Some readers have said that our concern over being smeared as an evil Rooskie propagandist and/or a purveyor of dodgy news was overdone. Yet as we showed yesterday, via our attorney Jim Moody’s second letter to the Washington Post, the purge has already started. Counterpunch was dropped from Google News the day after the Post legitimated the propaganda site PropOrNot’s false accusation that Counterpunch was a Putin stooge. Even though Counterpunch sought reinstatement and got itself removed from PropOrNot’s blacklist, Google has refused to reinstate them and has not given any explanation as to why.
We are now the subject of a direct attack. This segment, which ran on December 13 on “Next with Kyle Clark” which is part of NBC’s Denver’s news affiliate 6PM news show, should convince you otherwise that the threat to independent sites is real and growing:
You will see not only is the Naked Capitalism URL the only readable URL by virtue of being larger, it also is the only one for an entire site, as opposed to for a single news story:
A diligent reader tracked down the location for the clip, and it was indeed filmed in Denver at 1550 17th Street.
Naked Capitalism’s name is on view for 5 seconds (in two closely spaced cuts). The site is depicted as confirming readers’ existing biases, being in business “for fun,” and to earn ad revenues by exploiting gullibility. Viewers are told to stop tweeting and sharing Naked Capitalism. Reading Naked Capitalism is equated with not thinking for yourself.
Naked Capitalism in its entirety is depicted as being as bad as the Internet hoax of Fappy the anti-masturbation dolphin (see here for a phony CBS new site with Fappy’s debut; this 2016 story on a mock CNN site is epic).
The clip received 15,000 views on Kyle Clark’s Facebook page alone. Lord only knows how many people saw it when it was broadcast.
I urge readers in Denver will contact local advertisers on the 6 PM news show and tell them you are boycotting them and urging all your colleagues, friends and family members to do so as a result of their sponsorship of this show and its irresponsible attack on a small and highly reputable independent website. Send them this Ben Norton and Glenn Greenwald article to prove our bona fides. My lawyer will have a few words to say too, but in the meantime, if you can also voice your disapproval forcefully to the producer and any ombudsman, it would be very helpful.
Due to already being so behind the eight ball due to how much effort this battle is taking, I am being negligent in not providing the normal helpful contact numbers. I trust readers will do so in comments so as to aid other readers in taking action. Thanks again for your patience and support.
I know it is only a modest consolation, but we are providing extra posts on days we provide updates on this ongoing attack against independent news sites.
235 comments
Comments are closed.
Probably not a coincidence that NC is the leading site fighting the Wapo on the fake “fake news” story and is now taking direct fire from other polyps of the hydra.
A conflation of several streams at NakedCapitalism must have reached a pain and fear threshold in the MSM.
The topic of “fake news” after the Clinton rout is simply the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
For instance, the series on CalPERS (and other pension funds) had a genuine impact and must have riled quite many well-placed people. The recent one about Uber is starting to get referred to elsewhere, probably to the great displeasure of other well-placed people. With further series such as those on Commonwealth shell companies, the Unaoil affair, or the MH17 investigation, NC must by now have acquired a reputation for effective muckraking. All that progressively made this non-standard information outlet a redoubtable competitor that incumbent MSM would much better see disappear.
Impressive results for a dolphin.
;-)
Hijacking top comment
they apologised and removed the reference.
https://twitter.com/nexton9news/status/809469014598631424
ty
and a video apology too.
http://www.9news.com/mb/news/local/next/how-to-detect-when-news-is-fake-brought-to-you-buy-a-sketchy-man-in-an-alley/369652835
And a reply to those who emailed:
But the question remains, how much of the original damage can be undone in this way?
Meanwhile, there’s a new Pew Research report on Americans’ concerns about “fake news”
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/12/15/new-pew-report-majority-americans-across-party-lines-say-fake-news-caused-great-deal-confusion/214828
Interestingly, this article does not mention the Post story. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not. It leaves me with a very vague sense of how fake news is being identified by either the researchers or the people they dealt with.
Their reply left out “fearless”, which is the most important component of nakedcapitalism’s commentary on finance, economics, politics and power.
Again, an example of fake news by the MSM, this time by what wasn’t mentioned. Losers.
I would suspect (those polls didn’t show it) it’s mostly boomers and older who are concerned about fake news. I mean much of Gen X not to mention millennials grew up in the rough and tumble of the internet and it’s alternative news spreading (including direct on the scenes footage of things like standing rock etc.). Admittedly it can all be intimidating and overwhelming, but those who grew up with it have surely learned to handle it to a degree.
It isn’t that hard. I’m 79 and didn’t start playing with computers until 1976. Well, OK, that was a few years before the IBM PC came out (anyone else remember Cromemco? CP/M?) and I was lucky enough to be working at a school that connected to the internet in the mid-90s, but I’ve never understood how you can live in a consumer society and not learn how to recognize BS. I mean, that’s all advertising is.
I agree with you – “the question remains …”
What we are now seeing is news sites libeling NC one day and apologizing the next.
There needs to be some real disincentive to shoddy reporting – suspension of license for a day or too, perhaps.
Good work. I see there’s also a video apology.
: the series on CalPERS (and other pension funds) had a genuine impact
I just spent over $33k this morning. We’d received an offer on our pension, had harsh debt, and when we looked at bankruptcy a few years ago, the student loan Biden exemption kept us from a recalibration. Understanding that pensions are in the liability column led us to an informed decision.
Yves noting an existential threat of potentially three years to extinction sharpens the focus. If we are on a thousand-day planning period, that takes us into the full-throated section of the 2020 election. And if Turchin is right, this election was just a warm-up.
Trying to understand economics from an energy/ecology perspective always ran into a brick wall. I believe that wall is the economics assumption of perfect information, while the business of Wall St. is inside information. That’s the big lie. NC is as near as we have to inside information, in the sense that the model allows good prediction.
Thanks, and thanks again.
This struck me also. In fact, the site spoken about in the piece is obviously a fake news site and probably doesn’t deny it, so naked capitalism is pretty muc the only site among the original 200 which is targeted by this piece.
[Tin Foil Hat] Which got me to wondering if naked capitalism was the single target from the beginning. If the source is actually (as earlier suggested) a Ukraine actor, naked cap came down pretty hard on that subject, and no doubt bruised some egos in the process.
The reason they fear and attack NC is because you readers actually think.
Identify that guy, my bet is he is a neocon, or one of those that benefit from their wonderful policies.
Keep doing what you are doing NC.
They fear us thinking, and god forbid, actually uniting against our true internal “problems” AKA criminals. Keep digging everyone. Neither the Dems or Repubs have a monopoly on truth.
Oh, something else in the photo … The other lines are URLs for stories within those sites. Only naked capitalism is pointed to by home page URL.
I boycotted everything NBC/Comcast related starting 2 years ago.
Obviously this station is doing what they were told.
NBC confuses ‘access’ with journalism.
In today’s Post:
“A source said, “It’s no secret that NBC loves paying celeb kids: Chelsea [Clinton], two Bushes . . . Luke Russert. Ronan (Farrow) is a part of a string of high-paid relatives . . . They think it gives ‘access.’ ”
http://pagesix.com/2016/12/14/ronan-farrow-goes-from-anchors-desk-to-cubicle/?_ga=1.216070932.385117319.1360418453
Please publish a list “for entertainment purposes” of course.
Good call, scott 2. I am boycotting our local NBC station. When they started repeating over and over in their morning, noon, and evening “news” that 40% of the citizens that hit the streets in Portland after Trump was elected didn’t bother to vote, I couldn’t take it any more. Of course, they didn’t bother to mention how they came up with this number. And, their tone was snarky and condescending. As if to say you have no right to protest the outcome of the election if you didn’t vote. Funny, I don’t see that anywhere in The Constitution or The Bill of Rights.
This is comical. Those thinking Naked Capitalism has fake news don’t read the content here. They assume this site supports unabashed capitalism and thus it has to be bad. The irony is when a news organization says NC is fake, that news organization is bordering on being fake itself.
They assume this site supports unabashed capitalism and thus it has to be bad.
Doubt it.
Bordering?
The trouble is, beyond the comic aspect, people who don’t already know the site may be deterred from looking at it. That’s not only their loss but a loss to public discourse as fewer people are aware of the information and analysis offered here.
OTOH, people may come and take a look and realize NBC and Wapo are full of prunes. There is nothing manufactured here–it’s just reporting, as far as I can see. I look at this as great publicity for independent real news sites. The MSM just hates NC and others because they can’t control and make money off it. The more the MSM hollers, the more ridiculous they will look IMO.
Yves, if it makes you feel any better, NC is my preferred source for news, bar none. It is a shame what the MSM is still trying to get away with.
Agreed. For about three months I’ve tried reading NC as my primary news source with Democracy Now (and sometimes supplementing with Fox News for opponent research), and it’s fantastic. Standing with y’all 100%. This propaganda craze is an ideological house of mirrors.
Do you suppose that someone at that station, unfamiliar with Naked Capitalism and its purpose, glommed onto the “naked” in the name and associated it with content that’s sensationalized and/or off-color? Surely sloppy “journalism” (air quotes intentional) but a possible reason NC was singled out in the broadcast: as a lure to viewers eyeballs. Surely does not excuse it, but might explain it.
What’s funny here is that the “alleyway salesman” looks a lot like a generic cop, or average State Security operative. “Operation Mockingbird” meets “Operation Three Card Monte.”
