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Spate of Mock News Sites With Russian Ties Pop Up in U.S.
The New York Times ^ | March 7, 2024 | Steven Lee Myers

Posted on 03/08/2024 5:21:13 AM PST by Timber Rattler

Into the depleted field of journalism in America, a handful of websites have appeared in recent weeks with names suggesting a focus on news close to home: D.C. Weekly, the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle and a newer sister publication, the Miami Chronicle.

In fact, they are not local news organizations at all. They are Russian creations, researchers and government officials say, meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it among an at-times odd mix of stories about crime, politics and culture.

While Russia has long sought ways to influence public discourse in the United States, the fake news organizations — at least five, so far — represent a technological leap in its efforts to find new platforms to dupe unsuspecting American readers. The sites, the researchers and officials said, could well be the foundations of an online network primed to surface disinformation ahead of the American presidential election in November.

Patrick Warren, a co-director at Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, which has exposed furtive Russian disinformation efforts, said advances in artificial intelligence and other digital tools had “made this even easier to do and to make the content that they do even more targeted.”

The Miami Chronicle’s website first appeared on Feb. 26. Its tagline falsely claims to have delivered “the Florida News since 1937.”

Amid some true reports, the site published a story last week about a “leaked audio recording” of Victoria Nuland, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, discussing a shift in American support for Russia’s beleaguered opposition after the death of the Russian dissident Aleksei A. Navalny. The recording is a crude fake, according to administration officials who would speak only anonymously to discuss intelligence matters.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia; Ukraine
KEYWORDS: cia; cianews; fake; fakenews; kremlin; navalny; newjerktimes; news; newsfromrussia; nytimesfakenews; nytimespropaganda; operationmockingbird; patrickwarren; potmeetkettle; propaganda; psychomaximus; putin; russia; russianpropaganda; russiarussiarussia; snekmaximus; stevenleemyers; theputin; therussia; theusualcrewshowsup; ukraine
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To: Timber Rattler

Fake “Russian” News from the Miami Chronicle:
Zelensky and Mitsotakis Mark Attack That Killed Odesa Children
March 6, 2024
https://miamichroniclenews.com/2024/03/06/zelensky-and-mitsotakis-mark-attack-that-killed-odesa-children/


21 posted on 03/08/2024 5:56:19 AM PST by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: Timber Rattler

Now you clowns are pushing Russian collusion again? They did this in 2015 and 2019. To us and now you creeps. Wastes of space.


22 posted on 03/08/2024 6:01:39 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.)
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To: Timber Rattler

The D.C. Weekly
https://comixnow.com/category/dc-weekly/


23 posted on 03/08/2024 6:03:06 AM PST by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: Timber Rattler

The New York News Daily - does not exist.


24 posted on 03/08/2024 6:07:24 AM PST by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: Timber Rattler

The D.C. Weekly - Comics.
The New York News Daily - does not exist.
The Chicago Chronicle - only existed many years ago.
The Miami Chronicle - weird Pro-Ukrainian site.

So, there you go. Fake News.


25 posted on 03/08/2024 6:10:38 AM PST by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: BobL

Intelligence agencies plant an article saying all media they don’t control is RUZZIAN!!!

Zeepers lap it up like the sic pups they have become.


26 posted on 03/08/2024 6:11:53 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: Timber Rattler

Sod off Glowie troll.

“Govt. Officials” were and are behind the witch hunts against Trump while defending the Biden crime familt.


27 posted on 03/08/2024 6:29:34 AM PST by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Timber Rattler
Lol...imagine using the NYT as a source for a story about fake news.

Is that you Brian Stelter?

28 posted on 03/08/2024 6:32:49 AM PST by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: Timber Rattler

You forgot...
New York Times
Washington Post
UP
People Magazine
Etc.....


29 posted on 03/08/2024 6:37:27 AM PST by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: Timber Rattler

What matters is not their location or ownership but whether they are reporting the truth. (Frankly, known dictator Putin is more believable than dictator wannabe Biden.) And are these Russian sources any less believable than the domestic news sites controlled by leftist one-worlders?


30 posted on 03/08/2024 6:39:08 AM PST by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: Timber Rattler

Can’t be any better than the CIA talking points diet they got us on now.


31 posted on 03/08/2024 6:44:42 AM PST by Manic_Episode (A government of the government, by the government, for the government)
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To: Timber Rattler

Sounds like the propaganda outlets, the NY Times, Washington Post, Newsweek and all the other bullshit that’s posted here daily.


32 posted on 03/08/2024 6:45:04 AM PST by Rdct29 (The Democrats Are The New Nazi Party )
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To: BobL

To liberals, any news they disagree with must be from the Russians.


33 posted on 03/08/2024 6:46:27 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

To liberals, any news they disagree with must be from the Russians.
**********
And they could care less if the source was controlled by China, Venezuela, Quatar, or Soros.


34 posted on 03/08/2024 6:56:18 AM PST by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: Timber Rattler

>Be on the lookout for these fake news sources and others on future posts and threads.<

The Enforcer
Joe Blogs
Denys Davydov


35 posted on 03/08/2024 7:43:09 AM PST by bimboeruption (“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRob 12-2-2023)
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To: Flavious_Maximus
--- "the filthiest discredited Mock News site in the world" (NYT)

One finds by the original poster: "Be on the lookout for the fake outlets mentioned in this story:"

1 - The D.C. Weekly
2 - The New York News Daily
3 - The Chicago Chronicle
4 - The Miami Chronicle.

So.... a "lookout" by looking behind the curtains....

