NY Mag is on a lecturing campaign today. It provides an allegedly “Extremely Helpful List of Fake and Misleading News Sites to Watch Out For“.
It’s criteria is False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources.
It listed 130 or so websites, some of which I agree with, including all of the totally fake sites. However, the bulk of the sites on its warning list contained no reason for their inclusion.
Some sites have me scratching my head as to the reason, for example ZeroHedge and Lew Rockwell.
The irony is NY Mag goes after “Clickbait-y” articles, but if it went after websites that relied on “Clickbait-y” ads to stay in business, it would have to list itself.
Clickbait Ads on NY Mag
I captured that today straight off the NY Mag page bitching about clickbait among other things (see link at top).
I do not allow garbage ads like the above on my site. If one comes up, I remove it as soon as I see it or I am notified.
Note that ads are regional. An offensive ad can easily pop up elsewhere, especially overseas, and I may not even know.
I suspect I am losing ad revenue, at least over the short haul. But I do not care.
Zimdars’s list
Those who want to see the incomplete list of NY Mag offenders, one can do so at Zimdars’s list.
Be warned: Zimdars’s list is expansive in scope, and stretches beyond the bootleg sites (many of them headquartered in Macedonia) that write fake news for the sole reason of selling advertisements. Right-wing sources and conspiracy theorists like Breitbart and Infowars appear alongside pure (but often misinterpreted) satire like the Onion and The New Yorker’s Borowitz Report. “Not all of these sources are always or inherently problematic, but I’m including them because they should be considered in conjunction with other news/info sources due to their tendency to rely on clickbait headlines,” Zimdars notes. You should read it closely, feel free to disagree, and, in the spirit of media literacy, do your own research.
Missing Ingredients
I believe readers may find more helpful a list of websites with poor advertising practices. Then again, such a list would be massive. It would include clickbait sponsors such as NY Mag.
Yet, for all its blatant hypocrisy, Bloomberg and CNBC are among the biggest offenders of media comeuppance.
In particular, I am sick of all the auto-play videos on Bloomberg, CNBC, and elsewhere.
If someone would come up with a plug-in that immediately killed autoplay, replacing the space with a big X I would install it in a hurry. Meanwhile, I strive hard to not link to sites that have autoplay on.
If I link to Bloomberg, it is only because I could not find the story elsewhere. Alternatively, I want to ridicule Bloomberg. And the Bloomberg Econoday “robot” as I label him, is an easy target.
Forbes
My friend Steve Keen posts on Forbes. We sometimes agree on things and sometimes disagree, but he always presents a case.
I seldom bother reading Keen anymore. Forbes itself is the reason.
Forbes offered this clickbait.
Forbes also has an initial “quote of the day” with a delay.
Forbes and numerous other sites frequently break up articles so they require multiple clicks. This is far different than a home page that provides multiple articles with lead-in snips such as the Financial Times or MishTalk.
Just now, as I was reading one of Keen’s Latest Article on Forbes, an autoplay pop-up ad came up. I cannot tolerate this behavior. I do not read Forbes.
Real Clear Politics
Real Clear Politics frequently has extremely annoying 30-second ads that one has to bypass to get to their site.
30 seconds guys? Really?
Link Pet Peeve
My pet peeve, to which Bloomberg is the top offender, is writing articles without linking to the source.
For example, take Bloomberg Econoday and read any article related to an economic report.
Econoday never links to its reference. For example PPI and CPI come straight from a BLS report. No Link. Econoday’s Philadelphia Fed and Empire Fed regional analysis comes from the Fed. No Link.
Econoday never links to its news source. Bloomberg seldom, if ever, links to anyone but itself. It’s not just Bloomberg, MarketWatch does the same. The practice is universal and disgusting.
In contrast, I am meticulous about links. I am not perfect; I occasionally miss a link, but if so, it’s by accident, not design.
Flash Blocker Irony
Many people have installed flash-blockers and pop-up blockers. The news outlets and magazines are upset.
The irony is magazines brought these conditions on themselves with disgusting clickbait ads, autoplay feeds of all sorts, piss poor link references, popups, etc.
Then they wonder why readership is down and ad revenue is shrinking and people go to alternative sites.
NY Mag Irony
To top off the irony, NY Mag points a finger at a list of False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources without even bothering to say why sites are on its list.
Question and Suggestion for NY Mag
Question for NY Mag: Why are garbage sites like My Daily Viral, Bustie and other suspect sites listed in your ads, not on your list of sites to stay away from?
Suggestion: NY Mag, before bitching about others, with no reasons given, I suggest you look at your own clickbait ads as a very good starting point for sites to stay away from!
