Technology, Business, Arts & Entertainment, and Offbeat. Sky News utilizes moderate to minimally loaded language in headlines and articles such as this: "Climate change demos in London: Police face challenges dealing with protesters." In another article, there is the use of moderate loaded language that covers both sides: "May and Corbyn highlight persecution of Christians and refugee crisis in Easter messages." This article, like most on Sky News, does not provide hyperlinked sourcing, but rather relies on quotes and first-person accounts. A review of the opinion page reflects mostly balanced coverage with some clearly in favor of the left.
In general, Sky News reporting is balanced and low biased, with op-ed's having a slight lean left. Under Rupert Murdoch [until 2018], Sky News was frequently accused of having a right-wing bias, however, the left-leaning New Statesman did not agree - in a 2010 article concluding that Sky News was impartial.
Failed Fact Checks
Poll about support for violence against MPs is flawed - INCORRECT.
Slate | Slate Magazine
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
Source: MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Slate, moderately Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that favor the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a reasonable fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Slate is an online magazine that covers the topics of news and politics, culture, entertainment, technology, and business. In 1996, Slate was founded by the former editor of The New Republic and co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," Michael Kinsley and published by Microsoft Corporation. Slate was originally headquartered in Seattle; however, they are now currently based in New York City. The Washington Post Company [now: Graham Holdings Company] acquired them in 2004. After Amazon's Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post newspaper from the Washington Post Company, the Washington Post Company retained ownership of its group of seven television stations, higher education company Kaplan Inc., Slate Group - and in 2013, changed its name to Graham Holdings Company.
In 2018-09 the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Jacob Weisberg, left after 22 years. Julia Turner has been the Editor-in-Chief since 2014, but as of 2018-11, Julia Turner left Slate. Currently, Dan Check is the President and Vice Chairman of The Slate Group. Sam Adams is a senior editor and the editor of their culture blog, Brow Beat.
Funded by / Ownership
Graham Holdings Company owns Slate, and according to its about page, they do not charge for access and relies on digital advertising for revenue. Slate offers bonus and ad-free podcasts and other shows through a Slate Plus membership launched in 2014. Slate is also a member of Amazon Associates; "When readers click on a link from an article to Amazon.com, Slate earns a percentage of the purchase."
Analysis / Bias
In review, Slate has a politically progressive, liberal stance throughout their political articles. They publish political news with moderately emotionally loaded headlines such as ...
Failed Fact Checks
When implemented, Georgia's House Bill 481 would leave women open to prosecution for criminal abortion, murder, or second-degree murder for having abortions or miscarriages. - UNPROVEN.
Sludge
Note: no Wikipedia entry (2022-01-18)!
Website: ReadSludge.com | About:
"Sludge is an independent, nonprofit news outlet that produces investigative journalism on lobbying and money in politics. We look beyond public records and disclosures to reveal the hidden networks and conflicts of interest that drive systemic corruption.
"Sludge reports on the ways industries launder their agendas, the power maps of corporate networks that extend deep into government, how concentrated economic powers dictate public policy, and more. We scour disclosures and public documents, but we also focus on the ways that powerful interests influences politics that don't fit established patterns and often don't have to be disclosed.
"We never take money from advertisers, interest groups, or corporations, so we are solely focused on providing information that our readers value. Because we don't rely on advertisements for revenue, we never produce "clickbait" to pay our bills and we never shy away from topics that challenge powerful interests.
"Sludge is a project of the Participatory Politics Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2009. We are also a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a network of over 300 independent news organizations, and one of nine founding members of The Brick House Cooperative, a new media collective of publications across the world."
Participatory Politics Foundation
The Participatory Politics Foundation is a United States non-profit organization which jointly operates the OpenCongress.org website. Intended to connect citizens to lawmakers to increase public participation with the government, the non-partisan foundation Participatory Politics Foundation hopes to modernize the political system through technological advancements to increase civic engagement in government. The Participatory Politics Foundation opened in February 2007-02 and operates OpenCongress.org together with the Sunlight Foundation.
The Participatory Politics Foundation has created free, open-source websites such as OpenCongress.org, GovTrack, Councilmatic, and AskThem.io. These civic platforms are made specifically for public use to increase online activism.
[ ... snip ... Source; Wikipedia, 2022-01-18.]
Institute for Nonprofit News
The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a non-profit consortium of journalism organizations. The Institute for Nonprofit News promotes nonprofit investigative and public service journalism through its association of member entities.
History
INN was founded as the Investigative News Network in 2009 at a summer conference held at the Pocantico Center in New York funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Surdna Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation - and organized by the Center for Public Integrity and The Center for Investigative Reporting. The result of that conference was the Pocantico Declaration, which begins: "Resolved, that we, representatives of nonprofit news organizations, gather at a time when investigative reporting, so crucial to a functioning democracy, is under threat. There is an urgent need to nourish and sustain the emerging investigative journalism ecosystem to better serve the public."
INN was granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2012-03, 19 months after applying.
As of 2019-03, INN had 189 members. The nonprofit members are part of a growing movement in news media to provide watchdog journalism that is not covered in mainstream media.
INN operating and project budgets are underwritten through a combination of grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Foundations, Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, and other charitable foundations.
In 2014-11, the board of INN met to conduct a strategic review of the organization. During that meeting the board decided to refine the organization's and to change its name from "Investigative News Network" to the "Institute for Nonprofit News". In 2015-03, the board voted to terminate the organization's first CEO, Kevin Davis, and appoint data reporter Denise Malan as the interim CEO while a search was conducted to find a permanent replacement. In 2015-09, Sue Cross, formerly a consultant and before that a long-time employee of the The Associated Press, was hired as the new Executive Director and CEO [NiemanLab.org, 2015-09-21, The Institute for Nonprofit News hires Sue Cross, formerly at the AP, as its new CEO | local copy].
[ ... snip ... Source: Wikipedia, 2022-01-18.]
The Brick House Cooperative
"The Brick House Cooperative is a publishing platform designed, owned and operated by journalists - ad-free, expandable and subscription-based. Our founding editors have many decades of experience between them, and bylines in every major U.S. publication. The The Brick House Cooperative launched in 2020-12, and has been covered by The New York Times as well as Business Insider, Coindesk, Current Affairs, Joe Weisenthal at Bloomberg, Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic blog, and the Columbia Journalism Review.
"One subscription fee gives readers access to all nine of our member publications, each of which operates independently under the cooperative umbrella. Shares in the cooperative are equal and cannot be sold or transferred, with one share allocated to each publication. No publication can own more than one share. This novel business structure keeps editorial control in the hands of working journalists, allowing us to serve no one but our readers.
"Our goal is to expand The Brick House into a great realm with more and more publishers, writers, artists and editors, all working together to safeguard our editorial independence, and all sharing the costs and proceeds of our work. We believe that a community of journalists whose primary responsibility is to the public trust, and to each other, will be stronger in every way - better at producing stories that matter, better in business, better for journalists and readers. Our cooperative is working not only to provide a stable livelihood for our members, but to redefine the role of media in society as a public good."
[ ... snip ... Source; theBrick.house, 2022-01-18.]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2020-08-17): overall, we rate Sludge Left Biased based on story selection that almost always favors the progressive left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to excellent sourcing practices and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 2018, Sludge produces investigative journalism on lobbying and money in politics. According to their About page, "We scour traditional lobbying disclosures and campaign contributions, but our primary focus is all the ways that money influences politics that don't fit established patterns and often don't have to be disclosed." Sludge also discloses their writing team along with biographies on their about page.
Funded by / Ownership
Sludge does not openly disclose an individual owner, however they do disclaim "Sludge was launched as part of the First Fleet of newsrooms on Civil [defunct, 2022-01-18: local copy], a journalism platform that uses cryptocurrency to guard against low-quality content and censorship. Once the platform is fully launched, Sludge will be accountable to holders of the Civil token, who will use internal governance mechanisms to affirm the integrity and commitment to journalistic standards of Sludge and other newsrooms on the protocol, according to the guidelines in the Civil Constitution. In addition, every article published by Sludge will be permanently published on the Ethereum blockchain." Revenue is derived through membership fees and Kickstarter campaigns.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Sludge produces news stories and journalism in the categories "Climate", "Defense", "Hate", "Health", "2020", and "Tech". For this review, we will do an overall analysis of each category and provide a supporting example that accurately reflects bias.
Climate: A general review of the climate category reveals a strongly left-leaning bias with most stories detailing how the fossil fuel industry is funding politicians and PACs. For example this story: "Climate Caucus Founder Is a Fossil Fuel Favorite." This story is credibly sourced to NBC News, The Guardian, and Open Secrets. Overall, "Sludge: Climate" is left-biased.
Defense: A general review of the defense category reveals a left-leaning bias with most stories detailing how money influences hawkishness and corporate influence. For example, this story details how Koch Industries profits from defense contracts: "As Charles Koch Cultivates Anti-War Image, Koch Industries Profits from Defense Contracts." Sourcing for this story comes from the Charles Koch Foundation, USASpending.gov, and several official military sources. Overall, "Sludge: Defense" is rated as left-biased.
Hate: This category profiles how corporations and foundations profit or promote hate. For example, this story, which indicates Google is profiting from hate group advertising: "Google Is Profiting From Notorious Hate Group's Ads." Sourcing comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and many other credible outlets. Overall, "Sludge: Hate" is rated as left-biased.
Health: This category primarily focuses on big pharma's role in politics. For example, "Chair of Pharma-Funded Blue Dogs Pushes for Drug Company Protections in New NAFTA." This story is properly sourced to Prospect magazine, the Food and Drug Administration, and Open Secrets. Overall, "Sludge: Health" is rated as left-biased.
2020: This category shows how corporate money is influencing candidates. It highlights both the establishment Democrats and Republicans. For example, this article: "Super PAC Backing 'Middle-Class Joe' Is Led by Lobbyists, Corporate Consultants, and Democratic Fundraisers." This story is properly sourced to Bloomberg, ProPublica, and Politico to name a few. Overall, "Sludge: 2020" is rated Left Biased.
Tech: This category covers tech cover-ups and the influence of money from tech companies, for example, this: "The Facebook Settlement Amounts to Bribery of a Federal Agency." This story was republished from The American Prospect. Overall, "Sludge: Tech" is rated, Left-Center Bias.
In general, story selection favors the progressive left through opposition to corporate influence in politics, and all information is very well sourced to credible information and outlets.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
SourceWatch.org
π STOP! Excluded from sources. See also (this file):
Capital Research Center (produces InfluenceWatch.org website)
InfluenceWatch.org (website diametrically opposed to / competing with InfluenceWatch.org).
I have been collecting data (articles, information, ...) on nonprofit "dark money" organizations and influencers. Due to the anonymity of many of the donors and other obfuscations: use of aliases, ...) it can be difficult to find information on those groups via Wikipedia and web searches.
Although SourceWatch.org and InfluenceWatch.org provide relatively comprehensive Wikipedia-like entries for many of these nonprofits, closer inspection of the entries provide by SourceWatch and InfluenceWatch raise concerns regarding the deep-rooted biases inherent in each of those sites.
The obfuscation of disinformation that I have encountered during my research, that similarly affects everyone doing online research, is indicated in the following exemplar.