Knowing the “mindless memes” beloved of the short attention span spammers, the fact that NakedCapitalism has the trigger word “Naked” in it is in play. Thus, self seeking opportunism on the part of the “producer” of this sketch is germane to the issue.
If NC could prove orders from above caused this, then the libel laws come into play? If so, this is one crapshoot worth trying.
He’s meant to look like he’s selling contraband. In the old days, it would be bootleg porn videos.
It must be a regional thing. Down here, before the Internet of Sex, porn videos were always freely available at your friendly local Mom and Pop Porn Shop. New Orleans was pretty much wide open, while more rural and conservative Mississippi tended to hide the “goods” in a back room of an ostensibly proper establishment. Alleyway “salesmen” were usually promoting drugs or “hot” (stolen) merchandise.
What I meant about the “salesman” looking like a cop was that “sting” operations involving “alleyway” sales practices happen regularly here, especially in the larger urban centres. The setting up of NC was itself framed as a “set up” mini drama.
That leads to the inevitable setup sting charge of receiving and concealing stolen information. Too bad the segment wasn’t filmed at 451 Bradbury Street.
“Montag, is that you?”
The appropriate charge would be; “receiving and concealing unapproved information.”
Well, if we get any new commenters asking for “pizza delivery”, I hope Outis does put them in moderation!
I had a brain spasm sending my admittedly ‘louche’ consciousness back to that (in)famous scene from the film “Spartacus.”
Is it oysters or snails? See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yzY-HUvavU
Substitute America for Rome in the scene and it all fits.
Orleans DA Harry Connick ran a crusade against video porn in Orleans Parish in the 80s.
I don’t seem to recall Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish shutting down Mr. Binkeys.
It seems to me that in the future those “from above” will simply avoid saying anything via leak-able media that would get them in trouble. Probably they are already working on their own sort of HIPAA-type rules about what they can and cannot say via email, etc, and passing the rules around. I highly doubt there will be another DNC style leak of any significance in the foreseeable future.
That can be argued as “best practice” for any elite, but here we have a case, all too common, of ‘Hubris’ writ large. Thank the Gods, there will always be arrogant and self involved people deluding themselves that they can do no wrong.
Human nature is both a curse and a blessing.
This is what Julian Assange was seeking with wikileaks. He wants to make it as difficult as possible for elites to conspire using digital media.
Security adds difficulty to communication, so forcing elites to using more secure comm is a good thing int terms of reducing their powers.
He looks like a Mossad agent to me. While this is purely speculative, it is consistent with what I saw in a documentary I once watched on Israeli special forces.
This clown looks more like a Stern Gang operative to me.
hah! very clever sir
Oops, I thought this was parody, now seeing your comment below, not sure…
Yes, I know you are upset with me for calling cwaltz out and that you think I’m on steroids, which I have to say gives more insight into your life than it does mine, but whatevs. Why would what I have put forward not be a possibility? And why would you automatically doubt my interpretation?
I only noted a change in your comments, which you acknowledged. I appreciated the civility of your explanation. I am not upset with you, Integer. The comment above follows the exact formula of the kind of false claims NC is now in the business of battling.
You are the last person I would care to pick a fight with. Your comment made me laugh and I wanted to give you credit for what I thought was very clever.
I was 100% sincere, and I have a good memory and a knack (if I do say so myself) for working out the dynamics of confusing situations.
And for the record, I have never asked another NC commenter “what the fuck their problem is”, unlike you, although you did abbreviate it.
I only noted a change in your comments
For the record, I believe these were the exact words that you put forward:
integer wtf is the matter with you, you are like on steroids lately
Like I previously mentioned, the fact that steroid use popped into your head says more about you than it does me.
Note how their clip doesn’t go beyond the fake abc website to then prove what naked capitalism has been doing.
It’s the Israel-first cohort that are losing the plot imo. They’ve spent a long time getting all their ducks in a row, and are now squealing like stuck pigs. Monsanto is probably pretty pissed about Ukraine as well. Anyway, I’d suggest taking it as a compliment, as clearly NC has become a thorn in tptb’s side. So on that note:
Free Palestine!
Nazi scum!
Neocons to the Hague!
The D-party is dead!
Hahaha.
I see enough anti-Jewish and anti-Israel crap on Zero Hedge and don’t need to see it here. Palestine doesn’t have to be freed from anything. Gaza is run by Palestinians, though Hamas likes to kill off its political opponents and it has refused to hold elections for years. Don’t see you objecting to that. The West Bank is run by the Palestinian Authority which likewise hasn’t held elections in years. The only reason East Jerusalem is often included in “Palestine” is because it was occupied by Jordan for nearly 20 years, during which it expelled all the Jews. Don’t see you objecting to that either.
Maybe they’ve earned it somehow, lately, by sucking up to power?
Loyalty is treason.
I have never made an “anti-Jewish” comment at NC, and I have no plans to do so in the future. I do have an issue with Israeli foreign policy though, and make no apologies for that.
Wow. That is atrocious.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
-Ghandi
Looks like this is the fighting stage. Victory is next.
I know that you guys have gotten lots of reader suggestions about response strategies to the “fake news smear” — so apologies if this suggestion is redundant or exhausting, but maybe a prominent home page link that provides a “NC Response to Fake News Smear Campaign” — possibly 3 to 4 simple paragraphs reviewing the history of the site, the issues/stories covered (from financial crisis, mortgage securitization, private equity, European debt crisis, etc. Rating by many independent sources as a top global financial blog for many years, etc.)
Sort of a 60 second one-stop shop response — daily long-form post rebuttals can get long winded for many new readers.
Evidently there are fake news stories being created. So that phenomenon isn’t a falsehood, but putting NC and other excellent sites in that group sure is and is its own fake news.
That can’t be a coincidence, to choose NC out of 200 sites. Incredible.
That Denver reporter should be utterly ashamed of himself, but he’s probably too ignorant to be.
I second the idea of a primer for visitors, displayed prominently.
I also support the idea that if NC is being singled out among others it means that Yves and her crew are doing something right and should continue to do it.
me 3
Agreed!
me 5
+1.
Are the media trying to lure NC into a game of whack-a-mole? It might wind up getting NC a lot of new readers, it was so over the top.
That station new what it was doing, pointing to a tiny almost unreadable http://www.abc text to introduce the dolphin story, when the only text you can read is NC web url. Is this the visual equivalent of WaPo publishing the propernot site then claiming they were *not* smearing NC? These guys are too cute by half. NC is leading the fight against the smear and NC’s url is the only one prominently shown? What a coincidence.
Yes, a letter is in order.
I couldn’t agree more with “craazyman”.
I come to NC for its reporting on Wall St and capitalism at large. And yet, the site just seems overtaken by the smear campaign against it which for a new visitor, gives optics that indicate, “fight fight fight”. In truth, this is a highly informative website.
I should also mention that this video is positively insane to me. When that propornot website thing happened, I felt it was awful, but not too big of a deal because of how juvenile that site appears. I almost felt like this site was giving them clicks and validity by having so much content about it. However, seeing this news piece… my jaw is on the floor. I can’t believe a major metropolitan city’s news station did that. Is what I’m seeing real? No secondary editing? If not, that’s shameless smearing with absolutely no basis. That’s got to be illegal.
So, my hope is that this site does as craazyman suggests. Continue doing the great reporting that normally gets done around here… but have a highly visible click available for all content regarding the awful smear campaign against this site. Something like, “Our Response To The Unjust and Illegal Smear Campaign Against Us”. In that way, this site would surely appear as being the mature “bigger man”.
My two cents.
I concur. Besides atrocius I also use, may be incorrectly, he word disgusting, because it leaves me with this feeling in my throat.
I am not in your position Yves, neither in the position of your excellent collaborators. But this makes me feel sad. You all have my respect and my moral support (as well as the few bucks I could send to help).
A good suggestion, craazyman.
And NBC piece atrocious…
Chilling.
Who made this? I used to say of movies that they are made by people who don’t know anything, for people who don’t know anything. Naked Capitalism is the furtherest from Fake News that there is. If the people making this had read the site they would know this. If they know this and just stuck nakedcaptilism.com there because they wanted to hurt naked capitalism it is libel, and not protected within the system, as was the case with my difficulties.
I did win, as all wins go, temporarily. I am sorry that Yves has to go through this, for it takes a lot out of you.
Hey, you know the saying, there’s no such thing as bad press, good or bad, furthers the cause and gets the message out there. I wonder how many people are going to log on thinking this site is associated with porn. Anyway, if the new visitors take a moment and read the stories, you might just get more converts and page views in the future.
That is flat out false. I suggest you read up on the McCarthy era. People who were targeted had their careers ruined. Some committed suicide.
We have policy impact. We will lose that if these attacks take hold. Site writers will be unable to get jobs that require stringent background checks. We have one former writer who is looking for a job right now and this is a real issue for him.
And you miss that Facebook has started a crowd-sourced effort to identify “fake news” sites to block. Google is doing the same. If Google were to stop indexing us, it would be as if we didn’t exist. Naked Capitalism would not come up even if you Googled “naked capitalism”. You could find us only if you typed in the URL for the site or a specific article.
Yes. Very clearly said. Dangerous events, no doubt. The erosion of reality and truth is a extremely destructive trend.
Breton
I’ve just made a $100 donation in addition to the subscription I already have for NC, to help with the legal expenses in combatting these outrageous attacks.
I hope other readers and subscribers can spare a few bucks.
Noli nothis permittere te terere !