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
I have found Zerohedge very informative. Some of the articles are weak, but for the most part they have excellent information. I’ve seen your posts there. They also covered the Wikileaks updates frequently.
Zerohedge was wikileaks central and zerohedge has more clout and readers than NYmag.
The desperation of mainstream media is getting worse it seems.
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When it comes to fake sites HuffingtonPost should be on that list because they were making Trump seem like Hitler to try to stop him and now since americans elected Trump HuffingtonPost is making Trump Advisor Bannon seem like an anti-semite white-supremacist and try to paint Breitbart as anti-semitic white-supremacist site.
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This despite many Breitbart journalists being jewish and Andrew Breitbart who founded Breitbart together with Bannon being jewish,
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HuffingtonPost is like TheOnion these days with the only difference being that TheOnion is funny.
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CNN was BIASED, NYTimes was BIASED, WashingtonPost was BIASED and MSNBC was crazy level (if you exclude morning joe) and HuffingtonPost is ten times worse than MSNBC.
I stopped reading Zero Hedge when antisemitism surpassed my tolerance level. I’m as annoyed by pervasive holocaust reminders and corporate tribalism as the next goy, but hate is hate. Save it for people who drive slow in the left lane.
Zerohedge seems to be improving their news coverage, for both completeness and veracity. It is light years better than watching MSM news on TV, other than local news. I still get one newspaper, for the local news, but I think I will cancel that since they endorsed the Infamous Clinton Crime Cartel.
If you watch TV news tonight, see if anyone other than Fox News has the story of 7000 people rioting in Greece to protest Obama’s visit.
I read zero hedge a few times some years ago. Their articles at the time seemed to be the usual conspiracy garbage, and not worth the time. Maybe they have improved, I don’t know, as I added them to my own list of non-credible sites.
Here are the last five posts on ZH as of now. The last one is in response to ZH appearing on other lists in the last few days:
“Janet Yellen Explains “The Economic Outlook” To Congress – Live Feed
War-Torn Hillary Emerges: “I Will Admit, Coming Here Tonight Wasn’t The Easiest Thing”
California Teachers Offered “Anti-Hate, Trump Teaching Plan” To “Empower Students”
Valeant Tumbles On News Philidor Executives Have Been Arrested In “Fraud And Kickback Scheme”
‘Useful’ List Of False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, And/Or Satirical “Real News” Sources”
Although I disagree with some ZH stories, seeing that I am progressive and they traditionally lean libertarian/anarchist, the really questionable stories are few and far between these days. Since I hated Hillary as much as they did, i was not offended by any stories that put her in a negative light.
The commetariat there, however, is infested with a bunch of low info cretins that are not worth engaging with.
“Disclaimer 1: All of the contents in this document reflect the opinion of the author and are for educational purposes only. This resource was split into categories around 8:00pm EST on 11/15/16.”
Educational purposes only? or do they mean in-doctrinal purposes only?
Who is NY Mag anyway? Maybe a Democratic Party Creation?
“Fake and Misleading News“.
Does any site focus on news? All editorial as far as I’ve seen.
“reflect the opinion of the author”
Always.
Zerohedge just posted an article on the same subject:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-16/zero-hedge-targeted-list-fake-news-sources
Hey Mish, you are pretty conservative/libertarian, how come you didn’t make the liberal professor’s thumbs down list? You better get in touch with her and tell her how offended you are to be left out!
Great blog, great post, I always appreciate your spirited discourse and, while I usually try to fly under the radar, I had to comment on this… As Socrates might have said, “αναγνώστη να προσέξουμε or anagnósti na proséxoume”, or latin if you prefer, “caveat lector”… when one does not carefully consider the source, one may be easily misled…”be careful out there!”
Mish,
I disagree with you on any number of topics. But you run your site with an extremely high degree of integrity. Which, perhaps to your dismay, causes me to stick around (for many years now). To me, your point here is that almost all MSM are focused not on providing information, but racing to the bottom on providing propoganda to maximize profits. I am surprised that you would disagree with these issues from an ethical point of view, being a Libertarian. But maybe your issue isn’t ethics. just pointing out reality.
Anyhoo, you the man bro. Thanks for what you do.
I don’t think Mish is disagreeing ethically, as it was NY Mag that brought up the issue. I think he’s just pointing out they are the pot calling the kettle black.
Otherwise, I think Mish’s points are 100% valid – the other sites can choose how to run their business any way they want, but they don’t get to complain about other sites that operate differently and take eyeballs away. Editorially NY Mag and Forbes are at opposite ends, but they clutter their web sites in similar ways and lose readership because of it.
