Daily Source Bias Check: TruNews

Sources in the Conspiracy-Pseudoscience category may publish unverifiable information that is not always supported by evidence. These sources may be untrustworthy for credible/verifiable information, therefore fact checking and further investigation is recommended on a per article basis when obtaining information from these sources. See all Conspiracy-Pseudoscience sources.

• Overall, we rate TruNews an extreme right website that promotes hate, tinfoil hat conspiracies, and pseudoscience.

Detailed Report

Factual Reporting: LOW
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 45/180

History

Founded in 1999, The TruNews radio program is hosted by Rick Wiles a far-right Christian Fundamentalist. The associated website is trunews.com. Rick Wiles is a non-denominational senior pastor at Flowing Streams Church in Vero Beach, Florida, and a conspiracy theorist radio host and pundit. Rick Wiles claims to be the father of “citizen reporting.” According to their about page “TruNews into an internationally recognized source of credible news and information in a world where nothing seems to make sense anymore.”  

The website frequently promotes antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories and has been granted press credentials by the Trump administration. Finally in 2020, Wiles urged President Trump to use “billions of hollow-point bullets” against Black Lives Matter protestors in Portland, Oregon to put down the “insurrection”. He claimed the bullets were hoarded by President Obama “to round up Christians and constitutionalists under a President Hillary Clinton.”

Read our profile on United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

TruNews is owned by Rick Wiles and is funded through donations and the sale of Rick Wiles books.

Analysis / Bias

In review, TruNews publishes far right conservative news and opinions that use strongly loaded emotional language such as this COUNTDOWN TO CHAOS? NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS DEPLOYED TO U.S. CITIES FOR ELECTION VIOLENCE. This story is unsourced. A review of numerous stories indicates that all favor the right and frequently denigrate the left such as this TRUNEWS PREDICTION: EXPECT PRESIDENT TRUMP VICTORY AND DEMOCRAT VIOLENCE.

The website and radio program frequently promote conspiracy theories aimed at Jews, Minorities, LGBTQ, and Immigrants. According to the Anti-Defamation League “TruNews is a fundamentalist Christian streaming news and opinion platform that has increasingly featured anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist content, and also has a long record of disseminating radical Islamophobic and anti-LGBTQ messages.” Further, Rick Wiles has called Trump’s Impeachment a “Jew Coup.” In general, they are best classified as a hate group.

When it comes to science they minimize the impact of human-influenced climate change Unhinged Child Climate Champion Blasts World Leaders at UN General Assembly and promote creationism TRUNEWS’ RICK WILES REBUKES PAT ROBERTSON’S CRITICISM OF ALABAMA’S ABORTION LAW. This is simply not a credible source on any level.

Failed Fact Checks

• Were hundreds of new Hillary Clinton emails published on the U.S. State Department’s website in recent days? – False

Overall, we rate TruNews an extreme right website that promotes hate, tinfoil hat conspiracies, and pseudoscience. (D. Van Zandt 11/27/2016) Updated (11/6/2020)

Source: https://www.trunews.com/