‘We have policy impact.’ Well, that says it all: you have the wrong policy. The twisted reaction to the election results is even more frightening than Donald Tump himself. Of course this twisted reaction will, in turn, be blamed on him because he’s in thrall to Vladimir Putin; the honour of the country is endangered. You explain very clearly and cogently what is at stake. This site and Counterpunch are visited by me more than once a day. My thanks to you and everyone at Naked Capitalism.
In the meantime, yet another reason to use DuckDuckGo instead of Google for searches. That is a small step but every little bit helps.
Don’t forget free alternatives to Gmail.
Protonmail is what everyone is talking about now.
“The Russian news bsdetector, doesn’t that spread a terrible new virus?”
I wonder if any readers have contacts at Google competitors like DuckDuckGo and, if so, what DuckDuckGo thinks of these efforts.
No contacts at duckduckgo, but I see Firefox and other browsers still haven’t approved the bsdetector plugin. It’s not available as an add-on.
I’ve put in an inquiry to Ixquick (StartPage) about how their searches would be affected if other search engines start censoring. It’s my understanding that they work by culling from other sources; I don’t know if they have an independent element as well.
When I started using Ixquick, it specifically stated that it used Goog engine. This may have changed, but results are pretty similar using either.
Just based on fairly superficial ‘research’, Goog and Bing are the only ones doing their own indexing. Competitors are all reorganizing results from the big 2, now that MS took over Yahoo.
Someone with funds in the EU could really make a difference, here, maybe.
I was unaware that Google News even linked Counterpunch as their robo filter always seemed to be of a middle/right orientation. However surely they still have Counterpunch on their main search and my understanding is that they have only blocked links to sites when legally enjoined. To be sure there’s a lot of Google hate around here–some of it probably justified–but you have to believe that any Google move toward actual censorship would be very iffy for their business model since they do have competitors.
Just to add that one of the first things I noticed about your site was that you did offer links to Counterpunch–a newsletter and then website that came into being because founder Cockburn was moving on from the increasingly timid Nation.
I think you are conflating Google News (a news aggregator, see here) and Google’s search function.
So let me repeat: if Google quit indexing us in their search function, it would be as if we didn’t exist on the Web any more. You could type in our name or the name in quotes of a specific story, and you’d get no results from our site.
Right – and it would not be a surprise if this (de-indexing) were contemplated as one of the steps (perhaps the last one, if all else fails). In a story that was not covered much in the US, RT TV had its bank accounts closed in UK. Became a bit of a diplomatic incident (not clear how that got resolved). Sooo nothing would surprise me. This also proves that there was nothing accidental or incompetent ab wa-poo story – in fact, it is likely that the main target were the serious sites that do not accept the standard narrative, and the goofy sites were thrown in for good measure. This is serious… afraid that even our $100 donations will not be enough to fix this. How does one do ‘samizdat’ in the time of the internet? A progressive search engine? Time to join forces with as many like-minded sites as possible and keep hitting back.
Everything Google does is designed to get you to their search site…sort of like casinos and slot machines. They depend on people trusting them to be fair. Here’s betting that they care a lot more about making money than being an arm of the government or one political faction. Like I say they do have competitors.
Google News is a bit different I think.
No I was trying to make that distinction myself. I’ve never thought of Google News as being a very useful source for the news whereas I still believe–perhaps naively–that Google’s main search will take me wherever I want to go according to their algorithm (which is supposedly based on popularity).
Doesn’t always work that way. If Google doesn’t Index your site, you won’t get info about the site on Google. You would have to use other search engines.
Which would further f*uch-up Google’s search database data set. which I’m sure Google uses for its own reasons. If Google starts refusing to index sites based on hearsay I can only imagine how much worse their future algos will be. “The Model WORKS if you eliminate all those pesky variables that break it. Say Hello, Ada.” GIGO.
Why would an advertiser waste their ad money in a potentially untrustworthy search engine when there are so many newspapers available that are desperately lowering their ad rates after people repudiated them following their endorsement of Hillary and trashing of Bernie, to say nothing of inaccurate polling and projections?
“When your enemies are busy destroying each other, don’t interfere!”
Napoleon
Yves, have you seen evidence of this, yet? Please scream long and loud if googlebot stops visiting your site, or if you notice screwy search results.
G’gle long ago became much too large, and expanded its influence far beyond what any one entity should have. I hope the time has come for a reassessment of ‘net monopoly.
Hang in there.
crowd-sourced effort to identify “fake news”
———
Correct The Record might have something to do ‘tween elections? The Kochs have a new atroturf toy to play with? Soros…..
I don’t like large funded crowds. Too many un_and_under_employed people in this country.
I think it was robber baron Jay Gould that said, “I can hire half the country’s workers to tweet the other half!”
Google is becoming less and less useful, precisely because it’s censoring the searches as you indicate. I actually think Yahoo’s Goodsearch, which I use because they actually pay for my information, is better, but I’m not a searchaholic. They also have fewer ads, with the result that the ad is sometimes the site I’m looking for.
Of course publicity is a very mixed bag. Any list, however negative, will drive eyeballs, so I agree with the above suggestion that it would help to have a permanent welcome mat for those people. But bad publicity has consequences, especially if the big gatekeepers like Google and Facebook react to it. Can they be sued? Might set a useful precedent.
Please remember that your readers are a ready-made corps of advocates, as Userfriendly demonstrated with the Denver station.
This is the problem. Yahoo search is Bing. If the Goog and Microsoft decide to leave you out, you are out. I cannot find anyone else doing indexing, as this requires HUGE monetary outlay, based on the sheer size of the net. It is a virtual monopoly.
I would say something about a certain Bearish country having an opportunity to get into the search business, but I know to avoid sensitive subjects…(wink).
Many working people in this country already know the basic outline of the scam the elites have been running for decades now. NC will fill in the details for them in ways a primary campaign’s worth of massive rallies cannot. All that’s needed is to get them to visit the site. Sometimes conspiracies to defame go horribly wrong for the conspirators, especially if their target fights back as NC has already begun to.
NBC News Denver contact page Locally called 9News.
Main Phone Number: 303.871.9999
Newsroom: 303.871.1491
Programming: 303.871.1487
Have an opinion you’d like to share with us about our TV newscasts? Click here: viewerfeedback@9news.com
(Note that we aren’t able to respond individually to each email, but we do respond to any specific concern about accuracy).
Tweet
Denver News Director at 9News in Denver.
Christy Moreno
@christy9News
https://twitter.com/christy9news
Kyle Clark
https://twitter.com/nexton9news
Next with @KyleClark.
Weeknights at 6 p.m. on @9NEWS. It’s like the news… only new. Tweets from Kyle are signed -KC. Tweet us with #HeyNext.
Contact Megan Jurgemeyer at megan.jurgemeyer@9news.com.
Megan Jurgemeyer is the Managing Editor at 9NEWS in Denver. Her responsibilities include day-to-day news gathering, coordination of news crews and long-term coverage planning.
Contact Tim Ryan at tim.ryan@9news.com
Tim Ryan is the assistant news director at 9NEWS (KUSA & KTVD) in Denver. In this role, he’s responsible for recruiting and managing the 9NEWS reporting staff and works with a team of news managers to coordinate and execute coverage on the station’s newscasts and other distribution platforms including 9NEWS.COM.
Here is where Kyle Clark tweeted out that segment.
https://twitter.com/nexton9news/status/808878197278445568
thanks! sent:
re: Kyle Clarke ‘Fake News’ story…
This recent story seriously disparaged ‘naked capitalism.com’, a highly
reputable financial news website run by Yves Smith. I strongly encourage
you to visit the site / contact Smith for further information, something
the people responsible for the report obviously never took the time to
do. I would also strongly encourage you to retract & apologize for this
nasty bit of slander…
Thanks for the contact info. Sent an email to four addresses at 9News. FWIW: the black bag in this story is a bag for Lowell Lights, ubiquitous tools in the video production industry. So I had to work that in: “You put the wrong site in that Lowell bag.”
Denver resident here, Kyle Clark’s email and office phone:
kyle.clark@9news.com
303-871-1841
I cannot find contact information for the ombudsman, but here is a general email address for the news room: newstips@9news.com
The main phone number listed for 9News is 303.871.9999.
kyle.clark@9news.com or 303-871-1841
I called and left a stinker. Some woman answered and after hearing my initial rant hurriedly said ‘I will let you leave a message for Kyle’.
So call and leave messages or send him emails.
Be polite!!!!!!
+1
The only advice that makes any sense in that clip, or will have any impact on the viewer, is the promotion of google as the go-to source of real information. Kyle Clark may be sponsored by google.
Things to Do in Denver When You’re Defamed
Here’s the direct link to their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Nexton9NEWS/
Might wanna fill it up with our Comments.
Keep up the good fight Yves and team!
It would be an interesting experiment to see whether facebook allowed pro NC comments to appear in the news feeds of friends and family when they look at your time line.
If not, then don’t waste your time.
I misread your comment. Yes do fill up the station’s time line with comments, but also, it would be interesting to find out whether there is overt censorship re Naked Capitalism.