Fake news are just a cover. This is really just about repression. Just a few steps from Stalinist levels.
“We” don’t want another botched election, so “we” need to make sure that only reputable news sources are available next time.
Agreed
https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/67815001.jpg
Keep that list handy – might come in handy one day in kangaroo court .
“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Your honor, I call you attention to this list . Clearly I spoke no truth.
Zero Hedge is certainly better than Business Insider which is practically of no use what so ever.
What a coincidence: FB and Goobles too!: https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/googlefacebook-now-targeting-fake-news-sites-ive-been-doing-it-for-15-years/
Google was extremely partisan this election cycle.
Excellent piece Mish. Keep up the good work. Since mainstream journalism fatally compromised its integrity some time ago, it’s getting hard to find the truth out there. Your site is on my daily reading list.
Perhaps the NY Mag article should have been titled “Extremely Fake and Misleading List of Helpful News Sites to Watch Out For“.
Ha, Ha.
The irony is almost too much to bear, without busting a gut.
The totally corrupt and discredited mainstream media is now using proxies to post articles naming names of news sources that are “fake” and not to be believed.
They deserve even worse than the slow, agonizing death they have brought upon themselves.
Have you noticed how much worse it has gotten post election? OMG.
Acting as an agent for a political party and running stories shaped by the party should disqualify CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and other news organizations.
NBC actually posted the story that Erdogan was seeking asylum before the event actually took place. The whole story is from Turkey, presented by News Bud. They post on Youtube.
They (discredited, corrupt and dying mainstream media) are clearly in full panic mode – and for good reason.
Mish – Haven’t you heard? Social Justice Warriors always PROJECT!
I have never heard of almost any of these sites, so thanks NY Mag for giving me all these good pointers. Keep up the good work.
That list is hilarious.
Drudge, Infowars, Breitbart, Project Veritas, all the websites that took Hillary Clinton to the woodshed.
Nice though, that they thoughtfully provided links to these bad bad websites so their readers could click through. I think I’ll save this list as it has some of my favorites already sorted for me in alphabetical order. Thank you NYmag.
Indeed, during the last days of the Soviet period, ApparatchikS would write these types of articles. All they ended up doing was inadvertently promote samizdat publications or views.
Hilarious that NY Mag would provide so much free advertising for their competitors.
Drain the swamp !
Download Brave, a new browser with ad block integrated.
I read ZH, and like every other site I read, sometimes they get it wrong and engage in hyperbole, but what I found unique in this election cycle is the amount of outright propaganda that came out the Huffington Post.
I used to read the website awhile back, but between the clickbait and propaganda, it is no longer worth visiting. The comment sections were filled with Hillbots who had no interest in analyzing what was true, so commenting there always felt like spitting into the wind.
ZH, in discussing another list, of “fake news” source compiled by Assistant Professor of Communications at Merrimack College, Melissa “Mish”(!) Zimdars, also included ZH. In response, ZH points out a Wikileaks Podesta email that I missed, about the Huffington Post:
ZH: “Perhaps Zimdars missed this John Podesta email exposing Arianna Huffington blatantly colluding with the Hillary campaign to “echo their message without any perceived conflicts.” Or, maybe this was just dismissed as useless Russian propaganda?”
Podesta email:
“She is enthusiastic abt the project but asks if she’s more useful to us not being on the Board and, instead, using Huffpo to echo our message without any perceived conflicts. She has a point.”
This is what I assumed was happening, nice to see that it can no longer be called a conspiracy theory.
I read ZH, and like every other site I read, sometimes they get it wrong and engage in hyperbole, but what I found unique in this election cycle is the amount of outright propaganda that came out the Huffington Post.
I used to read the website awhile back, but between the clickbait and propaganda, it is no longer worth visiting. The comment sections were filled with Hillbots who had no interest in analyzing what was true, so commenting there always felt like spitting into the wind.
ZH, in discussing another list, of “fake news” source compiled by Assistant Professor of Communications at Merrimack College, Melissa “Mish”(!) Zimdars, also included ZH. In response, ZH points out a Wikileaks Podesta email that I missed, about the Huffington Post:
ZH: “Perhaps Zimdars missed this John Podesta email exposing Arianna Huffington blatantly colluding with the Hillary campaign to “echo their message without any perceived conflicts.” Or, maybe this was just dismissed as useless Russian propaganda?”
Podesta email:
“She is enthusiastic abt the project but asks if she’s more useful to us not being on the Board and, instead, using Huffpo to echo our message without any perceived conflicts. She has a point.”