SourceWatch.org - an online project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) - provides surprisingly detailed wiki pages on influencer nonprofit 501(c) organizations that supplements analogous Wikipedia articles (indeed, often providing pages when no Wikipedia articles can be found).
The Wikipedia page for the Center for Media and Democracy describes it as a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization and liberal advocacy group ... However (a
π STOP! warning), it also states that the CMD has received donations from George Soros">George Soros' Open Society Foundations.
CMD's Wikipedia article also states:
"According to the conservative news website Watchdog.org, the Tides Foundation, a foundation known to donate primarily to liberal organizations, reported giving CMD $160,000 in 2011, but that money did not appear on CMD's tax return. When asked why CMD heavily criticizes conservative organizations for not revealing their donors while refusing to name all of CMD's funders, CMD's president Lisa Graves said, 'The question of conservative funders versus liberal funders, I think, is a matter of false equivalency. Quite frankly a number of these (corporate donors) like Koch Industries ... they're advancing not just an ideological agenda but an agenda that helps advance the bottom line of their corporate interests. That's quite a distinct difference from some of the funders in the progressive universe.'"
Apropos to this discussion, I append this statement to my version of the [George Soros] "Open Society Foundations" Wikipedia page:
In diametric opposition, another source - "InfluenceWatch.org" - provides highly critical overviews of both the Center for Media and Democracy and SourceWatch - rather savagely attacking them as having a left-leaning, liberal bias marred by hypocrisy and dark money sources.
That sounds alarming, so I searched Wikipedia for "InfluenceWatch" - which, in Wikipedia, redirects to the Capital Research Center which it describes as
"an American conservative and libertarian non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C."
That sounds good; however, later in that Wikipedia entry:
Ouch - those are major anonymizers, lobbyists, and disinformation campaigners!
Aside: In their "Bradley Files," the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of attack articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. ...
Another
π STOP! warning re: InfluenceWatch.com: in a 2018-02-04 disinformation / misinformation article by The Heritage Foundation, Rebecca Hagelin attacked George Soros and his Open Society Foundations - concluding with
"... Visit sites where there are copies of legal documents and filings that reveal the truth. Three great resources are DiscovertheNetworks.org, InfluenceWatch.org and AmericanEvangelicals.com. ..."
The fact that an appallingly malicious group like The Heritage Foundation and its minions refer you to those sites casts doubt on the true purpose of those sites, and the veracity of their content!
The discussion above highlights the need to question and critically evaluate all source data, comparing it to multiple sources and validating it as much as possible (discounting those sources and content known to be disreputable).
South China Morning Post
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to Chinese influences.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com; overall, we rate The South China Morning Post Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to poor sourcing.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1903 by Australian Chinese revolutionary Tse Tsan-tai and British journalist Alfred Cunningham, the South China Morning Post is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper. The South China Morning Post provides news, business, arts, tech, and culture for global readers, focusing on China and Asia. According to its about page, the South China Morning Post's mission is to "Lead the global conversation about China." The South China Morning Post is also Hong Kong's newspaper of record and publishes fashion magazines, including Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, and The Peak.
On April 5, 2016, Alibaba Group acquired The South China Morning Post Group in a $266 million deal, including the South China Morning Post. Former CEO of Digg, Gary Liu is CEO of the South China Morning Post since 2017. Tammy Tam Wai Yee is the Editor-in-Chief. For a complete list of corporate executives, please see here.
Funded by / Ownership
The South China Morning Post is owned by Alibaba Group and published by South China Morning Post Publishers Limited. It is funded through advertising and subscriptions.
Analysis
According to a Quartz article dated 2017, they state that after being acquired by Alibaba Group, the South China Morning Post's narrative became more pro-China. The article also quotes Joseph Tsai, Alibaba's co-founder, and vice-chairman, as saying, "We wanted to tell the biggest story of our lifetime, which is China." According to the NY Times, the new mission of the South China Morning Post is "improving China's image overseas and combating what it sees as anti-Chinese bias in the foreign media." Reuters points out that Jack Ma, the head of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, is a Communist Party member.
Bias
In review, The South China Morning Post publishes stories with emotionally loaded headlines such as ...
Although South China Morning Post has been accused of promoting China, we find evidence that they cover both sides by being critical of China and praising them.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Sun News Network | Sun News | Sun Media
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
Wikipedia | Controversy and criticism
Defunct: closed 2015-02-13.
... The Sun News Network, known for its right-of centre editorial stance, was plagued with poor viewership: the network reported an average of 8,000 viewers, which was significantly lower than its competitors, CBC News Network and CTV News Channel. This lack of viewership has been attributed in part to failing to gain mandatory carriage, which their competitors enjoyed, by the CRTC. Following failed attempts to sell the network to ZoomerMedia (a company owned by Canadian television executive Moses Znaimer) and Leonard Asper, Sun News Network abruptly signed off on February 13, 2015 at 5:00 a.m. ET. ...
Criticism by former staff
Writing several years after leaving Sun NewsTheo Caldwell wrote of the station's output that "the finished product was lousy television, even by Canadian standards." He also complained that he was not being paid, despite his contract, and finally quit as a result. Caldwell described management's view on mandatory carriage as "hypocritical." "At first, when they imagined the station would be a blockbuster success, they mocked the very idea of mandatory carriage. When it became clear, however, that no amount of Suzuki-bashing and Justin Trudeau prizefights could save the enterprise, they insisted it was unfair not to grant Sun News a guaranteed income stream, on the risible basis that CBC and CTV had received similar treatment decades before. It wasn't honest, and it is astounding that Peladeau and Sun management could undertake such a blatant reversal without a trace of irony."
On the reason for the channel's failure, Caldwell wrote: "Simply put, if Sun News were good, people would have watched it. The channel was available in 5 million homes, yet garnered only a few thousand viewers... The simple truth is that Sun News Network was mind-bendingly bad television, and only a dysfunctional crew led by the likes of Peladeau could have thought it would catch on."
Former anchor Krista Erickson wrote an article for National Newswatch in 2015 that singled out former QuΓ©becor MΓ©dia [Quebecor] Vice-President Kory Teneycke, who was in charge of the channel, for criticism calling him a "controlling authoritarian" whose pro-Conservative Party "partisanship often went into overdrive" at the channel's expense. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Sun Media
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to tabloid journalism, Postmedia Network's history of anti-transgender bias, American part-ownership, declining financials, ties to United States Republican Party and support of Donald Trump, ...
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sale of the remaining English-language print assets of Sun Media to rival Postmedia Network. The sale did not include the Sun News Network, which subsequently closed when a buyer was not found, nor Quebecor's French-language papers Le Journal de MontrΓ©al and Le Journal de QuΓ©bec. The sale was approved by the federal Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015, and closed on April 13. Canoe Sun Media merged with Postmedia Network rather than being maintained as a separate division.
Quebecor had previously sold its community newspapers in Quebec to TC Transcontinental in June 2014, under a deal first announced in December 2013.
[ ... snip ... ]
Talking Points Memo
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize, due to political (left) bias, invited (crowd-sourced) content, and past anonymous blogging (2006: "DK" - revealed to be attorney David Kurtz).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com (2021-08-05) overall, we rate Talking Points Memo (TPM) Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that frequently favor the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting due to proper sourcing of information and one failed fact check.:
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | Country: USA (44/180 Press Freedom) | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Failed Fact Checks
"We know this now. The banks no longer loan (Donald Trump) money because he's a terrible risk. So he goes to these (Russian) oligarchs and borrows money." - Mostly False.
Talking Points Memo (Wikipedia, 2022-12-13):
Talking Points Memo (TPM) is a liberal political news and opinion website created and run by Josh Marshall that debuted on 2000-11-12. The name is a reference to the memo (short list) consisting of the issues (points) discussed by one's side in a debate or used to support a position taken on an issue. By 2007, TPM received an average of 400,000 page views every weekday.
Growth
Talking Points Memo was founded as a political blog in 2000 Josh Marshall, who until 2004 was the site's sole employee. In 2005, TPM Media LLC was incorporated, and the company began to grow with more employees and spinoff websites. By 2009 it had 11 employees, and, having previously been funded by ads and reader donations, received angel investments from a group led by Marc Andreessen. In 2009, TPM opened a Washington, D.C. office and joined the White House press pool along with several other progressive news outlets to cover the Obama administration. The site introduced a subscription service - TPM Prime - in 2012, which by 2017 had over 21,000 subscribers.
Reception
Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols describe the site as taking a "more raucous and sensational" tone than traditional news media. This includes coining phrases such as "Bamboozlepalooza" to describe George W. Bush's efforts to privatize Social Security, which the blog opposed. Robert McChesney and John Nichols compare this to the muckraking of Upton Sinclair. The more social aspects of the site - which invite crowdsourcing - were compared to La Follette's Weekly. Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, in 2009 said "TPM is really an advocacy operation that has moved toward journalism."
Guest bloggers have included Matthew Yglesias, Robert Reich, Dean Baker, Michael Crowley, and, briefly, vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. Beginning in the summer of 2006, many weekend postings were provided by anonymous blogger DK. On 2006-11-11, DK was revealed to be attorney David Kurtz - who now posts openly under his name.
In 2007, TPM won a George Polk Award for Legal Reporting for its coverage of the 2006 U.S. Attorneys scandal, becoming the first online-only outlet to receive the George Polk Award.
Related projects
[ ... snip ... ]
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize authors and content for bias and truthfulness. Concerns include funding of the Poynter Institute from the notoriously neoliberal billionaire Charles Koch via the Charles Koch Institute, left-wing billionaire George Soros via the Open Society Foundations, and other wealthy contributors. PolitiFactwas founded by the Tampa Bay Times, which is a for-profit new organization owned by the non-profit Poynter Institute, a preeminent journalism training organization.
See also: PolitiFact (founded by the Tampa Bay Times).
website | about
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Tampa Bay Times Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that mostly favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1884, the Tampa Bay Times, previously named the St. Petersburg Times through 2011, is an American broadsheet newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida. The paper has won the Pulitzer Prize 12 times in its history.
In 2007, the then-St. Petersburg Times launched IFCN fact-checker PolitiFact, which also won a Pulitzer for fact-checking. In 2018, PolitiFact was acquired by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
Funded by / Ownership
The Tampa Bay Times is published by the Times Publishing Company, owned by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a nonprofit journalism school directly adjacent to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus. Poynter is https://www.poynter.org/major-funders/funded by many donors, including the Charles Koch Foundation on the Right and George Soros' Open Society Foundations on the Left. The newspaper generates revenue through advertising and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
The Tampa Bay Times publishes original news and investigative reporting covering the Tampa Bay and Florida region. National and International news is republished through The Associated Press. Original local and state news is delivered with minimal bias in wording and story selection: "Motorcyclist hospitalized, lanes closed after accident on U.S. 19 in Pinellas Park." When covering political news, they often report with neutral wording: "Ron DeSantis endorses Florida bills allowing college athletes to make money."