He has issued an apology on Facebook. I requested he take it to his viewers as well. Thanks for the info, Tim
Wow, talk about unsubtle. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
This had barely been discussed in the Lefty blog comment threads, following the NYC & Acela primaries? That David Brock’s CTR trolls were following a script disclosed on Kos, reminiscent of Rick Berman’s style book (eg: Secretary Clinton’s remarks in her TD Bank speech, that environmentalists were funded by Russian oligarchs & should, “get a life!”) Following the DNC convention, the CTR trolls were returning to their regular Energy in Depth, geneticliteracyproject.org, Ketchum, Burson-Marsteller, etc. tropes, about entitled, parasitic, parent’s basement-dwelling Luddite millennials. As most the big liberal blog aggregators simply removed comments or links questioning trade bills, fracking, GE mono-culture agriculture, FIRE sector dominance of kleptocratic politicians, militarized police brutality… nobody seemed interested? We all seemed to realize: Exxon Mobil, Monsanto, WalMart would need ISDS tribunals and ALEC-like control of State legislatures… but first, ALL media had to be controlled? Have you noticed any sudden influx of new readers, following the media’s free publicity?
THIS is what happens when there are no rules in media playland.
Things break down into anarchy. People can say, do and post anything they desire – if they get caught – who cares? – it’s your word against theirs. I guess it used to be that people were decent enough to respect certain rules of engagement – however, today everyone is out for themselves.
This environment is only further enforced when you have:
1. An entire election cycle full of lies. A President -elect who has set a new standard in bald-face lying.
2. Facts are no longer a guiding issue – I refuse to say they are dead – facts do not die – they are ignored.
I was lambasted for a previous comment that mentioned we need RULES! Broadcasting standards!!!. Until this happens, we are all playing in the ether.
And rightly! I mean, being a liberal, you have a knee-jerk reflex to make judgments for other people who would rather punch you than look at you, but that’s part of the territory.
So, instead of flapping your arms around like a liberal and begging for some authority to save you from your own arrogance, how about just reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine?
breaking up the mainstream media monopoly (just a few companies that control almost all mainstream news) might accomplish that just by itself.
I posted some phone numbers for NBC News awhile ago. It’s in moderation.
Here is Kyle Clark’s Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/KyleClark
Here is his bio at 9 News (“Colorado’s News Leader”).
Here is the 9 News contact form, including phone numbers.
9 News is “a Tegna company.” Tegna is publicly traded; Tegna used to be Gannett. Here is their contact form.
Here is a list of Tegna’s other affiliates (looks like some are TV and some are radio). Note this is alphabetical by state, although state is the last content on each list item, so you can scan for your state:
KTHV, Little Rock, AR
KPNX Phoenix, AZ
KMSB Tucson, AZ
KTTU Tucson, AZ
KXTV Sacramento, CA
KUSA Denver, CO
KTVD Denver, CO
WUSA Washington, DC
WTLV / WJXX Jacksonville, FL
WTSP Tampa, FL
WATL Atlanta, GA
WXIA Atlanta, GA
WMAZ Macon, GA
KTVB Boise, ID
WHAS Louisville, KY
WWL New Orleans, LA
WUPL New Orleans, LA
WLBZ Bangor, ME
WCSH, Portland, ME
WZZM Grand Rapids, MI
KARE Minneapolis, MN
KSDK St. Louis, MO
WCNC Charlotte, NC
WFMY Greensboro, NC
WGRZ, Buffalo, NY
WKYC Cleveland, OH
KGW Portland, OR
WLTX Columbia, SC
WBIR, Knoxville, TN
KXVA Abilene, TX
KVUE Austin, TX
KBMT Beaumont, TX
KJAC Beaumont, TX
KAGS College Station, TX
KIII Corpus Christi, TX
WFAA Dallas, TX
KHOU Houston, TX
KIDY San Angelo, TX
KENS San Antonio, TX
KYTX Tyler, TX
KCEN Waco, TX
WVEC Norfolk, VA
KING Seattle, WA
KONG Seattle, WA
NWCN Seattle, WA
KREM Spokane, WA
KSKN Spokane, WA
Readers, if any of you live in these cities, will you let us known in comments if you see that this clip has propagated beyond Denver?
Could I recommend you guys push using #NakedCapitalism or other appropriate hash tags AND have them clearly listed in the header of this outstanding resource.
You should also add your PropOrNot parody in the header too.
Just thought of this: Remember the add campaign that made Ben & Jerry’s?
“Whats the Pillsbury Dough Boy afraid of.”
We should do a “What is MSM afraid of …” or some such better worded campaign.
Tegna is headquartered in McLean, VA. which by a happy coincidence is where the CIA is also located.
I did a cursory check of KXTV in Sacramento, and that ridiculous segment doesn’t appear to be there, fwiw.
Time for mass boycotts — of the MSM, of Amazon, and the other colluders and promoters of this new, very scary neo-McCarthyism.
Trump is indeed a buffoon, liar, disaster etc, but it is shocking and ironic to see that the Democrats are destroying the Constitution while attacking him for saying he will destroy the country.
As has been noted, one real concern is that the Congress will compel or “suggest” a blacklist of sites, which would then no longer be displayed or linked to on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I am stunned by the increasing campaign to get the Electors to change their vote against Trump. Do those people want to incite civil war in the USA? Keith Obermann for one seems to have lost his mind entirely.
And as ever, the irony of the DNC and CIA making charges about “rigging elections”… pan meet kettle for gods’ sakes…
I don’t generally comment, but the concept of sites that are run “for fun” being fake news made me spit out my coffee.
There are five big media behemoths in Washington. Let’s take a look:
WAPO — Unprofitable pet project of a billionaire who fully acknowledges that profits aren’t his pursuit.
CQ/Roll Call — For most of its life CQ was an actual non-profit (as opposed to simply being not profitable). It’s undergoing tremendous stress as it tries to find footing under new for-profit owners. Not sure if it’s profitable. I would doubt it.
National Journal – David Bradley made his money running Advisory Board, since sold. I have no inside knowledge; people I trust assure me his current company is not profitable (nor does he particularly care).
Politico — I seriously doubt the Albritton’s would run an unprofitable venture, though not sure how the new EU and New York arms are doing. Their track record is they admire and reward business talent. But their motives? Well, see Riggs Bank for their track record there.
Bloomberg — Bloomberg has lost money each and every year on all their offerings outside of the box. (Not completely sure how they’re doing with BNA, though if the acquisition cost is charged against the business unit, they aren’t profitable.) Yet they keep right on plunging deeper. I give them this at least, Uncle Mike’s political views are pretty well known.
So we have all these unprofitable mainstream media outlets blanketing Washington to drive the stories of the day and shape American views. Are they doing it ‘just for fun?’ Are the fake news purveyors?
I’d put your libel lawyers lose on that TV station. I think there’s case law that would support you there.
Since it would be readily apparent to anyone who took even a cursory glance at NC’s content that it is the antithesis of fake news, the only logical conclusion I can reach is that real journalism and reporting are so threatening to the major media outlets that they have no option other than to undermine sites like NC and others like it that also are dedicated and committed to facts and truth.
Because God forbid the major outlets would consider raising their own standards for reporting, right? Heaven forfend that these incestuous alliances between and among the media, politicians, and corporate interests might begin to break down and shift the balance of power back in the direction of the people. We can’t have that, can we? And let’s not forget the $$$ factor while we’re at it – if people aren’t watching major media, it’s harder to sell advertising and harder still to charge premium prices for it.
I do not see this getting better under Trump; it’s apparent to me that he has no tolerance for criticism and he has a predilection for retaliation – he’s apparently hot now with NBC Nightly News over something-or-other.
In any event, this looks to me to be a calculated effort to control and dominate the message and I do not like where this could end up going.
“Even though Counterpunch sought reinstatement and got itself removed from PropOrNot’s blacklist, Google has refused to reinstate them and has not given any explanation as to why.”
If there isn’t a defacto conspiracy going on, they sure are mounting a great fake one.
And I would say that this goes beyond Trump – Trump isn’t president now. This goes beyond the fake repub/dem competition. This is the deep state, the establishment, call it what you will, EFFECTIVELY censoring dissent. This is Orwell in action, 1984, Brave New World. Our view of the world is constrained to the never acknowledged, but ommnipresent “box” from which flows all “official truth” – we can only be exposed to the “official reality.” Everybody should remember how the “Patriot Act” was extended and expanded under Obama. Treason is patriotism, cowardice is courage, freedom is slavery, lies are truth….
If anything, the president elect might be grateful for the balanced election coverage here…. though that may not last as he starts implementing policies that NC critiques.
Well, if they admit they were wrong, that gives credibility back to the sites whose credibility should never have been taken away, and we can’t have that if the goal is to silence any voice that is not singing the predetermined lyrics in the pre-approved musical key.
I don’t know where this is ultimately going, or what this is ultimately in service of, but the hairs on the back of my neck are telling me it’s not going anywhere good, and it’s not in service of anything good, either.
yes. this is outrageous. it’s clearly targeting the millennials who are heavy consumers of the internet and Facebook. And the end scene where they both growl “yeah” “yeah” is classic typecasting and very effective obfuscation. It is very sophisticated propaganda using a tiny bit of actual news (the phone flap about fake news – with which NC has nothing to do) and then followed by a bunch of total shit that if you are cool you’ll get including NC’s address in bold. And then they’ll all just say, Oh we were just joking, can’t you take a little joke? Dada and Nada. When the internet goes Dada the art of communication about serious things is lost and how then do you fight The Farce?
the phoney flap about fake news…
According to a graphic I saw the other day from a marketing site, the biggest users of Facebook are Boomers. Since I assume that information was available to the two political parties, it would be an interesting exercise to speculate all that fake news was intentionally designed to stir up the group most likely to vote straight party.
