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QUESTIONABLE SOURCE

A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing of 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 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 The Ohio Star Right biased and questionable based on a lack of transparency and acting as a propaganda imposter website through deceptive publishing tactics.
  

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Detailed Report

Questionable Reasoning: Imposter Site, Lack of Transparency, Propaganda
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY

History

Founded in 2018, The Ohio Star is a news and opinion website with a right-leaning bias in reporting. According to their about page, “We feature articles reporting news, politics, and policy at the state level, primarily from Ohio. We round out our daily coverage with national stories and thoughtful commentary of interest to our readers.” According to an investigation by Snopes, The Ohio Star is not a local newspaper but rather a front for “Tea Party-connected conservative activists: Michael Patrick Leahy and Christina Botteri.” Snopes details connections to conservative donors and PACS as well.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The Ohio Star is a “Delaware-registered company, Star News Digital Media, Inc., whose explicit strategy is to target battleground states with conservative news.” Under this company are the Tennessee Star, Michigan Star, Battlegroundstatenews.com, and Minnesota Sun, essentially duplicating the original Tennessee Star. Advertising generates revenue; however, Snopes goes in-depth on how they are funded.

Analysis / Bias

In review, The Ohio Star reports news and publishes commentary with a right-wing bias in story selection. There is the moderate use of loaded language in headlines such as this: Commentary: Paul Ryan’s Legacy is the Destruction Of American Sovereignty. In this piece, there isn’t any sourcing outside of a quote. In another story we also see a quote serving as a source, but nothing hyperlinked to actual data. The Ohio Star also republishes news from the factually Mixed, right-biased Daily Caller, which allows republishing via Creative Commons.

Although The Ohio Star is right-biased and generally factual, we cannot rate them High for factual reporting due to the source being exposed as a political activism website attempting to look like a local paper. For this reason, we rate them factually Mixed based on a lack of transparency and the promotion of propaganda.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate The Ohio Star Right biased and questionable based on a lack of transparency and acting as a propaganda imposter website through deceptive publishing tactics. (D. Van Zandt 12/8/2018) Updated (01/06/2023)

Source: http://theohiostar.com/

Last Updated on January 6, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check

Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources