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 Waking Times as a Strong Conspiracy and Quackery level pseudoscience website. We also rate them Low for factual reporting based on poor sourcing and numerous examples of false information.

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Detailed Report

Bias Rating: CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE
Factual Reporting: LOW
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY

History

Founded in 2011 by Dylan Charles and Anna Hunt, Waking Times is a left-leaning news and opinion website that focuses on “alternative and natural health, activism, elevating consciousness and living sustainably and with awareness.”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

According to their about page Waking Times “is funded through advertising, affiliate marketing, and, on a smaller part, donations from our readers.” The owners are Dylan Charles and Anna Hunt through Waking Media, Inc.

Analysis / Bias

In reviewing the content of Waking Times I found several articles that would fall under both the Pseudoscience and Conspiracy categories. For example, in this anti-vaccination article, they use fear to persuade people not to vaccinate their children. The article attempts to convince people that more children are vaccine damaged in the USA than children in Syria have been damaged by chemical weapons. This article provides zero evidence to support that more children are injured by vaccines. There is not a single statistic from a reliable source to support this claim. They do, however, claim that the Syrian bombing by the USA was a False flag operation. In fact, the article cites Natural News as the primary source of information. Natural News is a well-known purveyor of pseudoscience, conspiracies, and fake news. Within this same article they cite a source called CDC.news, which is meant to look like an official CDC page, but in fact, is owned by Natural News for the purpose of discrediting the CDC. At least they put a disclaimer on the CDC.news page that it is not affiliated with the credible Centers for Disease Control.

In another article, they claim that Cannabis Oil cured a girl’s Leukemia, even though she had already undergone Chemotherapy. Again, there is zero evidence to prove it was the cannabis oil that cured her. It is simply unproven. Virtually all known conspiracies are covered by this site: Chemtrails, New World Order, False Flag, Aliens, etc. This source also promotes Pseudosciences such as miracle cures with natural products and anti-GMO propaganda. On the bright side, they do appear to support the scientific consensus that climate change is human-influenced. (2/3/2017) Updated (D. Van Zandt 8/15/2017)

Review 2: Anti-Vaccine:  Article about anti-expert.

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2017/08/09/not-trust-medical-experts/

The article makes claims that are backed up only by linking to clearly biased sites that are also anti-vaccine. Claiming to not ask experts and to instead do the research yourself is fine if you research things objectively, which the article fails to do. Objectivity is the ability to change your currently held belief that something is X when presented with evidence that it is not.

“Vaccines, historically, were NEVER crucial in protecting ANY form of society, “developed” or otherwise.”  Taken directly from the article, this references nothing to back this claim up and then moves on to keep citing the same clearly biased site.  There’s ample historical evidence that Vaccines helped save people from several major diseases and are easily verifiable by reading any number of scientific and historical works online.  Polio is probably the biggest one followed by Measles and Small Pox.

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2017/08/09/occult-secrets-language-method-mind-control/

THE OCCULT SECRETS OF LANGUAGE AS A METHOD OF MIND CONTROL –  There’s little if anything to research here other than pure conspiracy level nonsense used to further scare up ad views on the page.

I would argue the authors of this site are neither left nor right. They view taxation as theft, government as intrusive, anti-vaccine, anti-GMO, belief in supernatural, anti-foreign intervention, anti-alcohol, anti-pharma, anti-muslim, anti-fracking, pro-weed, pro-spirit, pro-natural the list goes on. They are anarcho-libertarian. (M. Allen 8/15/2017)

Review 3: Waking times (WT) is a predominantly conspiracy/pseudoscience site. The stories are primarily a rehash of the standard Illuminati / New World Order / Big Brother conspiracies that have been around for centuries. As is typical for similar sites, WT takes a grain of truth or unrelated facts and runs directly into pure speculation. While there are some people, groups, and organizations that control a large portion of the wealth in world, there is no credible information linking them to some vast conspiracy to control the world. While the stories do contain some links to credible sources, the conclusions drawn by WT do not match the information in the links.

For example: In the story titled “New GM Crops Use Rna Interference Technology For Mass Sterilization,” the title leaves the distinct impression that the subjects being sterilized are humans. Which is not the case. In fairness, the story presents solid links to research and studies on using plants to sterilize specific insects harmful to crops. The story also, however, implies that such modifications can be passed on to humans, for which there is no credible evidence of that happening. In one statement, the story claims that “In humans, it is likely that GMOs cause significant changes in endocrine metabolism and causes endometriosis, which leads to more miscarriages and birth defects.” Yet the article cited gives no specific evidence of human sterilization and even stresses that the possibility is hypothetical.

The cited report also only deals with human sterilization from existing GMOs and does not address the current research on the sterilization of insects. So implying that human sterilization from the current research is likely based on an unrelated study is, again, purely hypothetical.

Lastly, while further study, research, and testing are always recommended, to date, no direct link between GMOs and any of the medical problems ascribed to them exists.

This is just one example, yet the majority of the stories on WT are in a similar vein. Some of the stories, such as the anti-vax stories, as documented by other MBFC reviewers, could pose a health risk to the public, which is irresponsible and ill-advised at best. For all of the above, WT is rated Conspiracy / Pseudoscience. (D. Kelley 08/16/17)

Failed Fact Check

• “Bill Gates explains that the COVID vaccine will use experimental technology and permanently alter your DNA” – Inaccurate
• “Bill Gates Explains That The COVID Vaccine Will Use Experimental Technology And Permanently Alter Your DNA” – False
• CDC Admits 98 Million Americans Received Polio Vaccine In An 8-Year Span When It Was Contaminated With Cancer Virus – Partially Correct
• The government of Shanghai, China has announced its official recommendation that COVID-19 should be treated with high amounts of intravenous vitamin C – Misleading

Summary: Overall, we rate Waking Times a Strong Conspiracy and Quackery level pseudoscience website. We also rate them Low for factual reporting based on poor sourcing and numerous examples of false information. Updated (D. Van Zandt 12/31/2022)

Source: https://www.wakingtimes.com