That is infuriating. Goodness, they are really going low now with this stuff. Incredible associative dishonesty aimed at the truly gullible and ignorant.
it was cartoonishly stupid (not the same as harmless).
Perhaps the ones who really need to hear about this are the owners of NBC, Comcast?
Maybe if they hear what their local station is doing, something might be communicated to that station about the undesirability of courting litigation.
Of course, this is Comcast, yu-u-ge partisans of the Democraps, so maybe they will applaud the initiative shown by their station, and encourage it. ‘Cuz you just know they’re working for the clampdown, don’t ya?
Problem is, what reason would a local affil have to start dissing NC specifically, unless under orders?
cool
It is worse than I expected. I did not think this (fake news, russkies etc) stuff would fly. But it does! And this leads to the question of is there some malicious intention there, or is this just the dimness of the operators (belief) that makes it fly?
Out of the 199 sites on the PropOrNot list, why does this clip single out NC? Did Kyle Clark bother to read this blog, because it is probably one of the more careful blogs on the list. Perhaps NC is guilty of being too persuasive. The irony is that Clark is making unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo against NC, the very crime he purports to oppose.
Why single out NC? I think that’s likely a three-part equation:
1. NC challenges media nonsense all the time.
2. When the PoN list came out, numerous articles were written that were incredulous about NC being on the list, describing NC as a respected economics & politics site. The aim would be to undercut the “respectable” part.
3. NC is, I think (someone correct me if I’m wrong on this), the most active about being litigious of any of the named PoN sites, and is thus a major current threat.
I hope this clumsy hatchet job backfires on NBC. If they want to attack NC they should come up with something better.
only there were a lot of good sites on the list. Ok and some personal blogs thrown in, that before that maybe had a readership of 20 people or something. Maybe those are fake news, some certainly have odd views, but whether they are or not, they were definitely not worth the trouble of targeting. They had to have been after the bigger fish.
That’s true. Maybe they wanted a blog that 1) is American and 2) has a large readership and this might be a small subset of the list. I still find it ironic that NC staff get accused of being inaccurate propagandists because as blogs go they seem pretty careful. They are not trying to make false arguments.
Sue them too. It’d serve them right.
This looks like, if true, a blatant pro official “news” message. If this is part of the original “product,” then the piece is definitely part of a disinformation program. It could be a trial balloon for a more robust anti-independent news source campaign.
Are there any other sightings of this, or attacks focused on other Independent “news sources?”
Ironically, the clip exhorts viewers to “start thinking” LOL!!!
I fear this might be the beginning of a campaign.
That’s 3 blocks from my office. I’m local to Denver. I’ll be raising hell about this for sure.
I dropped by their offices but wasn’t able to get past the front desk without an appointment. I left a voicemail with the news director expressing my outrage and let them know I would be more than happy to meet in person.
Oh – and a missed opportunity. As I was leaving there was an apparent reporter / photographer crew passing me in the parking lot. Now that I’ve watched the video again I’m almost sure the reporter I saw was the guy in the hoodie. Crap.
Quack-daddies like New Yuck Times, Washington Pest, slimy-effing GIGGLE, Denver TV, and most of the others, are losing badly; almost everybody knows that they are just screaming “Fire” in a crowded theater, and nobody believes them any more. Credible sites like McLatchy, are drowned out by the fools and liars. Eventually, their needs for ad revenue will bring them down, and fairly soon too.
Strike back! Ignore and/or ridicule them! One way: if you have a website, post a small free ad or link for a charity, a business that impressed you, or something similar. Result: GIGGLE be gone, and good riddance.
Holy balls. This smashes right through the “irresponsible” threshold into a pointed smear campaign. Someone wants this site silenced/discredited, and they don’t care how it happens.
I wonder if they truly believe in what they’re doing, or if they’re just without principles. Because this is one of the most blatant and unconscionable attempts to silence people who are speaking truth to power that I’ve ever seen (in the U.S., at least). A fool and his freedom are soon parted…
“This is what we’ve waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The general is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.”
99 Kriegsminister
Streichholz und Benzinkanister
Hielten sich für schlaue Leute
Witterten schon fette Beute
99 war ministers
– matchsticks and gasoline canisters –
think of themselves as clever dudes
already sniffing juicy loot
(Or more or less. But only the careless gestures of the great Nena really convey the apocalypse-already-started feeling of those wretched years [video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La4Dcd1aUcE%5D. Has 1986 been officially ‘twinned’ with 2016 yet?)
Of course, Gannett, with its money-bleeding flagship national paper headquartered in MacLean, VA, run for years by Stansfield Turner’s flunky’s wife. Wisner’s Wurlitzer is playing the charge arpeggio.
Is it tactless, at this sensitve juncture, to advert to Sabrina De Souza singin like a canary while Fatou Bensouda tees Cofer Black up for the Pre-Trial chamber? Batten down for heavy weather, this is gonna be fun.
Hi Clowns, nothing wrong with your comment, but I’d suggest using a different handle than your original one. If you stick with what you had, then for reasons that are presumably clear, all of your comments will get automatically flagged for moderation.
Outis, on that note what exactly does trigger the moderation flag? All my comments have been flagged recently, and I don’t think I’m THAT obnoxious.
The moderation flag gets triggered for some reasons that are transparent to us and others that have to do with the algorithm that is trying to detect spam, etc. So while in some cases we can tell why a comment got flagged (e.g. use of certain words, lots of hyperlinks, length), in other cases we aren’t sure.
For this reason, you shouldn’t take the moderation flagging personally – it very often doesn’t imply anything about the comment at all.
If you think that something specific is happening, or if a comment of yours actually vanishes, feel free to email me about it (outis.philalithopoulos@gmail) and I’ll see if I can figure something out.
I’m a Denver resident, alas (well, suburbs), although I don’t watch the local TV news channels … but my spouse does, so I get exposed when I wander into his space. Frankly, this is just about the level of non-reporting I would expect from them. We have a city that is being gentrified; massive construction of condos and apartments going on, older neighborhoods being leveled, rents skyrocketing, minority communities being devastated.
Denver police were recently caught on video confiscating blankets from homeless people attempting to keep warm; dozens of unhoused people congregate during the day along the city’s 16th Street pedestrian mall.
A few miles to the north, in Weld County (known locally as ‘welled county’), thousands of fracking wells litter the landscape, as the methane levels rise and kids suffer from rising levels of asthma.
Lots to report on. But they chose, ‘fake news.’
I e-mailed and posted on Kyle’s FB page. Politely, Lambert.
Thanks to all who provided the phone numbers and addresses.
While fake news is one type of bad journalism (and not something I have ever found at NakedCapitalism), plagiarism is another and I think 9news would be embarrassed and might be willing to publish a retraction for you (assuming they actually care about real news and real journalism).
Now I am not an expert on what truly constitutes plagiarism but I decided to check out the quality of facts at FactCheck.org. The site the video, created by Jeremy Jojola at 9news (a posted/presented by Kyle Clarke of 9news), recommends you check out for fact checking. Guess what I discovered there…
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/12/video-spotting-fake-news/
also at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkwWcHekMdo&feature=youtu.be
Jeremy’s video is not original material. His video is a shortened version of the same information content with just a new video laid over top it. The one content piece in Jeremy’s video not also mentioned in the factcheck.org video is the piece on Obama Banning the Pledge. However that information IS covered on the site… http://www.factcheck.org/2016/09/obama-did-not-ban-the-pledge/
While he suggests viewers check out FactCheck.org, he NEVER sites them as a reference for content. The title of his video is virtually identical as well, “How to Spot Fake News” vs. “How to Spot Fake News – FactCheck.org”.
Hope this is helpful.
Sent to: webteam@9news.com
Greetings NBC Denver,
A recent news segment of yours displayed the URL for Naked Capitalism prominently in your segment on Fake News. I don’t imagine that your reporter ever bothered to actually to look at the site. Maybe your editor was out to lunch when this was given the go ahead. Regardless, you have defamed a responsible, respected, and award winning site that discusses economic issues around the world. You owe a full frontal retraction at your news site and repeated often on your news programs for purveying falsehoods. It makes me wonder does a supposedly respected network that puts out such falsehood pass journalistic muster? Who is the reveal purveyor of “fake news”? You should be ashamed, and unless you send out clear retractions, you are even worse than fake, you are unethical.
I really hate to go down the Gawker road with the WaPo and NBC but they are deliberately and maliciously damaging your brand. I’m fuming.
How safe are the DNS listings for “fake” news sites? What about their domains?
Wow. I’m just gobsmacked. Polite emails will be sent. This is serious stuff. Not happy.
Hang in there Yves, Lambert and others. Keep on keeping on. Sadly I suspect that we’ve only just begun to fight.
I also sent a comment to their newsfeedback comment page.
Wondered aloud if they had ever been to your site or just got it from Wapo.
Another wannabe club member
Wait! What was Edward Snowden doing in Denver?
Your alarm is warranted, but this will die down IF Trump is allowed to take office. The MSM are attacking the alternative press out of fear and weakness, having been totaling discredited during the election. […]. The Russian smear is not sticking no matter how much they try because it’s stupid and everyone sees through it (just like all in for Hillary). Soon Russian relations will be normalized.
Trump ‘s distain for the MSM, cute now, will become much more serious in terms of consequences once in office. Everything will be on the line for them including careers, money and access.
They know it and are terrified.
They still are clinging to the desperate idea that somehow Trump can be stopped so they are lashing out now at the weakest link, the alternative media. It just shows you how truly pathetic and vulnerable they are.