Editorially, the Tampa Bay Times typically endorses Democratic candidates. For example, they have endorsed the Democratic Presidential Candidate every time since 1980. Further, in local elections, such as 2018, they endorsed all Democratic candidates. A review of the Opinion section also reveals a left-leaning bias with most editorials favorable to liberal policies such as this: "Two steps up, one step back on Florida voting rights | Editorial." In general, the Tampa Bay Times reports news factually and with minimal bias; however, editorially, they lean moderately left.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Thomson Reuters | Thomson Reuters Corporation
Wikipedia entry.
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a Canada-based multinational media conglomerate. Thomson Reuters was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre.
Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of the British company Reuters Group in 2008-04 and is majority owned by The Woodbridge Company Limited, a holding company for the Thomson family.
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Thomson Reuters Foundation Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor left-leaning causes. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1983, the Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information provider. The Foundation works to expose corruption worldwide and is active in the global fight against human trafficking. Not to be confused with the Reuters news agency. According to their about page "Our global editorial team of almost 50 journalists and about 300 freelancers covers the world's under-reported stories at the heart of aid, development, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, climate change and social innovation."
The first website set up by the Thomson Reuters Foundation was the left-leaning Alternet.
Note that the MediaBiasFactCheck.com entry for the Thomson Reuters Foundation incorrectly associates the Thomson Reuters Foundation with AlterNet. The correct association is AlertNet, below.
In September 1997, the Reuters Foundation launched AlertNet, a website providing free humanitarian news and information. AlertNet was set up in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide as a response to criticism of the slow media response and poorly coordinated activities of the relief agencies on the ground. AlertNet aimed to facilitate co-ordination among relief workers.
Thomson Reuters Foundation News, formerly Alertnet, is a global news service available free to smaller media outlets and non-government organisations around the world. It is run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. The global editorial team of over 45 journalists and 150 freelancers covers the world's under-reported stories at the heart of aid, development, women's rights, human trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience.
Funded by / Ownership
The Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity registered in the U.K. and USA. According to their about page "Our work is supported by an annual donation from Thomson Reuters and via project funding specifically dedicated to supporting our core services."
Analysis / Bias
In review, the primary purpose of the Thomson Reuters Foundation is to provide skills-based training programs to reporters worldwide in seven languages and across 170 countries. As of 2015, over 15,000 journalists have been trained internationally on 27 specialized training topics. The website also provides news that focuses on left-leaning topics such as "Coronavirus, Women, LGBT, Climate, Economies, Technologies, Slavery, Cities, and Land." Some stories utilize loaded emotional language such as this: "Climate change poses growing threats to vulnerable Africa, UN says." Other stories on the website come directly from Reuters. In general, story selection and editorial positions moderately favor the left but are based in fact.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Time Magazine ["Time"]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Time Magazine Left-Center biased based on story selection that mostly favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1923, Time Magazine is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. The current managing editor is Edward Felsenthal. Since 2000, Time Magazine has undergone several ownership changes and mergers. In 2000, Time Inc. became a part of AOL Time Warner [WarnerMedia] and then in 2017 was purchased by the Meredith Corporation. After only 6 weeks, the Meredith Corporation sold Time Magazine to Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne for $190 million. Benioff is the billionaire founder of Salesforce.com and is an activist related to left-leaning causes such as equal pay for equal work, affordable health care, and support for a livable wage.
Funded by / Ownership
Time Magazine is owned by Marc and Lynne Benioff and is funded through subscriptions, sponsored content, and advertising sales.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Time Magazine a is a journalism magazine the covers current events and politics. Time Magazine utilizes loaded language in headlines such as this: "President Trump Is Making Baseless Claims About the Migrant Caravan. Here Are the Facts." The information contained in articles is generally well-sourced and linked to credible factual sources. Story selection mostly favors the left with articles such as this: "Obama Rails Against Republicans in Fiery Nevada Rally." While Time Magazine is clearly biased in favor of left-leaning causes, they display a strong anti-Trump bias with daily articles denigrating his policies and actions. It is important to note that holding an anti-Trump bias is not necessarily a pro-left wing bias as many centrist and right-center sources also report against President Trump's character and policies.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
TomDispatch.com
Website: TomDispatch.com.
(Wikipedia, 2022-01-20; TomDispatch.com redirects here): Tom Engelhardt.
Thomas M. "Tom" Engelhardt (born 1944) is an American writer and editor. Engelhardt is the creator of Type Media Center's TomDispatch.com, an online blog. Engelhardt is also the co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of the 1998 book, The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation.
Career
Thomas Engelhardt graduated from Yale University and then completed a master's degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. As an undergraduate Engelhardt was attracted to the study of Chinese history by Mary C. Wright, and was a research assistant for Jonathan Spence. At Harvard University, Engelhardt was a founding member of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars, and became involved in a draft resistance movement in opposition to the American war in Vietnam. As part of these activities, Engelhardt became a printer and moved to Berkeley, California. There, Engelhardt began to write about the resistance to the Vietnam War, and, as Engelhardt later put it, "the next thing I knew I was a journalist and an editor."
Thomas Engelhardt has been an editor for more than 30 years, working in book and news publishing. Engelhardt was a senior editor at Pantheon Books where he edited such books as Maus by Art Spiegelman. Currently Engelhardt is a consulting editor at Metropolitan Books. Engelhardt also teaches at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is a teaching fellow. In 1991, Engelhardt was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Thomas Engelhardt once described the editing process as "...more like a craft, that's right, because there isn't as much of a preset pattern for it. There's a word I often think about because it's such a negative in our society, which is 'used.' You say a 'used' car - something previously owned and not particularly good, or 'I've been used, I've been exploited.' But the most beautiful feeling about editing for an editor is that feeling of being used and subsumed."
Thomas Engelhardt created TomDispatch in 2001-11, and in 2002 it received support from The Nation Institute. Engelhardt has described TomDispatch.com as the "sideline that ate his life". Contributors have included Rebecca Solnit, Bill McKibben, Jonathan Schell, Fatima Bhutto, Nick Turse, Pepe Escobar, Noam Chomsky, and Andrew Bacevich. Engelhardt has written many articles and books including The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's.
Works
[ ... snip ... ]
(MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2020-12-25) TomDispatch.com: overall, we rate TomDispatch Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Thomas M. "Tom" Engelhardt is an American writer and editor. He is the creator of Type Media Center's TomDispatch.com, an online blog. He is also the co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of the 1998 book, The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation. According to their About page "TomDispatch is intended to introduce readers to voices and perspectives from elsewhere (even when the elsewhere is here). Its mission is to connect some of the global dots regularly left unconnected by the mainstream media and to offer a clearer sense of how this imperial globe of ours actually works."
Funded by / Ownership
TomDispatch.com is published through the Type Media Center, which is a nonprofit organization that is funded by donations. Type Media Center fellows have included Naomi Klein, Wayne Barrett, Chris Hedges, David Moberg, Jeremy Scahill, and Chris Hayes. Revenue is derived through the sale of Tom Engelhardt's books, and donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, TomDispatch produces high-quality journalism that often uses moderate emotional wording. Many stories focus on opposition to war such as this: "What If, After 9/11, George W. Bush Had Thrown Parties?" Editorially, they align with the left though concern for climate change, equal rights, and negative reporting on conservatives and the Trump administration such as this: "Tomgram: Rajan Menon, The Nightmare That Joe Could Inherit." When it comes to sourcing they use credible sources such as The New York Times, the BBC, and The Washington Post. In general, they report factually and with a moderate left-leaning bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Toronto Star | Toronto Sun
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to Postmedia Network's history of anti-transgender bias [transphobia], American part-ownership, declining financials, ties to United States Republican Party and support of Donald Trump, columnist Brian Lilley (previously associated with Rebel News and Sun News Network, ...
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Toronto Star Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that favor the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
The Toronto Star is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. (a subsidiary of Torstar). The newspaper is funded through a subscription and advertising model.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Toronto Star reports local news through journalists and national/international news via such sources as The Associated Press and The Washington Post. There is minimal use of loaded language in reporting local news: "Province submits fresh evidence in ongoing court fight over Toronto council cut." On the other hand, editorials utilize moderately loaded headlines that favor the left, such as this: "It's time for Doug Ford to stop campaigning and start governing." Further, the Toronto Star has always endorsed progressive democratic candidates for most of its history, most recently endorsing Justin Trudeau. In general, story selection tends to favor the left.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
... The Toronto Star is owned by the Postmedia Network following the 2015 purchase of Sun Media from Quebecor. Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, once attempted to purchase the Toronto Sun.
The Toronto Star, which boasts the slogan "Toronto's Other Voice" (also once called "The Little Paper that Grew") acquired a television station from Craig Media in 2005, which was renamed SUN TV and later was transformed into the Sun News Network, until its demise in 2015. By the mid-2000s, the word "The" was dropped from the paper's name and the newspaper adopted its current logo. ...
... Editorially, the paper frequently follows the positions of traditional Canadian/British conservatism and neoconservatism in the United States on economic issues. Editorials typically promote individualism, self-reliance, the police, and a strong military and support for troops. Editorials typically condemn high taxes and, most of all, perceived government waste. ...
Torstar
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
[Wikipedia, 2021-03-01] Torstar Corporation is a Canadian mass media company which primarily publishes daily and community newspapers. In addition to the Toronto Star, its flagship and namesake, Torstar also publishes daily newspapers in Hamilton, Peterborough, Niagara Region, and Waterloo Region. The corporation was initially established in 1958 to take over operations of the Star from the Atkinson Foundation after a provincial law banned charitable organizations from owning for-profit entities. From 1958 to 2020, the class A shares of Torstar were held by the families of the original Atkinson Foundation trustees. The private investment firm NordStar Capital LP, owned by Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett, officially acquired Torstar on August 5, 2020.
[2021-03-01] Torstar to launch online casino to help fund its journalism. [Torstar, ] Owner of Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and other papers getting into online gambling.
[2020-05-27] Toronto Star's parent company was just bought out - buyers are donors to Maxime Bernier and the Conservative Party
Trace, The
Website
From the Wikipedia entry.
... Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg had founded Everytown for Gun Safety "which was created after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 where more than 20 people died, most of them young children. The editorial news director, James Burnett said, "We do bring a point of view to the issue of gun violence: We believe there is too much of it. But our focus is on a related problem: the shortage of information on the subject at large." ...
The Trace partners with other national and local media organizations, including:
In a partnership with The Atlantic, The Trace investigated the reasons the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has an annual budget of over $11 billion, stopped doing research on gun violence. In a The Trace interview, Mark L. Rosenberg, a founder of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the division of the agency responsible for doing gun violence research, Rosenberg said that it was "the leadership of the CDC who stopped the agency from doing gun violence research. The Injury Center, established by Rosenberg and five colleagues in 1992, had an annual budget of c. $260,000 focused on "identifying the root causes of firearm deaths and the best methods to prevent them". Rosenberg told The Trace in 2016, "Right now, there is nothing stopping them from addressing this life-and-death national problem." It was previously assumed that the research was not being done because of a sentence in the 1996 Dickey Amendment, which was supported by the NRA, and inserted into the 1996 appropriations bill which stated "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control". In 1997, "Congress redirected all of the money previously earmarked for gun violence research to the study of traumatic brain injury." David Satcher, who was the CDC head from 1993 to 1998, advocated for gun violence research until he left in 1998. In 1999 Rosenberg was fired. Over a dozen "public health insiders, including current and former CDC senior leaders" told The Trace interviewers that CDC senior leaders took an overly cautious stance in their interpretation of the Dickey amendment. They could have done much more.
