Web of Trust Forum

The Guardian has a very informative article on AFF Media – a professional media firm which promotes political disinformation for the purpose of both profit and politics:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/04/revealed-trump-linked-consultant-facebook-pages-warning-election-cause-civil-war

Glitch.News is owned by Mike Adams, who owns numerous other fake and/or controversial right-wing conspiracy websites.

glitch.news

all Mike Adam’s stories favor the right and promote pseudoscience such as chemtrails, the Sandy Hook shooting being a false flag: Sandy Hook was theater! Actor who played law enforcement sniper was recorded walking around carrying rifle by the magazine. Further, they routinely publish anti-vaccination propaganda and conspiracy theories. Lastly, this source denies the consensus on climate change without evidence, as seen here: Climate change cultists are now taking over your local weather forecast.

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/glitch-news/

Please feel free to rate this site accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/glitch.news

This site is a reputable source of news information, yet is rated very poorly on WOT for no disernable reason. I seriously wonder if someone has done a hit job on this site because of their past endorsement of Bush in 2000 and the newspaper is owned by Adams Publishing Group, which owns over one hundred papers across the USA. Stephen Adams is the owner and donates to Republicans though the paper is not very Republican in its coverage nowadays. This paper and site has failed no fact checks whatsoever.

idahopress.com

the Idaho Press-Tribune covers local news through journalists with minimal bias in wording such as this Man charged with two felonies in fatal hit-and-run crash. Local news is sourced through quotes, interviews, and accounts, while National and world news comes directly from the Associated Press

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/idaho-press-tribune/

Please feel free to rate them accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/idahopress.com

This site has long been a source of politically biased disinformation and has direct links to a well-monied religious cult (Unification Church).

washingtontimes.com

although praised by conservative political leaders, has also been criticized for being the mouthpiece of the Unification Church. The Washington Times also has a strong pro- Christian bias, with a whole section dedicated to the Bible. They have also published articles that criticize left-leaning Christians such as this: “George Soros and his ‘rented evangelicals’ outed by Christian leaders.”. . . In examining several articles, we found that The Times either does not source information at all, or they simply link back to themselves (internal linking) to information that is not relevant to the article. This article is a good example of internal linking: “Mueller: FBI did not mislead Flynn into lying.” Internal linking is a technique used to increase page views and improve SEO, thereby increasing advertising revenue. There is nothing wrong with internal linking if the link relates to relevant information, but in the case of The Times, it does not.
When evaluating how The Times covers science, we found they published an analysis/opinion piece by L. Todd Wood that promotes a climate change conspiracy theory: “global warming and then the climate change narrative was cooked up by America’s adversaries to enable our enemies to eventually dominate us.” Further, according to IFCN fact checker Climate Feedback, The Washington Times published an article with very low scientific credibility.

Additionally, the Times has failed quite a few fact checks:

“5.7 million — that’s how many illegal immigrants might have voted” in 2008. – False
Tax payers paid $4 million for President Obama to play golf with Tiger Woods. – Mostly False
Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, is “ripping out” a plaque dedicated to George Washington because it might offend people. – Mostly False
In passing H.R. 1 in March 2019, House Democrats voted in favor of allowing non-citizens to vote. – False
Then-Vice President Joe Biden publicly revealed the identity of the special-operations unit responsible for Osama bin Laden’s killing during a 3 May 2011 speech at the Atlantic Council Awards Dinner. – False
Did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say that they fear illegal border crossings may increase the spread of the novel coronavirus? – False
Did Joe Biden say he attended college at HBCU Delaware State University? – False
See: https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2020/10/fact-check-joe-biden-did-not-say-he-attended-college-at-hbcu-delaware-state-university.html

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/washington-times/

Please feel free to rate this site accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/washingtontimes.com

This organization site is a source of political disinformation, gossip and rumour.
Turning Point USA is an American conservative or right wing 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded on June 5, 2012 by Wheeling, Illinois high school graduate Charlie Kirk.

tpusa.org

. . . the website does not publish news. It simply provides information about the organization and their policy stances, which are always right leaning. Although they do not publish news on their website, they do make political claims through social media and in the media. They also have a separate website that publishes right wing biased news that is generally well sourced and uses minimal loaded words, but story selection always favors the right.