Once Trump starts to dictated terms to them as President, his tweets will take on an entirely new meaning. The alternative press will be the least of their problems.
I hope this makes you feel a little better.
There wasn’t any issue with your comment, but one sentence (marked in brackets) got taken out for precisely the reason you mentioned there: there’s a strong tendency right now for the alternative media in general to get lumped in with people obsessed with that particular would-be story, and we’re trying to avoid that.
reminds of the work of breitbart’s james o’keefe.
I realize that slander/libel are hard to prove in the US given the malice clause, but surely in your case you’d have good grounds given that unfounded allegations of what is effectively treason are being put about by organizations with no evidence provided with the specific intention of putting you out of business?
I donated $50 just in case…
Thanks so much for the donation! We are incurring extra expenses due to my having to offload a lot more work to Lambert, Jerri-Lynn, and Outis, so it is very much appreciated.
I just sent an email to Clark and the station. Unbelievable. (No offense to JLS below)
—
In case you do not know, as your “How to Spot Fake News” spot appear to indicate, Naked Capitalism is a stellar independent news website that provides the most comprehensive and grounded coverage I have seen. Further much of their content is painstakingly curated, “reddit style” (a descriptor which carries none of the negative connotation associated with that site) links through which discussion in the comments is fostered, in addition to hosted or co-hosted guest articles. Original content on the site meets the same high standard of discussion Yves Smith and major partner Lambert Strether expect from the users.
Naked Capitalism is the most authentic and real place I have ever been on the internet and those attributes extend to its lively commentariat who offer all kinds of input and personal stories to add to topical events.
The claim that new aggregation from other, non-blacklisted sources is somehow Russian sympathizing is beyond absurd and that you, a local reporter and station, who should share journalistic integrity and ethics, would stoop to corporate messaging is indefensible.
I call for you to deliver an on air retraction and apology for this unnecessary, McCarthyist smear of a extremely reputable news outlet. Your goal is to inform the public, not to promote unfounded fake news like the Washington Post (and others) did.
Just received this response from Executive Producer Nicole Vap:
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Our December 13th story on fake news incorrectly associated nakedcapitalism.com with fake news websites. Nakedcapitalism.com provides “commentary on finance, economics, politics and power” and describes itself as a website that is “shedding light on the dark and seamy corners of finance.”
We regret the error.”
Thanks for posting both these posts Mr. Smith!
Hopefully they regret it enough to issue an on-air apology.
It’s easy to apologize. We will see how this particular case plays out but in my experience unscrupulous people use apologies as part of their arsenal of deceit, as it tends to disarm the more honest types, and the damage the unscrupulous person was seeking to inflict has already been done.
Actions speak a lot louder than words.
I just noticed that the tweet on Kyle Clark’s page promoting the fake news video has been removed. It was there when I checked Twitter earlier this morning.
Thank you Linda for the contact info. I wrote the following to the viewer feedback:
I was very surprised to see Naked Capitalism featured prominently in Kyle Clark’s feature on fake news sites. Naked Capitalism is a well-known and highly respected financial analysis site and has been touted by mainstream financial websites and journalists. Yves Smith, the site’s founder and main analyst, is a best-selling author – here is her bio at Amazon:
“Yves Smith is creator of the influential blog, Naked Capitalism, a top ranked economics and finance blog with over 250,000 unique visitors each month. Smith has been working in and around the financial services industry since 1980 as an investment banker, management consultant, and corporate finance advisor. Smith has appeared, on CNBC, CNN, and FOX Business News, and has written over 40 articles in venues such as The New York Times, Slate, and the Christian Science Monitor. She lives in Manhattan.”
Kyle Clark and NBC News need to officially and publicly apologize for maligning Yves Smith and Naked Capitalism and let viewers know that the site is not, in fact, a publisher of fake news.
Critical of the Government = Fake News
This is where we’re headed. Ironically, from what I see of his footprint on the Internet, I would classify this mysoginist-drunkard home-brewer anchorman Kyle Clark as an actual purveyor of fake news. He has expressly set out to tailor his segments to align with his perception of the opinions of potential viewers, in order to gin-up ratings — facts be damned. It’s shameful that he has a platform — it appears that he got his big boost in Denver by being rude on-air to a female meteorologist. The constant promotion of jerks like Kyle Clark is I don’t watch TV news.
What group is behind this?
Frustrated dem losers, media all in for her?
Neocons that don’t like push back on their Russia rant?
In either case, does this go away if when trump gets ship on new course?
I would certainly move to new search engine if necessary to get my daily nc fix.
Might I suggest a few updates to the website for the potential newbies that might stop by due to the smear campaign.
On the about page, a picture of the Econned book with links.
Links to any journalistic awards.
Links to who Yves is from the blogger page.
Links to Yves (and others from this site) appearances in national media like Bill Moyers (a national journalist trust brand), etc.
How about a top story coverage section? Yes, I know there’s a topics sidebar but this site is truly information overload to the uninitiated. Plus the amount of information that goes through the blogger article list in just a few days can be overwhelming to a beginner.
What is Naked Capitalism known for? Where does NC currently have its biggest impact?
Whatever the answers are should be where you lead the coming newbies (readers or journalists) as a starting point if they want to jump in with both feet. And it should be prominent. Pick the top 5, write up short summaries saying this is where we currently are in coverage, if you want to dip your toe in to get a good overview of coverage, click here. For a full index, click here. etc.
e.g., The coverage on CalPERS has been outstanding. Greece should be a primer for everyone. Lambert’s ACA coverage also very fine. There are truly way too many choices.
And again I say, revise your 2017 budget. The propaganda war is just beginning and it wasn’t on your radar when you did the initial budget and fundraising requests. Yes, I know you did a mini-fundraiser for the legal fund already but now you (and the NC community) is getting it’s first taste of how limited their view of the first battle was. I hate to say it and seem overly pessimistic / cynical but the war is just beginning and you / we have no idea where the next salvo will be coming from. Or for that matter, from where. My assumption is that NC will start taking hits from more unexpected places. Denver Nightly News… that’s a pretty big wow. More people took the anti-NC message in without even being actively aware of it. Which was I hate to say again was entirely the point.
Very good propaganda. Not amateurish at all.
I’m of the opinion that a banner paragraph – it doesn’t have to be long – could be placed underneath the Home/About/Archives, etc banner, that would introduce the site – the who, what, why of the site AND the attacks on it – because at this point, I think anyone venturing here because of the association of NC with fake news needs to have it right in their face.
A lot of people are just plain lazy about exploring websites – they don’t read all the stuff hidden behind categories, they often don’t even click through to links that are posted.
The other option – which may be harder and more expensive to do – would be for the page to open with a screen that tells people about the site and its stellar reputation, describes the attacks on it, and can then be clicked on to proceed to the site.
I don’t know – just random brainstorming, trying to think of something to help (at the same time realizing that forcing you to spend money to fight off these bastards is part of the strategy…pretty sure they’d be happy to get you to spend every last penny you have fighting this, on the theory that eventually, you’ll fold).
Anne, I definitely agree with you on the money aspect. And second the brainstorming session.
But if the national media is going to come calling, then at the very least Naked Capitalism needs to have something like a media kit ready and waiting for them.
I live in Denver and sent a note to the station using one of the emails provided above. Here is the response I got back from Nicole Vap, Executive Producer:
“Our December 13th story on fake news incorrectly associated nakedcapitalism.com with fake news websites. Nakedcapitalism.com provides “commentary on finance, economics, politics and power” and describes itself as a website that is “shedding light on the dark and seamy corners of finance.”
We regret the error.”
Just received this from Nicole Vap, Executive Producer, 9NEWS:
“Our December 13th story on fake news incorrectly associated nakedcapitalism.com with fake news websites. Nakedcapitalism.com provides “commentary on finance, economics, politics and power” and describes itself as a website that is “shedding light on the dark and seamy corners of finance.”
We regret the error.”
WOOHOO!!!
Just received this:
”
Our December 13th story on fake news incorrectly associated nakedcapitalism.com with fake news websites. Nakedcapitalism.com provides “commentary on finance, economics, politics and power” and describes itself as a website that is “shedding light on the dark and seamy corners of finance.”
We regret the error.
CHRISTY MORENO
News Director”
I hope they will broadcast this correction on air to their viewing audience.
In a phone call to the station just now I was told their retraction would be broadcast on both their evening news shows today.
well, it’s obviously a smear campaign, not an isolated attack, the fact that your site is explicitally targeted conform this in my view, on the other hand, I don’t think people potentially interested in NC might be so dumb to fall into that obvious propaganda. Whoever might be susceptible to and uncritically accept its message wouldn’t visit it anyway. It’s a shame, of course, such unethical behavour which in any case confirms the deplorable state of most MSM.
They have actually updated the video and removed the URL for NC, wow. They have placed a disclaimer too.
http://www.9news.com/entertainment/television/programs/next-with-kyle-clark/jeremy-jojola-statement-on-fake-news-clarification/370786213
I also received this response from two people at the station:
“Our December 13th story on fake news incorrectly associated nakedcapitalism.com with fake news websites. Nakedcapitalism.com provides “commentary on finance, economics, politics and power” and describes itself as a website that is “shedding light on the dark and seamy corners of finance.”
We regret the error.”
Wow! An actual video release! You don’t see this kind of behavior often. Hopefully it airs but doubtful due to the pace and sludge of local news.
well well!
I wrote her back and she confirmed that this will air:
“Yes, today at 5 and 10 and tomorrow in Next.