This is what I assumed was happening, nice to see that it can no longer be called a conspiracy theory.
Why would anyone care about what NY Mag publishes?
Personally, I take the National Enquirer more seriously.
Honest to God – I have become tremendously more socially and politically and financially astute by reading ZeroHedge than any other print or on-line publication.
Not taking anything away from Mishtalk. It just doesn’t cover the variety of material of ZeroHedge – so I learn more at their site. They beat Mish on the quantity side of the equation. The the quality of blogs at Mishtalk are just as good if not better.
But I wouldn’t line a birdcage with the NY Mag. I’m an animal advocate.
So when does google incorporate this list into their search engine filtering, then twitter into their censorship? Looks like left wing percieved retribution for losing an election and agenda advancement opportunity? Sore losers!
I love Zerohedge as much as Drudge. To hell with the liberal snowflakes.
Google has it in place.
I have no philosophical issue viewing ads on a website, but when they cause a page to take 30 or 40 seconds to finish loading it is beyond the pale. I couldn’t take it anymore and installed ad blocker ultimate and the bloomberg pages load just fine for me.
The MSM is attacking alternative media, as they want to control the narrative they want the public to see, which is left wing.
An AP “reporter” said that open borders was a moderate position. That is the only narrative they want the public to see as being factual. Open borders is not a moderate position, however.
Bannon was referred to as far right on CBS radio news today. I never hear them call anyone far left. MSM is not objective. Obama for one is far left, wanting to fundamentally change America.
I’ll take Zero Hedge over CNN or the New York Times, any day.
It’s official: Media war!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-16/mike-krieger-rages-fake-news-debacle-its-all-out-media-war
@mish, i suggest the noscript extension for Firefox or µMatrix for chrome. They allow you to granularly control what websites can and cannot do. Obviously this can break functionality (like autoplay) but once setup, they are a thing of beauty.
Thanks
I tried that
It caused problems
Mish
There is an item in Firefox config (type about:config in address bar) labelled ‘media.autoplay’, default is true, toggle to false and no more autoplay – well for me at least 🙂
I normally do not read the NYT as it is one of the worst sources of disinformation/misinformation and just plain lies…
But I am traveling and was having a meal and it was the only thing available to read…
And there was a similar story pillorying non-MSM news sources.
It would seem the MSM and the high priests that run the show do not like alternative views – particularly those that are actually close to the truth.
They already turned off the comments on MSM news sites no doubt for this reason
What’s next?
Well, I did take the trouble to read that Steve Keen article on Forbes. It’s a shame you didn’t read it Mish, because Keen is in need of some serious rebuttal. I can’t tell you how disgusted I am with people you seem to admire like Keen and Pettis with their Keynesian fallacies.
I gave up on Keen long ago when he came up with his debt-jubilee nonsense, but I decided to give him another try (No more after this). He comes up with absurd, ridiculous and puerile arguments against free trade. What a totally clueless person.
Like I said, pay no attention to the pop-up video and take him to task Mish.
For Chrome: Settings -> Advanced -> Privacy -> (button) Content Settings … -> Plugins
(radio button) Let me choose when to run plugin content
Adobe Acrobat should now require you to right-click before it will play, but it will not stop all auto-playing content. This is being caused by HTML5.
There are several plugins for Chrome, but so far, the one I have found to work is “Disable HTML5 Autoplay”. (There is a version for Opera but not Firefox, Internet Explorer, or others.)
Firefox probably has a similar setting, and somebody(s) has probably created a similar plugin. For Internet Explorer, I have no idea, but there is Silverlight that might be a problem as well..
This is subject to being broken by Google at any time after the date-time of this comment. For reference, the Chrome version is 54.02840.99 m, and I am in Developer mode. This is for separate reasons, but it may be doing something that I requires it to be activated.
As usual, YMMV.
As the tide receedes, I’m rather enjoying watching everyone (MSM, et al,) scramble for cover to try and hide themselves
Zerohedge seems to hate America to the point of absurdity. Maybe if there was some balance there or at least a hint of evenhandednes.s
Isn’t it ironic that NY magazine has had Trump and/or his family on its cover at least a dozen times over the years
Also note that Business insider no longer allows for comments
In the post-2008 days, BI was alternate media. As they grew and the reader base expanded, the became more HuffPo in their content and their editorial bend. I migrated to ZH after that and never went back.
