QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
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.
- Overall, we rate Liveleak (ItemFix) right-center biased and Questionable based on a lack of transparency with ownership, the use of poor sources, and numerous failed fact checks.
Detailed Report
Questionable Reasoning: Lack of Transparency, False Information, Poor Sourcing
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: United Kingdom
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
Liveleak (ItemFix) is a video service co-founded by Hayden Hewitt in 2006. The content is almost exclusively user-submitted videos and covers a wide range of topics from around the world. From people’s pets to Rex Tillerson’s trip to Asia. ItemFix lacks transparency as they do not disclose ownership.
In 2021, LiveLeak shut down and now redirects to ItemFix.com, which appears to be a less violent and gory version of the video upload site.
Read our profile on UK media and Government.
Funded by / Ownership
ItemFix does not disclose ownership. Revenue is derived through advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, due to being a video sharing service, and the videos being presented as submitted, the content can be very graphic and controversial, such as when Liveleak hosted footage of the beheading of journalist James Foley by ISIS in 2014. Mr. Hewitt has defended the practice of presenting submitted footage as is, stating in his own words:
“Look all this is happening, this is real life, this is going on, and we’re going to show it.”
Liveleak also has a video content-sharing agreement with Ruptly, state-run Russia Today’s video service, which is both right-biased and questionable. While most of the content is apolitical, we found many videos depicting Muslims negatively. They have also published false and misleading information as seen below in the fact checks. In general, the content of videos is mostly non-political, but there does appear to be a right-leaning bias when depicting Muslims.
ItemFix still publishes videos showing car crashes and fights but bans users from uploading media containing “excessive violence or gory content.”
Failed Fact Checks
- A photograph shows President Obama holding a rocket launcher in a car with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. – False
- A video shows the aftermath of a school prank in which a student spiked lemonade with laxatives. – False
- A video shows Muslim men auctioning off women on the streets of England. – False
- Did a Muslim refugee vandalize a statue of the Virgin Mary in Italy? – False
- A Saudi billionaire purchased Buford, Wyoming and is planning on constructing a western Mecca. – False
Overall, we rate Liveleak ItemFix) right-center biased and Questionable based on a lack of transparency with ownership, the use of poor sources, and numerous failed fact checks. (D. Kelley 3/16/2017) Updated (05/01/2023)
Source: https://www.itemfix.com/
Last Updated on June 2, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
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