The Trace keeps track of NRA spending on elections. The NRA broke its own record of $31.7 million in 2014 with $36.3 million in 2016 in support of Donald Trump's candidacy for president.
[ ... snip ... ]
From the MediaBiasFactCheck.com entry.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
The Trace is an American non-profit journalism outlet devoted to gun-related news in the United States. It was established in 2015 with seed money from the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, which was founded by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In review, The Trace publishes statistics and news stories that highlight the dangers of guns and the need for gun control. The Trace is highly factual through the use of official and scientific sources such as the CDC, OpenSecrets.org, and the FBI. There is minimal use of loaded words. The Trace is evidence-based in presentation. Overall, we rate The Trace left-center biased based on its political position supporting gun control and high for factual reporting due to using highly credible sources. (D. Van Zandt 12/31/2017)
True North Research
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
True North Research is a for-profit research firm founded by left-of-center activist Lisa Graves in 2007. The firm conducts political and policy research aimed at exposing the influence of conservative and free-market-leaning businessmen and businesses.
True North Research website:
"I chose the name "True North" for this new investigative research watchdog because our precious planet and America's great experiment in democracy are threatened by special interests dominating politics and policy-and we need the truth and compelling stories that touch our hearts to see our way through this crisis. ...
"... Our focus is on front groups, corporations, and people underwriting a reactionary agenda that undermines our nation's commitment to core principles: ...
"... True North spearheads research projects such as KochDocs.org and iwfexposed.org, which focus on groups distorting our democracy. Please sign up through our contact form to get my updates about breaking news, breakthrough research, and compelling stories that tell the truth and expose the liars funded by reactionary front groups, corporations, and CEOs and their heirs.
"Lisa Graves, Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief/Managing Editor."
Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief/Managing Editor: Lisa Graves.
TruthOut.org
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Truthout strongly Left Biased based on story selection and political positions that favor the left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to publishing a false story and promoting anti-GMO propaganda.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
History
Truthout is a progressive news organization in the United States that operates a website and distributes a daily newsletter. Registered in September 2001, in Sacramento, California, Truthout publishes original political news articles, opinion pieces, video reports, and artwork. According to its about page, "Truthout works to broaden and diversify the political discussion by introducing independent voices and focusing on under-covered issues and unconventional thinking." Truthout's main areas of focus are mass incarceration, social justice, and climate change. The current editor-in-chief is Maya Schenwar.
Maya Schenwar
Maya Schenwar (born November 10, 1982) is the editor-in-chief of Truthout and a writer focused on prison-related topics. Maya Schenwar is the co-author of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, author of Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn't Work and How We Can Do Better, and a co-editor of the anthology Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. Maya Schenwar has written about prison issues for Truthout, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications.
Funded by / Ownership
Truthout is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is funded through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Truthout is a progressive news and opinion website focused on social justice and the environment. There is significant use of loaded emotional language that favors the left such as this: ...
When it comes to science, Truthout holds a negative view toward GMOs and uses highly sensationalized and conspiratorial headlines such as this: "Have Monsanto, and the Biotech Industry Turned Natural Pesticides Into GMO "Super Toxins"?"
Failed Fact Checks
Although Truthout has not failed a fact check by an IFCN fact checker, they have reported some stories that were not factual. For example, a reporter claimed that Karl Rove was indicted on charges when in fact, he wasn't. The reporter continued to claim without evidence. See the link here. Although this is only one example, it shows that this source should be checked when in doubt.
[2021-10-12] I had originally yellow-flagged β οΈ Truthout based on the above MediaBiasFactCheck.com "Failed Fact Checks" statements. However, I removed that flag, given this Wikipedia entry, and the political controversies surrounding Karl Rove. Karl Rove's Wikipedia page makes no mention of Jason Leopold, or Truthout.
On 2006-05-13, after Jason Leopold posted on Truthout that Karl Rove had been indicted by the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame affair, Rove spokesman Mark Corallo denied the story, calling it "a complete fabrication". Truthout defended the story, saying on 2006-05-15 they had two sources "who were explicit about the information" published, and confirmed on May 25 that they had "three independent sources confirming that attorneys for Karl Rove were handed an indictment" on the night of 2006-05-12. The grand jury concluded without returning an indictment of Rove.
In his memoir, Courage and Consequence, Karl Rove addressed the Leopold article, writing that Jason Leopold is a "nut with internet access" and that "thirty-five reporters called [Rove's defense attorney] Robert D. Luskin or Corallo to ask about the Truthout report." According to Rove, "Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald "got a kick out of the fictitious account and e-mailed Luskin to see how he felt after such a long day."
Jason Leopold continued to write investigative pieces for Truthout, gaining more agreeable attention for his work on the British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. Jason Leopold is now a senior investigative reporter at BuzzFeed.
On May 13, 2006, Jason Leopold reported on Truthout that Karl Rove had been indicted by the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame affair affair. Rove spokesman Mark Corallo denied the story, calling it "a complete fabrication". Truthout vigorously defended the story saying variously that it had two or three "independent sources", before Truthout executive director, Marc Ash, issued a statement apologizing for "getting too far out in front of the news-cycle". The grand jury concluded with no indictment of Karl Rove. ...
Tyee, The
Wikipedia, The Tyee | The Tyee: funding [ transition to nonprofit status ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Tyee on the far end of Left-Center Biased based on liberal editorial bias and story selection that often favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting rather than High due to a failed fact check.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 2003, The Tyee is a left-of-center independent online Canadian news magazine that primarily covers British Columbia. According to their about page, they state "We're devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting, and analysis that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation. Our reporting has changed laws, started movements, and garnered numerous awards."
The current editor is Robyn Smith.
Funded by / Ownership
The Tyee is a nonprofit organization that is funded through donations and advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Tyee produces original journalism that utilizes moderate loaded language that favors the left such as this: "'Together We Are Unstoppable.' Thousands Join Greta Thunberg in Vancouver Climate Protest." This story is properly sourced to credible media. In another story, How Progressives Can Compete to Win Next Time, they again support the left and properly source to credible information from The Conversation.
Editorially, most stories favor the left and are properly sourced to credible media outlets or information.
Failed Fact Checks
The president has consistently cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization - FALSE
[theTyee.ca, 2022-03-01] Why We Helped The Tyee Turn Non-Profit. We remain committed, says the former investor, and invite others to join in helping this publication thrive. Eric Peterson has, with partner Christina Munck, long supported The Tyee, and they were crucial to The Tyee's transition to non-profit status.
Editor's note: Eric Peterson and Christina Munck [local copy] are partners in life and in their worldly endeavours. They are trustees of the Tula Foundation, and founders of the Hakai Institute and Hakai Magazine. And they have long provided key financial support to The Tyee, investors for over a decade and sole "caretakers" as they have referred to themselves during the final three years The Tyee was a for-profit company. ...
Tula Foundation, Media division - Media partners: In addition to our "own" media that is part of the Tula Foundation, we are happy to collaborate with a wider network of progressive media organizations that share our commitment to high quality independent journalism: { β’ The Tyee β’ The Smithsonian Magazine β’ High Country News }.
[theTyee.ca, 2021-12-03] I'm Finishing Up as Tyee Editor-in-Chief. Robyn Smith has some personal news, as they say.
U.S. News & World Report
Wikipedia entry.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate U.S. News & World Report Left-Center biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1948, U.S. News & World Report is an American media company that publishes news, opinion, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. Founded as a newsweekly magazine in 1933, U.S. News transitioned to primarily web-based publishing in 2010. U.S. News is best known today for its influential Best Colleges and Best Hospitals rankings. The current editor is Brian Kelly.
Funded by / Ownership
U.S. News & World Report is owned by media proprietor Mortimer Benjamin Zuckerman, worth an estimated 2.7 billion. Mortimer Zuckerman donates to both Democrats and Republicans, with more donations going to Democrats. U.S. News generates revenue through advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, U.S. News and World Report primarily cover politics, finance, health, and education. They provide original content that uses minimally loaded language such as this: "Measles Exposure Possible at Chicago Airport." Like all others on the website, this story is properly sourced to credible media and organizations such as Pew Research, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and a variety of United States <.gov/em> sites. At this point, U.S. News & World Report is best known for its best-of series, such as best states, best countries, best colleges, etc. Editorially, U.S. News & World Report tends to lean slightly left through topic selection. In general, they report the news accurately and with a slight left-leaning bias.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Vanity Fair
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Vanity Fair Left Biased based on editorial positions that always favor the left and Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to a failed fact check.
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL.
Variety
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to ownership by the Penske Media Corporation - noting particularly this report:
[HillReporter.com, 2021-04-01] The Demise of Rolling Stone: How A Legendary Magazine Sold Out to Trump and the Saudis
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Variety Magazine Left-Center Biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Factual Reporting: HIGH.
History
Founded in 1905, Variety Magazine and the website features breaking entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries, and more, plus a credits database, production charts, and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905.
Funded by / Ownership
Variety Magazine is owned by Penske Media Corporation, which is an American digital media, publishing, and information services company based in Los Angeles and New York City. It publishes more than 20 digital and print brands, including Deadline Hollywood, Rolling Stone, WWD, BGR, and others. PMC's Chairman and CEO since founding is Jay Penske. The website is funded through advertising, sponsored content, and subscription fees.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Variety Magazine typically produces original news content about the entertainment industry. Headlines are usually straightforward and low biased such as this: "'Terminator: Dark Fate' Heading for Lackluster $27 Million Launch." Some headlines are slightly sensationalized regarding celebrities, but for the most part, information is sourced accurately and the headlines describe the news story.
Editorially, Variety Magazine reports on politics as it relates to the entertainment industry. In other words, they offer minimal opinions. However, when covering President Trump they typically are negative and use loaded emotional language such as this: "Gloria Steinem on Whether Trump Should Be Impeached: 'He Was Never Elected'." In general, Variety Magazine reports factually and displays a left-leaning bias when covering politics.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Wikipedia
Vancouver Observer, The
About / History. Founded in 2009; transitioned (2015) to the National Observer.
The Vancouver Observer (Wikipedia entry).
The Vancouver Observer was an independent online newspaper, founded in 2006 by journalist Linda Solomon [Linda Solomon Wood] as an online platform for Vancouver, British Columbia bloggers, writers, reporters, photographers and filmmakers.
Awards and recognition
The Vancouver Observer won the Canadian Journalism Foundation Excellence in Journalism Award in June 2014 for local/regional reporting. Finalists in the category included Global Calgary and CBC Edmonton. Vancouver ObserverVancouver Observer reporter Matthew Millar broke the story about Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee chair Chuck Strahl working as a registered lobbyist for Enbridge, resulting in his resignation. The Vancouver Observer also broke a story about Canada's National Energy Board, a federal energy regulator, coordinating with police for monitoring of environmental advocates involved in the joint review panel hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal. At the award ceremony, Vancouver Observer publisher Linda Solomon Wood announced the upcoming launch of a national news site, the National Observer, with a focus on energy and federal politics.