I suggest that all readers read this NYTIMES article justifying Hillary’s duplicity.It is one of the lowest points in the history of journalism and just reinforces how much The NYTIMES has fallen
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/opinion/campaign-stops/why-hillary-clinton-needs-to-be-two-faced.html?_r=0
In the NYT’s defense it is clearly put in the “opinion” section; only the 2% of the population that are politics junkies even bother with that section of any newspaper (there’s a reason there are typically no ads in those sections).
The bias in the “straight” news articles is more damaging and a lot more subtle.
It’s the same thing from the Democrats every time they lose. “Fake news” is just the latest name for “not our fault”; less than 5 years ago it was “Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio.”
I’d recommend using Firefox, and then add the plug-ins available from eff.org:
https everywhere, and privacy badger.
These help cut down on some of the clutter – especially the ads that are regionally targeted.
Ghostery is another good blocker.
I do read Zerohedge but every day when I have the time to read I come here first. Why? For the most part the commenters here tend to be more mature and they are not bat shit crazy like Huffington post. I still head there as well from time to time.
Zerohedge has some crazy folks commenting but many are smart, link the facts and know what they are talking about as well. Of course I am not a perma bears or PM nutcases like many on zerohedge.
Zerohedge does do some in-depth investigations backed by links and facts. Not some commentary with some unknown source and opinion.
I also read foreign sites as they tend to expose news our media does not want you to really know. Recently rioting over the TPP because several governments released its contents. The secret was out and it is ugly!!!
I always recommend to my friend to search for site other then what they can relate too. I believe you need both sides of the story to form an opinion. I thought Hillary was not going to win without voter fraud but their hubris was their undoing. Even now several states are opening up investigations where 200,000 plus voters did not have one vote for a republican. Trump is correct in this and during my research last election the same thing showed up time and time again.
The media wearing purple just pisses me off to be honest these days. So much for brining the country together and at least giving the guy a chance to govern. No wonder Trump is not allowing the press into his decision making process or to cover his selection of his cabinet. I would never allow them back.
The media got owned by a lot of those sites. They called it correctly and their analysis was correct. Even if some still disagree with it. The Dems screwed themselves by anointing a criminal and she was destined to win. Bernie is no better as they bought him off and he shut up. But Bernie may have beat Trump. I am laughing at my yellowdog friends. They are livid.
zerohedge has some good stuff and a lot of ‘junk news’ as news. I’d say it’s about 50% good or credible stuff and 50% junk. It will post anything regardless of how sensational, misleading or just plain false because it gets people fired up and creates $views.
When I am online I come to Mish’s site first to be honest. I am a member of ZH and like most sites you have to do your research. Having said that ZH does post links and backs up their articles not like a lot of those not on the list that state I do not reveal my sources.
I even hit liberal sites to get both sides of the story but have been banned from many when I disagreed with an author and post links to the facts including our governmental sites and their charts.
There is a old sayings keep your friends close and your enemies closer and Know your enemy.
Another reason is when the elections are not going on the commenters are more mature and do provide links to their comments or tell you where to go to get them. I am sick of all the rage on the left if you disagree with them. Labels do not bother me. When all else fails for the most part the left leaning sites will place a label on you or just ben you from commenting.
I am not a gloom and doomer so a lot of far right leaning sites I scan and think wow they are still nuts and do the same with the far left.
“have been banned from many when I disagreed with an author”
I’ve written stupid things on this site and never been blocked. Another point in Mish’s libertarian favor – no cowardly censorship.
Zerohedge used to be a good site but it has been taken over completely by white supremacists. You can read the same articles on stormfront.org with the same mentality.
Billy Walrus,
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You are crazy troll who wants to nuke countries and has extremist opinions about everything.
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Zerohedge is the most varied economics site at the moment with many hard-hitting articles and Zerohedge was important in bringing HIllary Clinton down with daily wikileaks reports and I seriously doubt your claim is total BS.
However I am not going to check stormfrnt to confirm it is BS because I don’t want to give those losers any traffic.
Varied opinion! I once posted a comment accusing zerohedge of being the mainstream media for the ‘it’s all bad all the time and everything is a conspiracy’ crowd. My account was promptly disabled.
It seems zerohedge doesn’t like dissent and can’t handle a little criticism.
Go get em, tiger!
People wonder why I don’t have an updated pc with the latest software. My old mac tower is wonderful at weeding out the crap you describe, Mish. My only downfall, currently, is inability to see some videos online. Eh, not a big loss.
The legacy media role has been upended by social media. The whole Trump campaign was benefited by bloggers on social media.
ZH has been helpful because it brings a lot of different webpost to one place.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uyS3Ghevf2I
Zh is fast with the product and I like that.
Still waiting for the spiritual cookbook uncle Tyler’s!