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 the purpose of 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.
QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Extreme Right, Propaganda, Conspiracy, Poor Sources
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 48/180
History
Founded in 2012, Conservative Firing Line is a conservative news and opinion website. According to their about page they were created to “inform, educate and inspire grassroots conservatives at all levels.” Further, according to their Facebook page the website was founded by “Joe Newby, a 10-year veteran of the Marine Corps who worked as a grassroots activist in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Read our profile on United States government and media.
Funded by / Ownership
The website does not openly disclose ownership, however it is assumed Joe Newby is the primary owner. Revenue is derived through advertising. There is also a link to an online store that leads to Keep and Bear, however this does not appear to be working at the time of this review.
Analysis / Bias
We will break this source down using our criteria. First, we look at wording and headlines. With these, Conservative Firing Line heavily uses emotional loaded words that are pro-right and anti-left. An example of a highly biased headline is as follows: Kid Rock triggers liberal snowflakes with true statement about life and hard work… The use of the words “triggers liberal snowflakes” is about as extreme as you can get using loaded words to emotionally sway readers. Next, we look at sourcing and factual reporting. In this area Conservative Firing Line makes an effort to source their information. However, there are many cases when they source to far right media sources or other questionable sources such as Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children, which has a poor track record with fact checkers.
We also found evidence of CFL publishing unproven conspiracies such as the Clinton’s murdering multiple people. Within this article about the Clinton’s they source numerous questionable and conspiracy websites.
For factual reporting, Conservative Firing Line is mixed due to misleading headlines and the use of poor sources. Our next criteria is balanced reporting. Does Conservative Firing Cover both sides of issues in their articles? The answer to that is a 100% no. They never do. This source is 100% biased in favor of conservatives and against liberals. Lastly, we look at the website’s political affiliation and how they describe themselves. According to their about page “The Conservative Firing Line was established in May 2012 in an effort to inform, educate and inspire grassroots conservatives at all levels.” Therefore, we rate them right biased for political affiliation.
Overall, we rate Conservative Firing Line Questionable based on Extreme Right Wing Bias, Poor Sourcing and the promotion of propaganda and conspiracy theories. (D. Van Zandt 7/18/2017) Updated (12/31/2019)
Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources
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