The Vancouver Observer won first place in Masthead's 2010 Canadian Online Publishing Awards green division for best online-only articles for its "Lost Canadians" series, by Darren Fleet and Megan Stewart - who were both completing their master's degrees at the University of British Columbia School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the time. The Vancouver Observer was also a finalist in three categories in the 2011 Awards: Best Overall Website, Best Online-Only Articles, and Best Newsletter.
The National Observer
The National Observer, launched in 2015, is the national offshoot of The Vancouver Observer. The site was founded through a Kickstarter campaign.
Verge, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Concerns include the following items (chiefly: news aggregation rather than investigative journalism; preoccupation with wealth, growth and acquisition; focus on digital arts and trending / viral content; ...); ownership by Vox Media; self-promotion; promotion of consumerism; constant shilling of commercial products; ...
Wikipedia entry | YouTube computer build video controversy
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Verge Left-Center biased based on story selection that slightly favors the left and High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing, supporting the consensus of science, and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2011, The Verge is an American technology news and media network operated by NBC Universal. It has offices in Manhattan, New York City. The network publishes news items, long-form feature stories, product reviews, podcasts, and an entertainment show. The Verge won five Webby Awards for the year 2012, including awards for Best Writing (Editorial), Best Podcast for The Vergecast, Best Visual Design, Best Consumer Electronics Site, and Best Mobile News App. The current editor is Nilay Patel [disambiguation: not Neil Patel].
Funded by / Ownership
The Verge is owned by Vox Media, which includes investors such as NBC Universal. The website generates revenue through advertising and sponsored content.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Verge primarily covers technology and science, with less emphasis on politics. However, when covering politics, they generally use minimally loaded words such as this: ...
Political news is typically related to technology or science information and not just politics in general. When it comes to science reporting, The Verge aligns with the consensus of science. The Verge does not produce political editorial content, though story selection tends to favor the left slightly.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Vice Media | Vice | Vice News | Vice.com | Vice Motherboard
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Vice Media Left-Center Biased due to wording and story selection that moderately favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual rather than High due to a failed fact check.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Vice Magazine was founded in 1994 in Montreal, Canada by Shane SmithSuroosh Alvi, and Gavin McInnes. In this interview with Suroosh Alvi, he provides details on how Vice was born. In 1998, the partners sold part of Vice to Montreal software magnate Richard Szalwinski; however, soon, they repurchased the magazine. Once called "Voice of Montreal," they eventually changed the name to Vice. In 1999, Vice relocated its base to New York City and became Vice Media, which grew into a digital media company that publishes online and in print magazines and expanded into millennial-driven media consisting of a website, broadcast news unit, a film production company, a record label, and a publishing imprint and more. Its news division, Vice News, launched in 2013 and focused on news and current events. Currently, Nancy Dubuc is the CEO, and Shane Smith is the Executive Chairman. According to its about page, Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith are listed as owners, whereas Gavin McInnes is not listed since he left due to "creative differences." Gavin McInnes later founded the Proud Boys, which is a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group.
Co-founder Gavin Miles McInnes
Source for the following: Wikipedia, 2022-03-08.
Gavin Miles McInnes (born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster, and far-right political commentator. McInnes is the host of the podcast Get Off My Lawn, on the online video platform Censored.TV - which Innes founded. Innes co-founded Vice [Vice Media] in 1994 at the age of 24, and relocated to the United States in 2001. In more recent years, Innes has drawn attention for his far-right political activism and his role as the founder of the Proud Boys [Proud Boys] - an American far-right neofascist organization designated as a terrorist group in Canada. Gavin McInnes has been accused of promoting violence against political opponents, but has claimed that he only has supported political violence in self-defense, and that he is not far-right or a supporter of fascism.
Born to Scottish parents in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, Gavin McInnes immigrated to Canada as a child. Innes graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario before moving to Montreal, Quebec and co-founding Vice with Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith. Innes relocated with Vice Media to New York City in 2001.
During his time at Vice, Gavin McInnes was called a leading figure in the New York hipster subculture. After leaving Vice in 2008, McInnes became increasingly known for his far-right political views. Innes is the founder of the Proud Boys, a neofascist, men's rights and male-only organisation classified as a "general hate" organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Innes has rejected this classification, claiming that the group is "not an extremist group and not have ties with white nationalists". Innes holds both Canadian and British citizenship and lives in Larchmont, New York.
In 2018, Gavin McInnes was fired from Blaze Media, and was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for violating terms of use related to promoting violent extremist groups and hate speech. In June 2020, McInnes' YouTube account was suspended for violating YouTube's policies concerning hate speech, posting content that was "glorifying inciting violence against another person or group of people."
Funded by / Ownership
According to Forbes, Shane Smith owns approximately (20%), and the rest of the shares belongs to The Walt Disney Company, A&E Networks, TPG Inc. (the private equity group), and 21st Century Fox. Vice Media missed revenue targets by $100m, and according to a Forbes article, "Disney wrote down $157m of its investment in Vice," which indicates a sign of trouble "for the youth-focused media company." Further, CNBC reports Vice is reportedly reducing staff by 15%. Vice News is funded primarily through advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In 2017, investigative reporting by Emily Steel of The New York Times uncovered mistreatment and sexual harassment of women and workplace culture at Vice Media, which was described by ex-employees as toxic. Following the report, Vice Media President Andrew Creighton resigned, which then CEO and now Executive Chairman Shane Smith has acknowledged and apologized, promising change. Vice Media later announced that it established a Diversity and Inclusion Board.
In review, Vice News offers a progressive liberal perspective in reporting such as "Millennials Don't Love Capitalism but Can't Stop Using Amazon." Vice News has an anti-Trump tone in their articles, such as: "This Is What It Takes for a Trump Voter to Change Their Mind," and "Trump Foundation is shutting down after the Attorney General of New York called it 'little more than a checkbook' for Trump." However, Vice News utilizes credible sources such as The Washington Post, ocf.Berkeley.edu, Vox, The Associated Press, ag.NY.gov, Forbes, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Census.gov, and The New York Times. In general, more stories favor the left and present a more favorable left-leaning perspective on issues.
Failed Fact Checks
Claims Donald Trump called undocumented immigrants animals: FALSE.
Vox | Vox.com | Vox Media
π STOP! Excluded from sources. Concerns include the following items (chiefly: news aggregation rather than investigative journalism; preoccupation with wealth, growth and acquisition; focus on digital arts and trending / viral content; ...); self-promotion; promotion of consumerism; ...
Update [2021-12-14]: the MediaBiasFactCheck.com analysis below is dated and superseded by the comprehensive Persagen.com analysis of the {BuzzFeed - Huffington Post / HuffPost - Vox Media} domain, consolidated under the BuzzFeed entry (above).
Specific to Vox Media, see: BuzzFeed - Vox Media Connections
See also: The Verge, which is owned by Vox Media
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Vox Left Biased due to wording and story selection that routinely favors the left. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting, rather than High, due to two failed fact checks, with only one offering a correction.
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 2014, Vox is a news hub run by Vox Media (not to be confused with Vox German TV channel). Co-founded by former The Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein who is also an editor. Melissa Bell is the vice president of growth and analytics, and former Slate columnist Matthew Yglesias is a former editor and a former columnist for Vox.
[updated 2021-10-09] Matthew Yglesias (born May 18, 1981) is an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as The American Prospect, The Atlantic, and Slate. In 2020-11, Matthew Yglesias left his position as an editor and columnist for the news website Vox, which he co-founded in 2014, to publish through Substack.
Funded by / Ownership
Vox Media is a digital publishing network founded by Jerome Armstrong, Tyler Bleszinski, and Markos Moulitsas and based in Washington, D.C. According to a Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Vox Media has eight editorial brands and a custom advertising division. These are (sports-focused) SB Nation, (tech site) The Verge, (video game site) Polygon, (real estate blog) Curbed, (food and nightlife) Eater, (technology news) Racked, (news hub) Vox and (technology business) Recode. Further, a New York Times article dated 2015 states that NBC Universal, which Comcast Corporation owns, invested $200 Million in Vox Media (see also BuzzFeed).
Analysis / Bias
According to a Politico interview with the editor, Ezra Klein, Klein describes their goal as "to use technology to improve readers' experience and understanding of events." Vox has introduced Vox Card Stacks, and with those cards, they organize information, in index card format, about all kinds of topics in the news with in-depth details but in a summary form. Some examples are: "Everything you need to know about Israel-Palestine" and "The spread of marijuana legalization, explained." Vox also has a feature called StoryStream, where they provide real-time updates to news stories.
In review, Vox looks at the issues from a progressive liberal perspective, and there is also an anti-Trump tone in their reporting. Therefore, the majority of stories are pro-left and anti-right. Further, Vox publishes stories with emotionally loaded headlines such as "Are Democrats brave enough to run a woman against Donald Trump?," and "The most depressing energy chart of the year- Coal has got to go." When it comes to sourcing, Vox typically utilizes credible sources such as The New York Times, The Associated Press, and Bloomberg News.
Failed Fact Checks
Did 200,000 Salvadorans With Temporary Protected Status Flee Natural Disaster? - FALSE (correction issued)
Did wages fall by 1.8 percent after Donald Trump's tax cut? - MOSTLY FALSE
Wall Street Journal, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources, due to ownership by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (sister company: Fox Corporation, owner of Fox News), transphobia, ....
News Corporation - stylized as News Corp - is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the original News Corporation, News Corporation was formed on 2013-06-28, following a spin-off of the media outlets of the original News Corp as 21st Century Fox. Operating across digital real estate information, news media, book publishing, and cable television, News Corp's notable assets include Dow Jones & Company (publisher of The Wall Street Journal [Wikipedia: The Wall Street Journal)], News UK (publisher of The Sun and The Times), News Corp Australia, REA Group (operator of RealEstate.com.au), Realtor.com, and book publisher HarperCollins.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Wall Street Journal Right-Center biased due to low biased news reporting combined with a strong right biased editorial stance. We also rate them Mostly Factual in reporting rather than High due to anti-climate, anti-science stances, and occasional misleading editorials.
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
... A factual search reveals that the Wall Street Journal has never failed a fact check regarding news reporting; however, IFCN fact checkers Climate Feedback and Health Feedback has found numerous inaccuracies in The Wall Street Journal editorial department.
- Wikipedia:
... The Wall Street Journal has won 37 Pulitzer Prizes (as of 2019). The editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal are typically conservative in their position. The Wall Street Journal editorial board has promoted views that differ from the scientific consensus on climate change [climate change denial, acid rain, and ozone depletion, as well as on the health harms of second-hand smoke, pesticides and asbestos. It is regarded as a "newspaper of record," particularly in terms of business and financial news. ...
Here is an example of The Wall Street Journal's bias:
... In 2018, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal claimed that "Donziger's attempted looting of Chevron Corporation for spurious environmental crimes in Ecuador ranks among the biggest legal scams in history." The editorial called Donziger's disbarment "a step toward reining in Mr. Donziger's marauding." ...
Walrus, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to past hiring of conspiratorial, transphobic Editor Jonathan Kay; unpaid internship programme; a toxic and disorganized environment at the magazine; cultural appropriation; ...
Wikipedia: The Walrus, 2023-01-30:
The Walrus is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. The Walrus is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national speaker series called The Walrus Talks, and branded content for clients through The Walrus Lab.
