Admit it. You are tired of the term “fake news.” We are too. We also feel that defining a source as being a fake news source is very difficult. What is the exact number of so called fake stories that constitutes that label? We don’t know either. It is very easy to isolate a fake news story, but should this define a source as “fake?” Again, we do not know. With that said we are dropping the “fake news” category. We are renaming it “Questionable Sources.” In this category we will list sources that do publish false stories, but also those that promote extreme bias and propaganda. Here is how this category reads:
Questionable Sources
A questionable source exhibits any of the following: extreme bias, overt propaganda, poor or no sourcing to credible information and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence. Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact checked on a per article basis.
Each source in this new category will have a text bias rating of either extreme right or left and will have our normal notes describing why it is questionable. Basically all the sources that we listed as LOW for factual reporting will be moved here. There are many to move and this process will be on going. Bear with us. This could become our largest category! We will continue to label fake news sources as fake, but they must be exclusively fake and differ from satire. Here is the new list page.
Fact Checks
Regarding fact checks, we simply have not had the time as we are receiving 50 or more contacts per day to fact check, add sources or just suggestions, which we are taking to heart. One suggestion is improving the search feature. It is in the works! I promise. With that said, we are deferring the fact checks to our superiors (Politifact, Fact Check, Snopes, etc). Keep sending them to us, we will do it if possible and if it is relatively easy. Once we get this other work settled we will dive in and research. We have the team to do it!
Source Submissions
Wow! We get at least 20-50 source submissions per day. This would be good news, but many are already on the site. This is due to our crappy search feature. We are logging all the new ones and as usual we are at least 50-75 behind. We are adding at least 5 per day though, so be patient, if you submitted it we will get to it. One note, we do not add all submissions. They must contain news and at least mention politics in some way. Further, if the source is so obscure that no one has ever heard of them we do not list them. Maybe at a later date.
Lastly, we cannot thank you enough for the support through donations and also visiting the site and giving us feedback. We want to work for you and we know this is not a perfect site, but we have zero budget. We want to grow and make this happen. Simply sharing this site can help.
Thanks for making this site better and making us grow!
Dave Van Zandt
Editor-MBFC News
Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources
Congratulations on your work. I appreciate your continuing effort to Improve your site. I know it’s a lot of work. You’re doing it right 🙂
Thank you so much for your efforts to sort out facts from fiction in the media. This is an invaluable resource and I applaud you. Please keep up the great work !
Thank you Jan. Glad you find it valuable.