As per their use of social media:

Facebook also banned a U.S. marketing firm named Rally Forge, which it said had worked with conservative activism organization Turning Point USA and a self-proclaimed environmental body called Inclusive Conservation Group.
Accounts controlled by Rally Forge attempted to influence public conversations around news events by flooding the comments section of news articles from prominent outlets, Facebook said.
The Washington Post has reported that Turning Point USA was responsible for a “spam-like” political messaging campaign, which pumped out 4,500 tweets containing identical content. At the time, Twitter suspended 20 accounts and Facebook said it would investigate the activity.
See: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN26T2XO

They have failed a number of fact checks too:

Says U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi said, “Employers cutting hours is a good thing. It then gives that person time to pursue their dreams and passions.” – FALSE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Taken Way Out of Context – OUT OF CONTEXT
Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Say it Was ‘Wrong’ for Billionaires to Exist? – MOSTLY FALSE
Bogus Biden Quote Circulates Again – FALSE
DID THOMAS JEFFERSON SAY, ‘THAT GOVERNMENT IS BEST WHICH GOVERNS THE LEAST’? – FALSE
Unverified Teddy Roosevelt ‘Quotation’ Lives On – FALSE

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/turning-point-usa/

Please feel free to rate this site accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/tpusa.org

This site belongs to the radio commentator Dan Bongino, who promotes political disinformation, gossip, innuendo and currently promotes violence as a means of attaining and keeping political control in America.

bongino.com and bonginoreport.com

In a video posted to Facebook on Sept. 14, Dan Bongino, a popular right-wing commentator and radio host, declared that Democrats were planning a coup against President Trump on Election Day.
For just over 11 minutes, Mr. Bongino talked about how bipartisan election experts who had met in June to plan for what might happen after people vote were actually holding exercises for such a coup. To support his baseless claim, he twisted the group’s words to fit his meaning. . .

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/technology/viral-misinformation-violence-election.html
See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/bongino-com/

Please feel free to rate this site accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/bongino.com
and
https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/bonginoreport.com

This site belongs to The Federalist, an English-language online magazine that covers politics, policy, culture, and religion. This site promotes conspiracy theory, medical disinformation regarding the COVID virus, political disinformation, gossip, rumour and innuendo.
This site is not a valid source of news information.

thefederalist.com

When it comes to reporting on scientific issues The Federalist often does not align with the consensus of experts in the field. For example, in this article (www.thefederalist.com/2019/10/11/you-dont-need-to-be-a-scientist-to-be-legitimately-skeptical-of-climate-alarmism/) the author claims that “I am a skeptic when it comes to climate change. . . Although the author freely admits he is not an expert and cannot generate an opinion on the scientific concept; he does not need to have an opinion because there is strong scientific consensus on the impact of human-influenced climate change.

The Federalist has also promoted pseudoscience claiming that there is a link between Abortions and Breast Cancer. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists there is “no causal relationship between induced abortion and a subsequent increase in breast cancer risk.”

thefederalist.com has also be caught promoting false allegations regarding the Democratic Party, claiming that they are planning for election violence. This is completely false:

3. False claims of planned violence at polling sites by Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters
Election officials also said people were confronting them with false assertions that antifa, the loose collection of left-wing activists, and Black Lives Matter protesters were coordinating riots at polling places across the country.
One of those rumors began this month when The Federalist, a conservative outlet, noticed that a liberal activist website called Shut Down DC said people should protest on the streets if Mr. Trump was re-elected. Right-wing commentators then attached inflammatory captions to their posts sharing The Federalist’s article. Many said it was evidence of planned far-left violence on Election Day and after, and stated, without proof, that Black Lives Matter was involved.
The false rumor was then shared in 472 public Facebook posts, according to our analysis. It generated 99,336 likes, shares and comments. On Twitter, the rumor was shared at least 400 times.

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/technology/how-three-election-related-falsehoods-spread.html
See: www.mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-federalist/
and: www.healthfeedback.org/claimreview/mask-use-does-not-lead-to-a-higher-risk-of-covid-19-as-viral-social-media-posts-claim/

Please feel free to rate this site accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/thefederalist.com

This is an addendum to the original posting regarding republicbroadcasting.org, a news source that reputedly represents conservative, Republican interests.