1 - D.C. Weekly

whois query ofr DC Weekly
Domain: dcweekly.org
Registrar: Tucows Domains Inc.
Registered On: 2021-04-23
Registrant Contact Organization: 1337 Services LLC
State: Charlestown
Country: KN
( St. Kitts & Nevis, West Indies )

One notes that DC Weekly is a WordPress created website, and is incomplete, suggesting the webmaster hasn't even noticed: "Arutrum eu, convallis sit amet lacus. Duis enim velit, congue a semper a, hendrerit eget orci." Filler provided by the original template.

Source: "Contact" In fact the whole last column under "Legalese" is broken links. All for appearance, but with huge HTML mistakes.

2 - "The New York News Daily"
There is no "New York News Daily."

There is a "New York Daily News," but that is a long running newspaper, and a direct competitor to the NYTimes, in the NY area. whois query for nydailynews.com

Domain: nydailynews.com
Registrar: GoDaddy Corporate Domains, LLC
Registered On: 1995-03-27
Domain Administrator Organization: Tribune Publishing Company, LLC
Street: 560 W Grand Avenue
City: Chicago
State: IL

3 - Chicago Chronicle
whois query for Chicago Chronicle
Domain: chicagochronicle.com
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registered On: 2002-09-12
Registration Private Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Street: DomainsByProxy.com 2155 E Warner Rd
City: Tempe
State: Arizona

Publisher: Midwest Radio Network
Level 2, 111 Harrington Street
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
www.midwestradionetwork.com

More: "Chicago Chronicle was conceived in September 2002 to provide up-to-the minute local news, together with national and international headlines as part of a global network pooling resources to deliver a quality service to member portals. Each online publication has been modelled on a newspaper format for familiar readability by users. The locations forming part of the network were selected on the basis of demand for news for that location. Chicago Chronicle, effectively an online newspaper, provides coverage of the city, and metro area. International news, business and finance stories are common across the network of sites, and are drawn from a number of sources including original in-house journalists and wire services.

"Chicago Chronicle and the other sites are administered by Midwest Radio Network.

"Associated sites include: Indianapolis Post | Kansas City Post | Milwaukee Sun | New York Telegraph | Cleveland Star | St Louis Star | The US News | Cincinnati Sun"

Source: About Chicago Chronicle

So AUSTRALIAN....

4 - Miami Chronicle -- website: miamichron.com
whois query for miamichron.com Domain: miamichron.com
Registrar: LiquidNet Ltd.
Registered On: 2024-02-26
Registrant Contact Name: Whois Agent LiquidNet US LLC
Organization: miamichron.com
Street: C/O miamichron.com
1500 N. University Drive, suite 115
City: Coral Springs
State: FL

Also humorously, the website builder for this utterly NEW site forgot to take the "Latin filler" out of their template. So in part one reads: "Arutrum eu, convallis sit amet lacus. Duis enim velit, congue a semper a, hendrerit eget orci." Source: About It is another WordPress template, quite akin to the DC Weekly, as above. The web builder screwed up. Probably didn't think someone would look that far into the site.

And their stated address is a rental "Executive Suites" location. One can rent an "office" 120 sp. ft. for $50 a year "per square foot." (Source, if you wish it.)

Alas, the NYTimes -- first source for this thread -- is historically tainted. One reads:
"In the 1930s, as now, an autocrat's decrees led to mass deaths of Ukrainian civilians and relied on misinformation to try to cover it up. Reporters, including Duranty, were censored and threatened. (A U.S. diplomat once wrote that Duranty told him his reports had to reflect "the official opinion of the Soviet regime.") Yet in a time before social media and the internet, foreign journalists were among the only ones who could get news out to the rest of the world.

"Duranty was The New York Times' man in Moscow, as the line went, with a cushy apartment in which to entertain expatriates and a reputation as a leading authority on the Soviet Union. Duranty had staked his name on the idea that Josef Stalin was the strong leader the communist country needed. He is often credited with coining the term 'Stalinism'."

'The New York Times' can't shake the cloud over a 90-year-old Pulitzer Prize NPR, May 8, 2022

How ‘The New York Times’ Helped Hide Stalin’s Mass Murders in Ukraine Tablet, 23 October 2020

And one might recall that the NYTimes promoted the 1619 Project..... Or as a prominent critic called it "junk history" and "revisionist."

The 1619 Project

In this case, the thread began with posting apparent NYTimes "fake" sites in reporting, but the article itself is quasi-fake. It's an interesting game. Who's tainted by association? Who's pure? So many tainted on ALL sides, as one reads more closely.

What one does NOT find are any links to TASS or Kyiv Independent or European press of any sort. Be on the lookout....

36 posted on 03/08/2024 8:56:19 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Timber Rattler

Are you actually citing the NYT as a source for spotting propaganda and fake news?

You do realize what site you are posting on today?


37 posted on 03/08/2024 9:34:55 AM PST by FlyingEagle
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To: EEGator

That made me lol.


38 posted on 03/08/2024 9:48:37 AM PST by Leep (Kill ALL Fakestinians!)
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To: Timber Rattler

What Nookie Haley doink?


39 posted on 03/08/2024 9:59:07 AM PST by kiryandil (what Krynky doink?)
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To: EEGator
I’m on the lookout for Neocon trash that never post about domestic US issues

If he posted about domestic issues, he'd get kicked off the site for his diehard NeverTrump nevertrumpingness.

40 posted on 03/08/2024 10:02:14 AM PST by kiryandil (what Krynky doink?)
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