Thank you for understanding.”
The original is still on Youtube…Does anything ever disappear from the G site?
I don’t always agree with what’s posted on Naked Capitalism but stuff like the clip above serves to drive me to the site instead of away from it. Same with Wikileaks. When told to stay away from something for many the natural reaction is to ask why and check it for themselves. After reading numerous articles whining about the evil Russian hack of the DNC and how it caused many Democrats to not show up and vote it was difficult to avoid actually checking out the emails (which the same articles describe as innocent lunch plans) and finding out that hey, the content is actually quite illuminating. Media and democrats are insanely stupid to be calling for in depth investigations into this hacking/aka leak story. Do they truly want to shine a light on the actual content of those emails? Can’t see that going well for them. And this blacklisting nonsense. From Democrats? From media? What a turn around.
And look for sources in the article? Cause every establishment news source hasn’t been running with articles claiming russia is responsible quoting unnamed sources. LOL
I guess when things get dire for advertising and you see no one watching you have to kill what they are watching or reading so that you become the only source. Its classic american corporate monopoly strategy at work. I am sad to say that websites like these will be wiped out when NSA, IRS, .GOV start working together. Its tough to fight these idiots. How can we even afford a lawyer. Welcome to the new brave world. When that happens I will be permanently moving out of America.
Hello everyone, this is Jeremy Jojola with 9NEWS in Denver.
I’d like to apologize to nakedcapitalism.com and Yves Smith.
We screwed up.
In an effort to call attention to fake news, we incorrectly associated nakedcapitalism.com with a list of fake news links in our video.
This was wrong.
We have removed this reference from our video.
I have recorded a video response which will be broadcast on our station at 5 pm and 10 pm this evening and again at 6 pm tomorrow (Denver times).
See our response and my video statement here.
Thanks for standing up and taking responsibility! Something that’s been in short supply lately.
Agreed. Good on them.
I think it’s reasonable for Jeremy to explain how Naked Capitalism of all sites wound up prominently displayed on the segment to begin with?
No kidding! I mean really. I’d say that’s more than “associating”.
It’s like opening a fortune cookie at some random Chinese restaurant you walked into and the note has your personal checking account number on it with the words “Money laundering needs good detergent.”
You’d be llike “WTF?”! Whoa. “We’re sorry we associated your financial life with your dining experience. Here’s an extra shrimp fried rice on the house.”
You’d wonder how they got your checking account number in the first place! Maybe from the dry cleaner where you paid by check for that suit tailoring last month! Maybe they just needed a number. Whoa. That woouuld defy all odds a social scientist wouuld be familiar with. Social science is used to working with probability distributions and maximum likelihood estimates and this situation is hard to analyze with that paradigm,
A social scientiist would be lost. What’s it all aboout? Alfie!
At any rate, the apology itself was straightforward and appropriately contrite. Props to that.
Moderation alert #2! The first was only a pee but this is the real stuff.
I also misspelled my name in this, the 2nd moderbated post.
It should be obvious who it is though! LOL.
I think I see what you did here!
Moderbation alert!
I don’t know about this apology. It seems a bit lame to me. “The website describes itself . . . ” I can describe myself as the King of Cool, the Debonnaire Dude, the Man Who Rules, all the Amplitudes, My shoes are awesome, and my threads are fine, I’m the Duke of Composition, with word. Or line. I’m a funkalectic theorist. I’m a sytheticist true. With dense dialectic. And with versifying too. I’m haute couture mind spun, tailored and tight. I rule the day and I illuminate the night.
But it doesn’t mean it’s why I really am! Hahaha. I could just be a fake!
That’s what a reporter does. They go find out about things and then report on them. They don’t say “so and so describes himself as the king of Cool, the debBobnaire dude . . . Etc.” They come and check me out! of course they’d find out it’s all true, but I only use my situation as an example
Maybe this is a flyover country news station doing the best it can. Maybe it needs some “New Yawk Lessons” in getting things done. We’re way to cool in New Yawk to take somebody’s word for what thhey are. That’s like. JOKE! ARE you kidding me? They should put Yves on the show and interview her! Hahaha. That would pretty good.
This dude. Mr. Jojola needs some New York Lessons from Yves in how to do investigative reporting. Hahahahahahaahhah.
A few teenagers could put a video up on Youtube and have it be better than the one the news station did! Man, folks, really. I. Mean wow. At least use some cinematographic techniques!
Jeremy:
Thanks very much. NC has a tiny crew and a weird schedule, so although I can’t speak officially for Yves, my personal, initial view, is that this is very sporting of you. I’m sure that further communication will follow.
Readers, be nice!
Hello Jeremy,
As a commentor here, I appreciate your quick response, video response, and the fact that it will be presented on air.
You should take comfort in the fact that you and your station have proven to be more responsible and accountable than the Washington Post.
As this is an important topic, perhaps in a follow-up piece about fake news and the spreading of fake news, 9NEWS Denver might be interested in doing an investigative piece on the WaPo Propornot article and the “journalism” and journalism practices which lead to such.
Thank you for correcting your mistake, the egregious smearing of Naked Capitalism was completely wrong.
Jeremy, it takes moral strength to admit a mistake and apologize for it. As a member of the NC community, I thank you.
Here….
https://www.facebook.com/Nexton9NEWS/posts/10211308404644261?comment_id=10211311321197173
Mr. Jojola,
Thank you for making the corrections and for being a stand up guy. Gives me greater confidence in 9NEWS in Denver.
Thank you! This was a great example of ethical journalism. I have also sent thanks via the viewer feedback email.
Thank you Jeremy. This is an exemplar of how to make a genuine and effective redress. And promptly too, which is especially appreciated. Not often my faith in US media outlets is bolstered but your professionalism in the matter is outstanding. You put my industry, finance, to shame.
Thank you very much. This is classy, and as a reader of NC, I appreciate it.
Thank you Mr. Jojola – you’ve helped restore my faith in humanity. Good on You!
Jeremy, I have a question. What does the following mean?
I’m a little confused because that’s a non-sequitur.
Also, “nakedcapitalism.com” is a website, not a fake news link. Are there other websites — not fake news links — on this list? If so, could you share? Thanks.
Thank you for taking responsibility for your error. In the spirit of “do the right thing,” would you make space in your newscast to tell your viewers what a great site Naked Capitalism is? One of the most astonishing things about NC is the quality and civility of NC’s commenters. Check it out for yourself. You’ll meet many critical thinkers who can be funny, passionate, and are undoubtedly well read and informed. Fake new, indeed. Not!
Sorry Jeremy, but this apology is completely inadequate. There is clearly a comprehensive failure of journalistic standards a Denver 9News — true ownership of the error would include an admission that you have become a purveyor of “fake news” through your sloppy, shoot-from-the-hip, amateur attempt at journalism. People only fall for “fake news” when it confirms their bias. Your bias against those who engage in any meaningful critique of capitalism prevented you from checking facts. “You are entitled to your own opinion sir, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”
A day late and a dollar short.
Mister Jojola, although your sudden “finding the light” was led by the response of the 40 thousand daily readers of NC (this is me being nice sir Lambert ;] ) to “discovering” your “unintended” error, the retraction and apology is a nice start. I hope that someone from your legal department is monitoring this set of links below your public statement.
Unlike most of the rest of my fellow “soviet agents”, my energies were directed to factcheck.org and asked them to explain how it is “you” became confused and decided to create a rather large and bold (much larger than the purported subject matter article) for public consumption production of the website NAKEDCAPITALISM.COM which was inserted over the greenscreen placed inside that black bag.
In my email to factcheck.org, I mentioned my current leanings to filing a “bill of discovery” here in the tampabay area court system and was asking questions in respects to depositions.
They have not replied nor responded to my inquiry.
Let us be direct, the mathematical possibilities of you and your station suddenly deciding to not only run the story but add NAKEDCAPITALISM.COM into your story in such a prominent way would be a bit of a stretch.
Not trying to put you on the spot. I am certainly aware of how little media personalities get paid by “corporate media giants” today and you might have just been the sacrificial lamb…
however, the media doesn’t sit around and just “brainstorm” stories…
Your sister station here in the tampabay area covered the story I helped place on the front pages of both dailies here from a group that I worked with and own a piece of who had foolishly in Honduras annoyed the locals…
and along the way, I may have (or may not have) helped put one or two (ok maybe closer to 5) politicians on a government sponsored cruise to club fed by helping some hard working media types know where to lift up rocks to find juicy worms
(hi blago…my you are looking splendid with that cold sandwich diet…say hi to your A-O friends from the General Mihailovic organization in chicago you were so friendly with…)…
So the probable reality is that factcheck.org either through some local pr flack or some pr service (or a continued partnership with USA Today/Gannett) came to you and other media to “publicize” their work on “fake news”…for the purpose of displaying to their funders how effective they are by getting media placement about their work or to help raise new funds.
But in taking the sword on the story, there is no explanation from you of how exactly and who exactly decided to type in with rather LARGE and readable lettering…NAKEDCAPITALISM.COM
Was it some college intern…
was it a suggestion from factcheck.org
did your legal department look at various webnames and decide that NAKEDCAPITALISM.COM is basically a very popular but small staffed operation that would not have the financial resources to fight back hard via a lawyer ?
thalamus ranks nakedcapitalism as a top 12 thousand site in the usa and top 45 thousand site globally…
that is not by accident.