This site promotes known conspiracy theory as being factual:

republicbroadcasting.org/news/still-deceiving-yourself-that-population-replacement-is-a-conspiracy-theory/
This article links to russia-insider.com/en/western-collapse which in turn is a discredited site

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/russia-insider/

Russia Insider is a news website launched in September 2014, based in Moscow, Russia. Russia Insider reports on political and social affairs and aims to provide an alternative view to the mainstream news about Russia and country-related issues. Its mission is media criticism and reform, underlining the issues of Western media which are seen by the founders as extremely biased, especially on Russia.

or this article:

republicbroadcasting.org/news/world-government-a-former-conspiracy-myth-is-now-emerging-from-the-shadows/
This article links to 21stcenturywire.com – a known source of psuedoscience and disinformation

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/21st-century-wire/

21st Century Wire is a conspiracy and conjecture site run by Patrick Henningsen. Henningsen has ties to both Infowars and Alex Jones, also known for fake news and broad conspiracies. They also seem to have ties to, or at least to be pro-Russian in much of their content. Specifically Russia Today (RT) the state-run Russian news outlet.

Please feel free to rate republicbroadcasting.org accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/republicbroadcasting.org

21st Century Wire is an alternative news website that rejects the consensus of science regarding climate change and the current COVID outbreak and also promotes the conspiracy that mainstream media is publishing fake news.

21stcenturywire.com

21stCenturyWire.com has repeatedly promoted false claims, including about the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, a July 2020 article headlined “Is the Texas COVID ‘Second Wave’ Fake News?,” republished from the website of the Ron Paul Institute, made multiple false claims to back its argument that COVID-19 deaths and cases in Texas were being exaggerated. According to the article, “Deaths from coronavirus – even the deaths ‘with’ coronavirus rather than deaths ‘from’ coronavirus – are down more than 90 percent since the peak in April. The decline in deaths continues."
The article did not provide a source for this claim. According to multiple authorities, COVID-19 deaths were rising, not declining, in early July 2020, when the article was published. According to Worldometers.info, a site that tracks the pandemic, Texas reported an average of 47 COVID-19 deaths per day between June 30 and July 7. In April, that seven-day rolling average never rose above 32 deaths per day.[/color]”

See: https://www.newsguardtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/21stCenturyWire.pdf

See: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/21st-century-wire/

Please feel free to rate this site accordingly: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/21stcenturywire.com

A review of the work of Dr. Steven Hotze provides a good example of how radical hate groups, which promote political and scientific disinformation, have been harnessed by mainstream conservative organizations (GOP), to perform unethical, if not barely legal actions. This does appear to be how certain mainstream organizations preserve their image while promoting dirty tactics.

First, Dr. Hotze, is a known Republican political operative who has funded attempts to ban everything from gay marriage (https://www.texasobserver.org/steve-hotze-splc-hate-list/) to banning drive-in voting in Texas during the COVID pandemic, resulting in throwing out over 100,000 votes (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-texas/texan-republicans-lose-bid-to-halt-drive-through-voting-but-fight-continues-idUSKBN27H1Q0?il=0).
Dr. Hotze was also one of the few medical "professionals" that was willing to go on the record in supporting far-right views that COVID-19 was a hoax, and appeared on several television shows to parrot unproven treatments for COVID-19:

. . . Hotze has been stirring the pot about the pandemic since the end of March. Scroll down through the CRT Facebook page feed, and you’ll find posts comparing COVID-19 to the rise of the Third Reich and attempts to draw similarities between the iron muzzles slaves were forced to wear and the masks we all are being asked to wear to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, he went too far with a post claiming that masks “create serious health risks for the wearer.” The post was no longer visible when Reform Austin visited the CRT page, but it is still up on Hotze’s personal Facebook page.

See: https://www.reformaustin.org/texas-legislature/facebook-censures-steve-hotze-and-his-conservative-republicans-of-texas/

Dr. Hotze's Conservative Republicans of Texas were placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate list as well.

Dr. Hotze has also advocated the use of violence in solving social problems:

"I want you to give a message to the governor," Hotze told Abbott's chief of staff, Luis Saenz, in a voicemail. "I want to make sure that he has National Guard down here and they have the order to shoot to kill if any of these son-of-a-bitch people start rioting like they have in Dallas, start tearing down businesses — shoot to kill the son of a bitches. That’s the only way you restore order. Kill ‘em. Thank you."

See: https://theeagle.com/news/state-and-regional/kill-em-houston-gop-powerbroker-steve-hotze-left-greg-abbott-a-voicemail-requesting-national-guard/article_ef7f80b3-41d2-5ab6-a627-78a47e15cc70.html

His sites are:

crtpac.com
drhotze.com

Dr. Hotze also has used PR firms to manufacture credibility by helping him to write books (see: https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/advantagefamily.com)

Please feel free to rate these sites accordingly:
https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/crtpac.com
https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/drhotze.com