History
Creation
In 2002, David Berlin, a former editor and owner of the Literary Review of Canada, began promoting his vision of a world-class Canadian magazine. This led David Berlin to meet with then-Harper's editor Lewis H. Lapham to discuss creating a "Harper's North" - which would combine the American magazine with 40 pages of Canadian content. As David Berlin searched for funding to create that content, a mutual friend put him in touch with Ken Alexander, a former high school English and history teacher and then senior producer of CBC NewsWorld's CounterSpin. Like David Berlin, Ken Alexander was hoping to found an intelligent Canadian magazine that dealt with world affairs.
Before long, the Chawkers Foundation - run by Ken Alexander's family - had agreed to provide the prospective magazine with $5 million over five years, and the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation promised $150,000 for an internship program. This provided enough money to get by without the partnership with Harper's.
Shortly after David Berlin and Ken Alexander hired creative director Antonio de Luca and art director Jason Logan to envision the launch of The Walrus.
The Walrus launched in September 2003, as an attempt to create a Canadian equivalent to American magazines such as Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, or The New Yorker. Since then, The Walrus has become Canada's leading general interest magazine. The Walrus's mandate is:
"... to be a national general interest magazine about Canada and its place in the world. We are committed to publishing the best work by the best writers from Canada and elsewhere on a wide range of topics for readers who are curious about the world."
[ ... snip ... ]
Unpaid internship programme
In March 2014, The Walrus was required to shut down its unpaid internship programme after the Ontario Ministry of Labour declared that its longstanding practice of not paying interns was in contravention of the Employment Standards Act. The Walrus issued a statement justifying its practice of using unpaid labour, saying:
"We have been training future leaders in media and development for ten years, and we are extremely sorry we are no longer able to provide these opportunities, which have assisted many young Ontarians - and Canadians - in bridging the gap from university to paid work and in, many cases, on to stellar careers."
Since 2014, The Walrus has offered paid editorial fellowships that run six months.
Recent years
On December 1, 2014, Jonathan Kay replaced John Macfarlane as Editor of The Walrus.
In October 2015, a report in Canadaland provided details of a toxic and disorganized environment at The Walrus.
Jonathan Kay resigned as editor on May 14, 2017, following a controversy around cultural appropriation in which Jonathan Kayhe dismissed Indigenous concerns about the practice.
Jessica Johnson was named executive editor and creative director of The Walrus on September 7, 2017. As of September 2019 Jessica Johnson remained in that role, with Carmine Starnino as Deputy Editor, Viviane Fairbank as Editor, and Samia Madwar as Managing Editor.
Finances
Though The Walrus was initially pledged $1 million annually by the Chawkers Foundation for its first five years, it was unable to access this money without first being recognized as a charitable organization by the Canada Revenue Agency. The Alexander family was forced to support the magazine out of its own pocket until it finally received charitable status in 2005, creating the charitable non-profit Walrus Foundation. In addition to publishing the magazine, the Walrus Foundation runs events across Canada, including talks and debates on public policy.
In the relatively small and geographically dispersed Canadian market, magazines producing long-form journalism have often struggled to stay afloat. Saturday Night - which The Walrus editor John Macfarlane formerly published - lost money continuously despite being a celebrated publication. But as John Macfarlane reports, The Walrus'' charitable model - similar to that of Harper's - is so far sustaining it: donations covered about half of the costs of producing The Walrus in 2010, with the traditional revenue streams of circulation and advertising providing the rest. This is all the more important for The Walrus, because its educational mandate requires that The Walrus keep a ratio of no less than 70 percent editorial content to 30 percent advertising.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: The Walrus, 2022-12-31:
Bias Rating: LEFT | Factual Reporting: HIGH | Country: Canada | Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Organization/Foundation | Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Overall, we rate The Walrus Left Biased based on strongly left-leaning editorial positions and High for factual reporting due to a clean fact-check record.
History
Founded in 2003, The Walrus is a Canadian general interest magazine that publishes long-form journalism on Canadian and international affairs, along with fiction and poetry by Canadian writers. The current editor is Jessica Johnson. According to their about page: "The Walrus provokes new thinking and sparks conversation on matters vital to Canadians. As a registered charity, we publish independent, fact-based journalism, produce national, ideas-focused events, and train emerging professionals in publishing and non-profit management."
Funded by / Ownership
The Walrus Foundation owns the magazine and website, and revenue is derived through advertising, subscriptions, and donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, The Walrus publishes well-written long-form journalism covering the topics of Environment, Business, Health, and Politics. the Arts and Society. Headlines and articles often utilize strongly loaded words such as: "What to Read When the World is On Fire", and "Why Canada Should Interfere in the 2020 American Election". Neither of these stories utilizes hyperlinked sourcing on the website; however, these are print articles that cannot. That said, The Walrus indicates where the information comes from, which is appropriate.
Editorially, The Walrus reports negatively on conservatives such as this: "Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons", while reporting favorably on the progressive left: "Fake Left, Go Right". The Walrus reports news factually and uses credible sourcing, while promoting a progressive bias in story selection.
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Washington Examiner
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to climate change denial, and funding from anti-LGBT sources The Anschutz Corporation / Philip Anschutz, who has funded the horrendously transphobic Family Research Council - a Southern Poverty Law Center anti-LGBT hate group.
Washington Examiner (Wikipedia, 2022-12-22):
The Washington Examiner is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is owned by Philip Anschutz. From 2005 to mid-2013, the Washington Examiner published a daily tabloid-sized newspaper, distributed throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area. The newspaper focused on local news and political commentary. The local newspaper ceased publication on June 14, 2013, whereupon its content began to focus almost exclusively on national politics, from a conservative point of view - switching its print edition from a daily newspaper to an expanded print weekly magazine format. ... In October 2020, the Washington Examiner hired Greg Wilson as the new managing editor. As online editor of the Fox News website, Greg Wilson had previously published a news story supporting the conspiracy theory about murdered Democratic aide Seth Rich [Murder of Seth Rich], and WikiLeaks. ...
[ ... snip ... ]
Climate change denial
In February 2010, the Washington Examiner published an op-ed in which Michael Barone - citing the Climatic Research Unit email controversy - argued that the scientific consensus on climate change was "propaganda" that was "based on ... shoddy and dishonest evidence." Daniel Sarewitz of Arizona State University criticized Michael Barone, writing that Michael Barone and other conservative climate change sceptics were erroneously "portraying deviation from scientific certainty and highly idealized notions of 'the scientific method' as evidence against climate change" - which Daniel Sarewitz compared to "equally naive and idealized" presentations on the other side of the debate, such as the film An Inconvenient Truth.
In 2017, the Washington Examiner editorial board supported President Donald Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, which the Washington Examiner editorial board described as: "a big flashy set of empty promises ... The Earth's climate is changing, as it always has. And part of the reason it is changing is due to human activity. But those two facts are excuses neither for alarmism and reflexive, but ineffective action, nor for sacrificing sovereignty to give politicians a short-term buzz of fake virtue and green guerrillas another weapon with which to ambush democratic policymaking."
On August 31, 2019, the Washington Examiner published an op-ed by Patrick Michaels and Caleb Stewart Rossiter titled "The Great Failure of the Climate Models". It claimed that overwhelmingly accepted climate models were not valid scientific tools. Scientists described the Washington Examiner op-ed as highly misleading, noting that there were numerous false assertions and cherry-picked data in the op-ed.
[ ... snip ... ]
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate the Washington Examiner Right Biased based on editorial positions that almost exclusively favor the right and Mixed for factual reporting due to several failed fact checks.
Bias Rating: RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
The Washington Examiner is owned by Clarity Media Group [The Anschutz Corporation], which is owned by Philip Anschutz, an American billionaire entrepreneur who describes himself as a "conservative Christian." Anschutz is also the owner of the right-leaning The Weekly Standard and has donated millions of dollars to right-leaning causes, including anti-LGBT groups, such as the Family Research Council, which has been labeled a hate group. The Washington Examiner is funded through an advertising and subscription model.
Washington Post, The [ WashingtonPost.com | "WaPo"]
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize, particularly political reporting. The main concern - like Michael R. Bloomberg's ownership of Bloomberg News - is ownership of influential news /mass media by multibillionaires. Throughout the early years of ownership, Jeff Bezos was accused of having a potential conflict of interest with the paper [source]. Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post's editorial board have dismissed accusations that Bezos unfairly controlled the paper's content, and Bezos maintains the paper's independence.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate The Washington Post Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left. Due to two failed fact checks, they earn a Mostly Factual rating.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
In 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million. Jeff Bezos is a frequent target of Donald Trump, who has accused Bezos of using the U.S.Postal Service as its "Delivery Boy." The newspaper's executive editor, Martin Baron, said Jeff Bezos - who founded Amazon.com - is not involved in its news coverage. According to a New York Magazine article, "Bezos is a libertarian who has given money to anti-tax initiatives in the past" and supports gay marriage through donations. Bezos also donated to both Democratic and Republican senators, respectively.
Analysis
The Washington Post played a part with The New York Times in publishing excerpts of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The original papers can be viewed here. The Washington Post started reporting on Watergate [Watergate scandal] in 1972, linking the Democratic National Committee break-in to Richard Nixon's campaign and eventually brought down the administration of President Richard Nixon.
According to Pew Research, The Washington Post is more trusted by liberal readers than conservatives. However, in 2016, The Washington Post published an anti-Bernie Sanders editorial, "Bernie Sanders' fiction-filled campaign," that The New Republic called an "embarrassment."
The Washington Post was involved in a scandal in 1980 when they published an article by Janet Cooke that won the Pulitzer Prize. Janet Cooke later returned the Pulitzer Prize when it turned out the story was fake.
Bias
In review, The Washington Post publishes stories with emotionally loaded headlines such as ...
On 2021-03-16, The Washington Post amended and corrected a story from a 2020-12-23 phone call. On this call, they claimed an anonymous source told them that former President Donald Trump told election investigator Frances Watson "find the fraud" and she would be a "National Hero." In the original article, The Washington Post< used quotes to indicate these are the words of former President Trump. According to the actual recording received by The Wall Street Journal, those words were never said. In general, The Washington Post reports news mostly factually and with a left-leaning editorial bias. While still a highly credible source, there needs to be a level of caution when they utilize anonymous sources.
Failed Fact Checks
A computer infected by malware proved a Vermont power company targeted for disruption by Russian hackers. - MOSTLY FALSE.
Donald Trump said, "find the fraud," "National Hero" - FALSE (corrected 2 months later).
Wikipedia: The Washington Post,2020-07-03.
On 2013-08-05, Jeff Bezos announced his purchase of The Washington Post for $250 million in cash. To execute the sale, Bezos established Nash Holdings, a limited liability holding company that legally owns the paper. The sale closed on 2013-10-01, and Nash Holdings took control.
In 2014-03 Jeff Bezos made his first significant change at The Washington Post and lifted the online paywall for subscribers of a number of U.S. local newspapers in Texas, Hawaii, and Minnesota. In 2016-01 Jeff Bezos set out to reinvent the newspaper as a media and technology company by reconstructing its digital media, mobile platforms, and analytics software.
