11/15/2016
False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
Below is a list of fake, false, regularly misleading, and/or otherwise questionable “news” organizations, as well as
organizations that regularly use clickbait­y headlines and descriptions, that are commonly shared on facebook and other
social media sites. Some of these websites rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious
information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits.
Other sources on this list are purposefully fake with the intent of satire/comedy, which can offer important critical
commentary on politics and society, but they are regularly shared as actual/literal news. I’m including them here, for
now, because 1.) they have the potential to perpetuate misinformation based on different audience (mis)interpretations
and 2.) to make sure anyone who reads a story by The Onion, for example, understands its purpose. If you think this is
unnecessary, please see Literally Unbelievable.
Notes: Again, not all of these sources are always or inherently problematic, neither are all of them fake
or false, but I’m including them here at this time because they should be considered in conjunction with
other news/info sources due to their tendency to rely on clickbait headlines or facebook descriptions etc. 100PercentFedUp.com
EnduringVision.com
PakAlertPress.com
21stCenturyWire.com
FPRNradio.com
PoliticalBlindSpot.com
70news.wordpress.com
The Free Thought Project
PoliticalEars.com
abcnews.com.co
GeoEngineeringWatch.org
Politicalo
ActivistPost.com
GlobalResearch.ca
PoliticusUSA
Addicting Info
GovtSlaves.info
PrisonPlanet.com
American News X
GulagBound.com
PrisonPlanet.tv
AmericanNews.com
HangTheBankers.com
Private­eye.co.uk (some satire)
AnonNews.co
HumansAreFree.com
ProjectVeritas
Associated Media Coverage
Huzlers
Rawstory
BeforeItsNews.com
IfYouOnlyNews
React 365
Being Liberal
Indecision Forever
(www.cc.com/indecision)
RealFarmacy.com
BigAmericanNews.com
IJR (Independent Journal Review)
RealNewsRightNow.com
BigPZone.com
InfoWars
RedFlagNews.com
Bipartisan Report
Infowars.com
Red State
BizPac Review
IntelliHub.com
Reductress (satire/comedy)
Blue Nation Review
Inquisitor.com
RileNews.com
Breitbart
JonesReport.com
Satira Tribune
Cap News (satire)
LewRockwell.com
Sprotspickle.com
ChristWire.org (satire)
Liberal America
The Blaze
Chronicle.su
LibertyTalk.fm
The Free Thought Project
CivicTribune.com
LibertyUnyielding
The New Yorker’s Borowitz Report
(satire column)
ClickHole.com (satire/comedy)
LibertyVideos.org
The Onion (satire)
CoastToCoastAM.com
LMR (LibertyMovementRadio.com)
The Other 98%
CollectiveEvolution
MediaMass.net
The Reporterz
ConsciousLifeNews.com
MegynKelly.us
The Stately Harold
ConservativeOutfitters.com
MSNBC.com.co
TheDailySheeple.com
ConspiracyWire
(WideAwakeAmerica.com)
MSNBC.website
TheNewsNerd.com
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10eA5­mCZLSS4MQY5QGb5ewC3VAL6pLkT53V_81ZyitM/mobilebasic
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False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
(WideAwakeAmerica.com)
MSNBC.website
TheNewsNerd.com
CountdownToZeroTime.com
Naha Daily
TheRunDownLive.com
CreamBMP.com
NationalReport.net
TruthFrequencyRadio.com
Crooks and Liars
NaturalNews.com
Twitchy.com (gossip)
DailyBuzzLive.com
NC Scooper
UnconfirmedSources.com
DailyCurrant.com (satire)
NCT (New Century Times)
Upworthy
Daily NewsBin
News Examiner
USA Supreme
Daily Wire
News­Hound.com
US.Blasting.News
DCClothesLine.com
NewsBiscuit.com
US Uncut
DCGazette.com
NewsBuzzDaily
VeteransToday.com
Denver Guardian
Newslo
Walking Times
DerfMagazine.com
NewsMutiny.com
WakingUpWisconsin.com
Disclose.tv
Newswatch 28
Winning Democrats
DrudgeReport.com.co
Newswatch 33
WitScience.org
DuffleBlog.com (satire/comedy)
NewsWire­24.com
World Net Daily
DuhProgressive.com
NoDisInfo.com
World News Daily Report
Embols.com
Now8News
WorldTruth.tv
Empire Herald
NowTheEndBegins.com
ZeroHedge
Empire News
Occupy Democrats
False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
CounterPsyOps.com
National Report
TheUsPatriot.com
EmpireNews.com
Endingthefed.com (ETF News)
Tips for analyzing news sources:
● Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo (above). These sites specialize in taking a piece of accurate
information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts.”
● Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources.
● Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the
result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a
topic or event.
● Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.
● Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.
● Some news organizations are also letting bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however,
many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs,
Forbes blogs).
● Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information
about the source.
● Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified
and/or read in conjunction with other sources.
● If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other
sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially
misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.
● It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Some
sources not yet included in this list (although their practices at times may qualify them for addition), such as The
Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, and Fox News, vacillate between providing important, legitimate, problematic,
and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with
other sources.
Bio: I am an assistant professor of communication & media, and this list started as a resource for my
students, who are learning about journalism/social media/media literacy.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10eA5­mCZLSS4MQY5QGb5ewC3VAL6pLkT53V_81ZyitM/mobilebasic
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False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
students, who are learning about journalism/social media/media literacy.
False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources
If you have suggestions of sources/websites that should be added to the list, please email me at
[email protected] Update 1: I’ve received hundreds of emails with suggestions, very few of which are duplicates, so it will take me a while to
sift through and verify them. I will add them as appropriate.
Update 2: Yes, I am considering coding/categorizing these sources for clarity and creating a more durable/dynamic
database. This is likely just step 1.
Update 3: Some people are asking which news sources I trust, and all I can say is that I read/watch/listen very widely,
from mainstream, corporate owned sources (The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Wall
Street Journal, Forbes) as well as The Atlantic, National Public Radio, and various local and alternative sources with
different political perspectives, some of which are included on this list. The problem: Even typically reliable sources,
whether mainstream or alternative, corporate or nonprofit, rely on particular media frames to report stories and select
stories based on different notions of newsworthiness. The best thing to do in our contemporary media environment is to
read/watch/listen widely and often, and to be critical of the sources we share and engage with on social media.
© 2016 by Melissa Zimdars.
The work 'False, Misleading, Clickbait­y, and Satirical “News” Sources'
is made available under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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