I certainly come here to cut through the noise and manage my time by its focus on the issues that run the macro of the economy. Her background in the corporate world and her contact base from it allows her to source information most journalist would only dream they could get to, and allows her to not waste her readers time with investor relations pr flack goop to fill in the news hole.
Sadly, my sense is you are being asked to take the sword rather publicly so that questions will not be asked.
I would ask that you make one adjustment to your story about factcheck.org…it is not a separate non profit as it attempts to suggest, but it is simply a part of the University of Pennsylvania, period, end of story…it might be fair for your viewers to know that.
The video has now been removed from YouTube
Is there a way to pull up a web archive version?
I previously noted that NC Alexa rank has spiked since being bad-listed. I checked for Counterpunch and they have enjoyed a similar recent increase in visitors. Could it be that being defamed by the MSM has become a badge of honor that is piquing the interest of savvy and curious reader? Perhaps someone with more time and energy than I have could check out how other similarly smeared sites have fared. Keep up the excellent work!
I think there are 2 audiences for McCarthyist smears – the general public and the politicians. Don’t be lulled into thinking a larger general audience traffic is the same as stopping McCarthyist bad political outcomes. Well, I know you don’t think that, but I can’t resist stating the obvious. Saves me from having to think too hard. ;)
LOL. Cheers!
Ho hum, “accidents” will happen. After all, the most corrupt candidate in American history was elected, so don’t be surprised at anything.
Lol, Rodger.
A person cleans the dirt from their feet one foot at a time, yes?
Sue the bastards!
But on the other hand “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”
Millions of TV viewers are going to remember seeing the site name consciously, or subconsciously, and many of them will end up here and can become truly educated through that chance occurrence.
A new viewer to this site is probably intimidated however. It would be nice if there were a intro or a soft pathway in, up at the top besides “Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power.”
That would explain what the site is about before newbys stumble into articles about bond spreads and things like that which are confounding and intimidating to the uninitiated.
well, at least they have corrected it and apologized, but on the other hand, is this how journalism is supposed to work? Calling another source ‘fake news’ without even checking it?
that would be this guy: kyle clark
&, hopefully, this’s been a learning experience for him :) …
Sue those fuckers, too. Crowd-source/Go Fund Me for donations.
Channel 9 Denver left reply to my admonitory comment on the show’s FB page, apologizing for their goof.
Again, thanks to everyone who provided lists of contacts.
This is how they responded to me:
Well this is embarrassing and we deserve it.
We screwed up.
In an effort to call attention to fake news, we incorrectly associated a website called nakedcapitalism.com with a list of fake news links in the video.
This was wrong.
I’d like to apologize to nakedcapitalism.com and its editor.
We have removed this reference from our video. ~Jeremy Jojola
http://www.9news.com/news/local/next/how-to-detect-when-news-is-fake-brought-to-you-buy-a-sketchy-man-in-an-alley/369652835
My FF-browser have crashed several times when trying to read this blog-article! Have never happened before on this site. A FF-crash is for me very unusual by the way. Took me about 15 min to read anything here. ??
As a clarification; Other sites were working… but not NC! NC made my browser crash again and again! Never happened before during i.e normal “site-maintainance”!
Someone please explain, who is fappy the dolphin? I’ve been noticing a pattern…
Nevermind. I googled “who is fappy the dolphin,” and the first story to come up was from Snopes, who debunked this tomfoolery in November 2015, filed in their “Fake News” section. No wonder PropOrNot picked them as a related project!
Unfortunately I have to retract my #realnews endorsement for Snopes. While perusing their “Fake News” section, I couldn’t help but notice that, alas, Snopes has been guilty of debunking a “fake news” story that actually turned out to be…real news? Like after the first debate, on September 27th, when it publishing a story “debunking” the accusation made that Hillary had received questions in advance.
As we all know, thanks to Mr. Assange, this accusation turned out to have considerable merit, so Snopes updated the story on October 31st with the appended note:
I was wondering if any other edits were made to the story, so I did a web-archive search, but the only thing that comes up is: “Sorry. This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.” This is not very “real news” of them!
PS: does anyone have that plug-in where you can view the previously published version of a url?
A bad sign: this was right at the top on Google News: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/12/russian-hacking-trump/510689/
Is that a bad sign? I’d say that an article quoting Kenneth Pollack in defense of the CIA’s finding is about as self-damning as its possible to be.
“Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” We must never forget the denunciation by Army Counsel Joseph Welch toward Senator Joseph McCarthy and all the domestic terrorism that preceded it, representing a phenomenon which remains embedded in the political fabric of American Exceptionalism.
Whew, very relieved by how this turned out. Was fuming all day. Yves and Lambert don’t need more crap.
I wonder why, of all the millions of places on the net, that NC got picked again? Are the journalists simply taking stuff from that propornot list, because it’s ready/available?
Yours is the best site on the webb, so thank you for making so public the fact that you’re being made a target, as I consider it proof that it’s a propaganda war, the other sign being the name of the witch hunt. Propagandists always uses nonsense phrases that make no sense, like War on Terror. Likewise with “Fake news”: if it’s fake, it’s not news, because news can’t be classified as fake or real, either it’s news or it’s not. They really mean unsubstantiated information, and there is nothing wrong with a site publishing unsubstantiated information in a competitive environment, as discerning readers would soon enough desert and look elsewhere for accurate reporting. That’s why I never read the NYT’s anymore. For the Saker good reporting everywhere, keep up your good work.
“What they’re trying to do with radio, with this, uh, McCarran-Walter Act [1952 law preventing foreign leftists from receiving visas into the US] and a lot of other ways, is start by saying that they’re protecting the public from wicked rock bands, or girlie magazines, or whatever. But, if you follow the chain of dominoes that falls down, what they’re really trying to do is shut off our access to information itself. If they can’t do it by law they know there’s other ways to do it.” — Jello Biafra
I am *amazed* they are going after NC like this. Your site is a million miles from the alt-right nut press that is ostensibly the target of the “great and the good”.
You must have your finger on the pulse, frankly.
We should acknowledge that it is not just the reporting that they’re targeting, it’s also this comment section. They want to shut down this reasoned conversation, so rare on the internet. So it’s a two-fer.
That is really chilling and makes me wonder what they have in mind (resource domination) for after they shut down dissent. This is part of a big plan.
If one was to get conspiratorial, they probably already have shut down a certain amount of intelligent commentary. I’m sure there are many people on the internet who might contribute a lot to the conversation who don’t dare after Snowden’s info about the NSA capturing everything was released.
We are basically all living out 1984 right now, it seems about maybe 2-3% of the population (and news media) has any kind of education or awareness of what’s actually going on here, and are being culled from the herd. It is quite horrifying to witness I must say, I often look around into a sea of ignorance and all you can really do is laugh at the silliness of it all.
My new T-shirt logo;
To MSM (like WAPO &NYT++)
SAVE ME from THINKING too HARD!
Support alt media/blogs like NC for the REAL news!
Wo – they took it down. Smells like integrity. Maybe Santa will bring some to Bezos.
Just did a search for Counterpunch using Google on Firefox … and up came the site, its Wikipedia entry, etc. Maybe Google has corrected itself?
I think it’s simply a case of the legacy media feeling butt hurt that alternative sites like NC are gaining such traction at a time when the dinosaurs are hemorrhaging viewers and losing influence
request for new fund raising item..chief queen bee marketing agent…75 grand target…this whole “fake news” thingee (sadly from the prospective of my useless mind) is about the slipstream moment for nc…
the googolmonster and fartbook eat up 65% of the mainline advertising revenue…constantly meeting with mad avenue to tell them the dinosaur media is dead and give us the rest of your money…
the brightfart trump victory has thrown the algo theories out the window…or actually the internet ad sausage machine story out the window…
without any real work being put in (not trying to make it sound as a suggestion of non appreciation or lack of capacity) the NC monster is on some corporate ad databases a top 50 thousand global website trending up towards what I think is some magic, top 20 thousand ranking…which would (based on my puny understanding of advertising algos) start a funnel of cash flowing from evil corporate types from their internet sausage money eyeballs machine.
Thus the need to create this false narrative of “fake news” capitalism filtering to prevent the money flowing to websites which would have the capacity to use the automatic internet sausage money to help reduce the corporate bernaze sause…
so…
my suggestion that a chunk of money be dedicated to take that evil internet sausage money by having a chief branding agent in place for the queen bee and nc…
Is this video vile? Yes! Was it deliberate? Absolutely! I am guessing here that this was deliberately set up so as to draw fire from the NC site so that they might waste time, money and resources from what is the real target – the Washington Post’s defamation case.
Just get some Richard Cranium to put out a spoof video on the TV on the other side of the country, wait till you get caught and then say sorry about that, our mistake. Same way the Pentagon says sorry when they bomb some hospital whose exact coordinates they have had for years and then says sorry, but we’re still good, right?
This is a war now for censorship in the west and the first fights are being fought. Twitter, Facebook and Google feeds have already been caught censoring sites and if it keeps up, we may end up with a situation where the only news feeds that most people will be able to access will consist of the Washington Post, the New York Times and their ilk. Blechhh!!!
I really think that Yves should give some thought down the track on what would happen if mobs like PayPal, Western Union, Master & Visa dropped her the same way that they dropped Wikileaks. It’s a dirty trick so you would have to expect it and make preparations accordingly.
On the bright side, just maybe your Trump will be President and as payback, goes Godzilla all over the media and the CIA as payback to what they tried to do to him. He strikes me as a bloke with a long memory for things like that.