Throughout the early years of ownership, Jeff Bezos was accused of having a potential conflict of interest with the paper. Bezos and the newspaper's editorial board have dismissed accusations that he unfairly controlled the paper's content and Bezos maintains the paper's independence. After a surge in online readership in 2016, the paper was profitable for the first time since Bezos made the purchase in 2013.
The Washington Times [ WashingtonTimes.com ]
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to conspiratorial content (including climate change denial), and other controversies.
The Washington Times (Wikipedia, 2022-12-22):
The Washington Times is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout the District of Columbia and in parts of Maryland and Virginia. A weekly tabloid edition aimed at a national audience is also published. The Washington Times was one of the first American broadsheets to publish its front page in full color.
The Washington Times was founded on 1982-05-17 by Unification movement leader Sun Myung Moon, and owned until 2010 by News World Communications - an international media conglomerate founded by Sun Myung Moon. The Washington Times is currently owned by Operations Holdings, which is a part of the Unification movement.
Throughout its history, The Washington Times has been known for its conservative political stance, supporting the policies of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Ronald Reagan was also a daily reader of The Washington Times. The Washington Times has published many widely shared columns which reject the scientific consensus on multiple environmental issues. The Washington Times has drawn controversy by publishing racist content - including conspiracy theories about U.S. President Barack Obama, and by supporting neo-Confederate historical revisionism.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: although The Washington Times has an extreme right editorial bias, they report straight news with a much lower bias. Therefore, we rate them right-center biased overall. We also rate them Questionable and factually mixed due to poor sourcing, holding editorial positions contrary to scientific consensus, and numerous failed fact checks.
Reasoning: Numerous Failed Fact Checks, Poor Sourcing, Lack of Transparency | Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY.
Funded by / Ownership
Operations Holdings Inc is The Washington Times owner, which is owned by the Unification Church of South Korea, through their holding company HSA-UWC (Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity). In 1954, Reverend Sun Myung Moon founded this religious movement in South Korea, known for its mass weddings, and its members are referred to as "Moonies." According to a The Guardian article, former members have claimed that the Unification Church is a religious cult that utilizes brainwashing techniques. Subscriptions and advertising fund the paper.
The The Washington Times has published disinformation / misinformation articles by The Heritage Foundation - e.g., this 2018-02-04 article by Rebecca Hagelin, attacking George Soros and his Open Society Foundations.
Weekly Standard, The
π STOP! Excluded from sources due to funding from anti-LGBT sources The Anschutz Corporation / Philip Anschutz, who has funded the horrendously transphobic Family Research Council - a Southern Poverty Law Center anti-LGBT hate group.
See also:
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: in 2017, The Weekly Standard became the first conservative fact-checker to join Facebook's Fact Checking Network and is a signatory of the International Fact Checking Network, which Media Bias Fact Check uses to determine factual reporting for our source reviews.
[ Despite that positive statement (above), (1) Facebook is a notorious misinformation and disinformation source, and (2) note the prefacing statements regarding ownership of The Weekly Standard by the notoriously anti-LGBT Philip Anschutz, who has funded the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBT hate group the Family Research Council.]
UPDATE: On 12/14/2018 The Weekly Standard announced they will cease publishing as of 12/17/2018.
Funded by / Ownership
The Weekly Standard is owned by Clarity Media Group, which also owns other right-leaning publications such as the San Francisco Examiner and the Washington Examiner. The Magazine is funded through a subscription and advertising model.
Analysis / Bias
[ The MediaBiasFactCheck statements below are slightly dated, and concerning regarding inclusion of notorious Fox News personality Tucker Carlson as a credible source ...]
The Weekly Standard has a solid reputation for well written conservative journalism featuring prominent writers such as Tucker Carlson, Brit Hume, and PJ O'Rourke. The Weekly Standard typically publishes articles that are favorable to the right and uses moderately loaded wording such as this: "Are Conservatives Giving Up On Democracy?" When reporting on President Trump The Weekly Standard is neither openly for, or against him, but rather reports factually with a conservative-leaning opinion. When it comes to sourcing information, they tend to use quotes as they are a print magazine. Articles on the website are properly sourced with hyperlinks to credible media outlets.
In 2017, The Weekly Standard became the first conservative fact-checker to join Facebook's Fact Checking Network and is a signatory of the International Fact Checking Network, which Media Bias Fact Check uses to determine factual reporting for our source reviews. (7/19/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 8/9/2018)
The Western Journal
π STOP! Excluded from sources.
[MediaBiasFactCheck.com, 2022-06-10] The Western Journal: A questionable source, The Western Journal exhibits one or more of the following: climate change denial, extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source.
Questionable Reasoning: Far Right, Failed Fact Checks, Propaganda, Conspiracy | Bias Rating: FAR RIGHT | Factual Reporting: MIXED | Country: USA | Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE | Media Type: Website | Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic | MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
The Western Journal, previously known as Western Journalism, is an American conservative news and political website based in Phoenix, Arizona. The site was founded by political consultant Floyd Brown in 2008. According to their about page, "The Western Journal is a news company that drives positive cultural change by equipping readers with truth. Every day, WesternJournal.com publishes conservative, libertarian, free-market, and pro-family writers and broadcasters."
Funded by / Ownership
Liftable Media, Inc. acquired The Western Journal in 2014, which also owns the political opinion website Conservative Tribune. Funding appears to be derived primarily from online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
The Western Journal is a news and opinion website with a story selection that always favors the right and is negative toward the left. There is the frequent use of moderately loaded language in headlines such as this: The Clinton State Department's Major Security Breach That Everyone Is Ignoring. The Western Journal typically sources its information from credible media outlets, though story selection and wording usually spin information favorably to the right. They have also failed several fact checks.
Finally, during the 2020 Presidential election, The Western Journal have promoted misinformation. The Western Journal also consistently promotes misinformation regarding Covid-19 and vaccines. See failed fact checks, below.
Failed Fact Checks
Numerous fail fact checks ...
[Wikipedia, 2022-07-29] The Western Journal
The Western Journal, previously known as Western Journalism, is an American conservative news and politics website based in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded by political consultant Floyd Brown in 2008.
History
Western Journalism founder Floyd Brown also founded the Political Action Committee (PAC) Citizens United [Wikipedia: Citizens United, and served as executive director of the Young America's Foundation.
The site was acquired by Liftable Media, Inc. in 2014, which also owns the political opinion websites Conservative Tribune and Liberty Alliance, and the human-interest website Liftable.com. It also owns and provides content to dozens of conservative Facebook pages.
Newsweek reported that the site has grown from receiving 1,000 page views a day in 2009 to more than 1 million during 2016.
In a 2016 story on how fake news spreads on social media, The Intercept reported that "Thanks to views sourced largely to referrals from Facebook, Floyd Brown's websites now outrank web traffic going to news outlets such as the The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and NPR, according to data compiled by Alexa Internet".
The company changed its name in 2018 to The Western Journal, hired trained copy editors, and introduced a corrections page. The New York Times reported in 2019 that the site had more than 36 million readers and followers on Facebook.
Controversy>
Western Journalism previously stated it featured "conservative, libertarian, free market and pro-family writers and broadcasters" and seeks to provide "God-honoring" content. In practice, according to The New York Times, this philosophy, in which "tradition-minded patriots face ceaseless assault by anti-Christian bigots, diseased migrants and race hustlers concocting hate crimes," results in "a torrent of sensationalized, misleading, or entirely made-up stories, often aimed at Muslims and immigrants." Because of negative rulings by fact-checking sites and user trust surveys, Western Journalism was blacklisted by Google and Apple News, and by 2017 its Facebook traffic declined to near zero.
In 2019-02, The Western Journal published an article which alleged "Climate Change 'Heat Records' Are a Huge Data Manipulation" [see: climate change denial] Scientists criticized the article, saying it was deceptive and that it contradicted existing research. The Western Journal subsequently retracted the article.
In 2021-11, a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate described The Western Journal as being among "ten fringe publishers" that together were responsible for nearly 70 percent of Facebook user interactions with content that denied climate change. Facebook disputed the study's methodology.
Western Standard
π STOP! Excluded from sources - see also: Western Standard.
Canadian disinformation source, originally founded in 2004 by disinformation troll Ezra Levant; later relaunched in 2019 by disinformation troll Derek Fildebrandt.
Wikipedia
β οΈ CAUTION: potentially questionable content; carefully scrutinize.
See also: Editorial practices at Persagen.com concerning Wikipedia-sourced material
Wikipedia (Wikipedia entry on Wikipedia).
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Wikipedia Least Biased based on a wide variety of content that often covers pros and cons, right and left. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to possible inaccurate or incomplete entries as stated by Wikipedia themselves, that may reflect the personal biases of the top editors and a complete lack of transparency regarding the qualifications and who the editors are.
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED | Factual Reporting: MIXED | MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY.
Bias
Volunteers edit Wikipedia content rather than the Wikimedia Foundation. Although Wikipedia is edited essentially by anyone, a 2005 study published in the Journal Nature showed that they were just as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica when it comes to scientific information. In another study completed in 2014 by the Public Library of Science, they compared Wikipedia's accuracy on Drug information compared to other sources. The study showed that "Quantitative analysis revealed that the accuracy of drug information in Wikipedia was 99.7%Β±0.2% than the textbook data. The overall completeness of drug information in Wikipedia was 83.8Β±1.5% (p<0.001)." They concluded that "Wikipedia is an accurate and comprehensive source of drug-related information for undergraduate medical education."
It is nearly impossible to analyze when it comes to bias, as each entry changes frequently and is edited by people with different opinions. In general, most Wikipedia entries cover both positives and negatives and link to mostly credible sources of information to support their claims. Since bias varies from entry to entry and line to line, we rate them least biased as many perspectives are found on Wikipedia; however, each entry may convey the bias of the top editors.
Analysis
Full disclosure, I am a Wikipedia editor. A very low-ranking one who has only edited a few entries; however, my experience over the years shows that for each entry, you generally have one or two very high-ranking editors who have almost total control over what is published on the Wiki page. This may lead to bias displayed on some entries. For example, I have edited a page and provided solid evidence from an authoritative credible source, only to find it undone within 30 minutes. I have seen this over and over. In other words, in some cases, entries are not community entries but rather a reflection of the biases of the top Wikipedians (editors). Some have referred to this as a cabal; however, Wikipedia denies that a cabal exists.
It is also vital to point out that Wikipedia does not consider itself credible. They state the following on their Wikipedia is not a reliable source page: "Wikipedia is not a reliable source for citations elsewhere on Wikipedia. Because anyone can edit it at any time, any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong. Biographies of living persons, subjects that happen to be in the news, and politically or culturally contentious topics are especially vulnerable to these issues. Edits on Wikipedia that are in error are usually fixed after some time. However, because Wikipedia is a volunteer-run project, it cannot constantly monitor every contribution. There are many errors that remain unnoticed for hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. Therefore, Wikipedia should not be considered a definitive source in and of itself."
They also state, "Articles are only as good as the editors who have been editing them - their interests, education, and background - and the efforts they have put into a particular topic or article." Another consideration is the lack of transparency of editors as they remain anonymous. Therefore, we don't know their backgrounds, and they have no accountability of using their real name in the public sphere. So, in general, Wikipedia is a good resource to start research that will lead to more credible sources of information. Wikipedia also has a solid track record when it comes to science and evidence-based Wiki pages. However, in some cases, the Wiki pages that rely on the opinions of others may be very misleading as they reflect the will and biases of the authoritative editors.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date, however, some entries are not complete or may be inaccurate as stated by Wikipedia.
[arXiv.org, 2022-12-29] Political representation bias in DBpedia and Wikidata as a challenge for downstream processing.
[RenΓ©e DiResta, theAtlantic.com, 2021-07-21] Institutional Authority Has Vanished. Wikipedia Points to the Answer. The crowdsourced reference site can teach the CDC how to communicate in an era of rumors and shifting information.
Wikitia
[Quora.com, 2020+] What is Wikitia and how is it different from Wikipedia?
Wikitia is an English, web-based, free-content verified encyclopedia and based on a model where only verified editors can edit the content. It was created to eliminate the flaws of Wikipedia where admins, editors can make a decision without specializing in a particular topic or field. The Wikipedia editors approve or reject any edit, any page based on their personal experience which is not verified and often disguise the users.
Wired [Wired.com]
Wikipedia entries: Wired | Louis Rossetto | Libertarianism
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Wired Left-Center biased in wording and report choices and factually high due to proper sourcing.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Based in San Francisco, California, Wired magazine was launched in 1993 by avid libertarian Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe - Rossetto's partner in business and life. Wired covers the tech industry, such as the internet and digital culture, science, and security. In 1998, Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe sold Wired magazine to CondΓ© Nast [Conde Nast], a unit of Advance Publications Inc., for about $80 million. Former editor of the The New Yorker, Nicholas Thompson [Wikipedia: Nicholas Thompson], was named editor in chief of Wired in 2017. Nicholas Thompson is also a contributor for CBS News and regularly appears on CBS This Morning and CBSN. Nicholas Thompson is a co-founder of The Atavist Magazine.
Funded by / Ownership
Advance Publications Inc. subsidiary CondΓ© Nast is the current owner of Wired magazine. Wired's business model is primarily built on advertising. However, since 2018-01 Wired - like other CondΓ© Nast publications - is subscription-based, allowing subscribers unlimited access without display advertising. All readers have access to the homepage, section front pages, and four articles per month at no charge before being asked to subscribe.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Wired publishes magazine stories, news analysis, and web stories focusing on technology. In doing so, they utilize emotive language both in their headlines and body of articles such as "Here's how Facebook actually won Trump the presidency." Wired also reports on political issues that are related to the tech industry. For example, editor in chief Nicholas Thompson mentions in an interview, Wired's position on net neutrality and why they report on it. We examined one of those articles, "Kavanaugh On The Supreme Court Could Spell Trouble For Tech," which favors a left-leaning viewpoint on the subject.
When it comes to sourcing, Wired typically utilizes credible sources such as USCourts.gov, The Associated Press, Military.com, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, and U.S. News & World Report. Wired also publishes pro-science articles such as "The Complexity of Simply Searching For Medical Advice," and utilizes pro-science sources such as PubMed and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Failed Fact Checks
None in the Last 5 years.
Yahoo! News
Note: Yahoo! News is primarily a news aggregator, than a news source.
MediaBiasFactCheck.com: overall, we rate Yahoo! News Left-Center biased based on aggregation from more left-leaning sources as well as editorial content that slightly favors the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting (original content) due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER | Factual Reporting: HIGH | MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY.
History
Founded in 1996, Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by the search engine Yahoo! Articles originally came from popular news services such as The Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News, and the BBC.
In 2011, Yahoo! expanded its focus to include original content and in 2012 the website had a correspondent in the White House press corps for the first time. As of January 2019, Yahoo! News ranked sixth among global news sites, ahead of Fox News and behind CNN, according to Alexa Internet.
Funded by / Ownership
Several companies in its history have owned Yahoo!, most recently being acquired by Apollo Global Management from Verizon in a deal said to be worth $5 billion. Yahoo! generates revenue through advertising as well as an e-commerce shop.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Yahoo! News is primarily a news aggregator, however, they do provide original content written by staff journalists. First, we will examine the sources used for aggregation. Yahoo! News breaks news down to the following categories: U.S., World, Politics, Originals, and Health. Under U.S. news, Yahoo! News aggregates content exclusively from Reuters. Under World News, they use a combination of Reuters, The Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor, and Agence France-Presse.
The Politics section consists of only original content written by Yahoo! Staff, as does the Originals section. Under the Health tab, there are various sources used, with none of them being High Science. Most stories are derived from magazines like Self, Shape, and Men's Health. Finally, under the News Home tab, they list all the stories from all the categories. On 4/4/2019, we reviewed the first 100 stories on the homepage and calculated percentages based on the bias of sources used. The results indicate Yahoo! News selects more left-leaning sources. See the charts below.
Yahoo!'s original content found on the Politics page leans left in wording and story selection, such as this: "Trump just a blowhard on windmills, lawmakers say of 'idiotic' comments." However, they will also publish information that is not favorable to Democrats, like this: Seven women have now accused Joe Biden of inappropriate touching. On a whole, after reviewing dozens of original political news stories, more favor the left than the right. Further, original content is properly sourced to credible media outlets.
Failed Fact Checks
None to date.
Zero Hedge
π STOP! Excluded from sources. ZeroHedge.com
Type: news aggregation website.
ZeroHedge.com / ABC Media, LTD
[BusinessInsider.com, 2020-02-01] Finance blog Zero Hedge was banned from Twitter for Wuhan coronavirus misinformation. It's not the first time the publication has raised eyebrows. Source
Zero Hedge, a financial blog that rose to popularity in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, was permanently suspended from Twitter for what the platform deemed as spreading misinformation over the Wuhan coronavirus.
The site has been described as "far-right" and "pro-Trump" after it was first established as a strong voice offering counter-culture takes in finance and politics.
Additional Reading
Alden Global Capital (erosion of local news; ...)
[Economist.com, 2022-02-17] Private equity is buying up America's newspapers. It may be helping more than it's hurting.
Private equity is buying up America's newspapers.
[Source]
America's local newspapers are struggling to stay afloat. Since 2005 roughly 2,200 local newspapers have folded. Private equity firms, which often swoop on companies in distress, have descended on the industry. Nationwide the share of newspapers owned by private equity increased from 5% to 23% between 2001 and 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new opportunities for private-equity firms to purchase troubled media companies. Many fear that their readiness to slash costs while seeking out new revenue sources will be bad for newsrooms. New evidence suggests that it's not quite that simple.
Private equity is keeping newspapers in business. In a new working paper, researchers at the California Institute of Technology and New York University compare how newspapers that were purchased by private-equity firms fared relative to those that were not. They found that newspapers that were bought by private equity firms were 75% less likely to shut down. Daily papers were also 60% less likely to become weekly publications (a common downgrade for suffering newspapers). Buy-outs, this suggests, could be a lifeboat for the struggling industry.
But there's a catch. After private-equity buy-outs, papers laid off reporters and editors. Across a sample of 766 American newspapers (accounting for around 45% of total circulation), the researchers found that payrolls were about 7% lower at papers with new private-equity capital than if they had not been bought out. They also found a 16.7% relative decline in the number of articles written within five years of the buy-outs (though, admittedly, that is better than going out of business). And they identified a change in focus from local to national news: the share of articles on local politics dropped by about a tenth.
For investors who want to make profits fast, local coverage is a losing battle. But its absence is taking a toll. Readers are increasingly apathetic towards local news - a survey in 2018 by the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, found that only 14% of respondents paid for local papers that year - and instead seek out national online media. Local reporting is expensive, because it requires journalists on the ground and cannot be syndicated. In a study published last year [2021], researchers at Colorado State University, Louisiana State University, and Texas A&M University concluded that when readers consume national news their views become more polarised. Poor local coverage is also associated with less competitive mayoral elections, and newsroom staff shortages are linked to lower voter turnout.
The authors caution that they cannot estimate the general causal effect of private-equity buy-outs, but only the effect on the newspapers in their sample. Private-equity firms do not purchase newspapers randomly. They target failing newsrooms with potential for turnaround; papers with low circulation but high advertising rates were more likely to be bought, they found. But for the newspapers studied, the buy-outs may have been what allowed them to survive. The accompanying weakening of newsrooms may be the lesser of two evils.
[CBC.ca, 2021-12-07] Spy agency warned Trudeau China's tactics becoming more "sophisticated ... insidious". CSIS says foreign interference operations "have become normalized."
As Canada's spy agency warns that China's efforts to distort the news and influence media outlets in Canada "have become normalized," critics are renewing calls for Ottawa to take a far tougher approach to foreign media interference. The warning is contained in briefing documents drafted for Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault in preparation for a meeting he had with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this year [2021]. That meeting focused on the rise of foreign interference in Canada - something CSIS says has become "more sophisticated, frequent, and insidious."
One way foreign states - including the People's Republic of China (PRC) - try to exert pressure on other countries is through media outlets, say the documents, obtained through an access to information request. "In particular, PRC media influence activities in Canada have become normalized," it reads. "Chinese-language media outlets operating in Canada and members of the Chinese-Canadian community are primary targets of PRC-directed foreign influenced activities."
CSIS spokesperson John Townsend said foreign states target both mainstream media outlets - print publications, radio and television programs - and non-traditional online outlets and social media channels to pursue their goals. "Mainstream news outlets, as well as community sources, may also be targeted by foreign states who attempt to shape public opinion, debate, and covertly influence participation in the democratic process," he said. "Considering Canada's rich multicultural makeup, foreign states may try to leverage or coerce individuals within communities to help influence to their benefit what is being reported by Canadian media outlets."
China has an effective influence network, report finds
It's a tactic former Conservative Party of Canada MP Kenny Chiu said he knows all too well. He said he was targeted during the 2021 Canadian federal election by a misinformation campaign run through Chinese language media outlets and social media. "If that's the normal behaviour, then we should really become concerned," he said. Chiu said he was attacked online as anti-Chinese after introducing a private member's bill that would require agents of foreign governments to register and report on their activities. He lost the British Columbia riding of Steveston-Richmond East to Liberal Party of Canada Parm Bains by almost 3,000 votes. "I just felt, first of all, very sad. I feel ridiculous. I feel sad because some of my fellow Canadians of Chinese descent, why would they even believe in this information?" he said.
Earlier this year, Alliance Canada Hong Kong - an umbrella group for Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in this country - released a report [local copy] alleging the Chinese Communist Party runs a sophisticated network that inserts Beijing-friendly narratives into various media outlets. The report says China has been exploiting a lack of oversight in short-staffed newsrooms to push the party line abroad. It says China sometimes pushes those narratives in the open - through sponsored posts or advertorial inserts written by Chinese party-state media - while groups closely tied to Chinese authorities buy digital or print ads parroting party rhetoric. "It's meant to portray that it's indicative they're the group that speaks on behalf of all Chinese folks, all the Canadian Chinese [Chinese Canadians], which is just not true," said Ai-Men Lau local copy], an adviser with Alliance Canada Hong Kong. China also uses its toehold in Canadian ethnic Chinese media to keep journalists in line, she said.
[ ... snip ... ]
Return to Persagen.com