We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here's What We Learned

npr.org ^ | 11/23/2016 | Laura Sydell

[dirtboy]

[snip]

Coler is a soft-spoken 40-year-old with a wife and two kids. He says he got into fake news around 2013 to highlight the extremism of the white nationalist alt-right.

"The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right, publish blatantly or fictional stories and then be able to publicly denounce those stories and point out the fact that they were fiction," Coler says.

[snip]

When did you notice that fake news does best with Trump supporters?

Well, this isn't just a Trump-supporter problem. This is a right-wing issue. Sarah Palin's famous blasting of the lamestream media is kind of record and testament to the rise of these kinds of people. The post-fact era is what I would refer to it as. This isn't something that started with Trump. This is something that's been in the works for a while. His whole campaign was this thing of discrediting mainstream media sources, which is one of those dog whistles to his supporters. When we were coming up with headlines it's always kind of about the red meat. Trump really got into the red meat. He knew who his base was. He knew how to feed them a constant diet of this red meat.

We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.

[bigbob]

Pisses me off that we let THEM define “fake news” when the term originated around the Rather fake-memo about GWB and we’ve been talking about fake news and fake polls and all the other fake nonsense (like how Trump didn’t disavow KKK quickly enough to suit them, etc. for years.

The FAKE NEWS is on the left, liberal and MSM sites. Let’s start branding them as “alt left” and make them walk it back.

[Resettozero]

Libs get really PO’d when you tell them they could have sold the rights to Barney and made enough profit to never need public funding. They have no response to the concept of getting off the taxpayer dime.

Completely agree. Is there ever going to be a better time than now to make wholesale changes in NPR/PBS personnel and purpose?

[Drango]

false flag agent.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

The “baby” isn’t American. It doesn’t have our values and never will as long as it suckles at the teat of Government.

I can’t imagine any use for these “ facilities” and I frankly don’t want to even continue to pay for their upkeep.

If you work in them, then now is the time for you to get to go find a free-market job and learn what paying taxes is, so that you can join me in seeing the worthlessness of this expenditure.

[dirtboy]

Speaking of NPR and Dan Rather:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32256_NPR_Rewrites_Rathergate_History_to_Cover_Up_Fraud

[so_real]

This "fake news" horsepucky is a ploy by the left to retain control over their zombies. They don't want their loyal and useful idiots to ever do their own research and learn the truth. They want mindless followers. By discrediting Internet news, they hope to keep their ilk absorbed by mainstream media news. We won a battle during the election, but the war is still on. And if they succeed in shoring up the brainwashed lefties, it may get bloody.

[justlurking]

I remember that particular article from the "Denver Guardian". It was posted on Free Republic, and was quickly identified as fake.

Unfortunately, moderators pulled the article -- rather than identifying it as a hoax. So, it was posted again and again, and deleted again and again. I think I personally reported at least three versions of it.

It also mentions NationalReport.net. That site has a disclaimer:

National Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within National Report are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental. Advice given is NOT to be construed as professional. If you are in need of professional help, please consult a professional. National Report is not intended for children under the age of 18.

This is the site that posted an article in which Yoko Ono claimed to have an affair with Hillary Clinton at some point in the past. It was identified as fake, and again it was pulled -- multiple times.

But months later, people were still posting comments about how they weren't surprised about something Hillary said or did, since she had an affair with Yoko. The funny thing is how people would get indignant when I pointed out they were citing a fake news article.

My point: There are many people at Free Republic that fall for this fake news.

Don't be one of them.

[Awgie]

EXTRA! EXTRA! FAKE NEWS! GET YER FAKE NEWS RIGHT HERE! READ ALL ABOUT IT! FAKE NEWS IS ONLY FAKE WHEN IT ATTACKS LIBERALS! LIBERALS NEVER LIE! READ ALL ABOUT IT! FAKE NEWS! GET YER FAKE NEWS! OBAMA GOOD! TRUMP EVIL! FAKE NEWS! HOT OFF THE PRESSES!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKi418k83no

[KYGrandma]

I have Norton for the business computers. I just notice yesterday a pop-up from Norton telling me that a website was known to be a fake news site- Facebook. Must be something new for them.

[Resettozero]

The “baby” isn’t American. It doesn’t have our values and never will as long as it suckles at the teat of Government.

Our opinions differ on this.

I can’t imagine any use for these “ facilities” and I frankly don’t want to even continue to pay for their upkeep.

I can. And neither do I want to continue funding these monstrosities as they now exist without major modifications.

If you work in them, then now is the time for you to get to go find a free-market job and learn what paying taxes is, so that you can join me in seeing the worthlessness of this expenditure.

I don't, and haven't, but am qualified to help towards a complete house-cleansing of these sluggish and ratty varmints.

[Lent]

We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out Because libs already have NY Times,CNN,WaPost, etc.etc.why would they need anything else.

[mountn man]

The only good liberal friend is an ex liberal friend.

Well if he/she cant be an ex liberal
the next best thing is a liberal ex friend
( I have one of those...my life is a lot more peaceful, less angry and less depressing)
(amazing the amount of anger and depression liberals carry with them and spew at others)

[King Moonracer]

I’m beginning to feel that way about family. We have smug doctors who look down upon everyone else as non-scientific, and too stupid to know any better. Effm, they’re too stupid to realize they’ve been indoctrinated.

[Yardstick]

Coler says he’s tried generating fake news for liberals but found that liberals just can’t be suckered. Betcha he didn’t try very hard though. He’s a big liberal and a registered Democrat so naturally his heart wouldn’t be in suckering his fellow comrades.

NPR of course likes this story because it confirms their bias that conservatives are a bunch of unsophisticated rubes who will believe anything. They probably see this Coler guy as a kind of hero because he took that premise and put it into action and made money with it.

I’m sure it could work in the other direction as well, but my impression is that these maliciously fake news sites are mainly an industry of the left. I just think that this kind of snide deceptiveness, or at least the willingness to go to such lengths to act on it, is more typical of liberals than of conservatives.

[glock rocks]

Defund NPR. Because I’m white. Feel the suck.

[justlurking]

An interesting comment from the interview:

We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.

This is what happens at Free Republic. The problem is that the usual response is to delete the posting altogether, rather than identifying it as a HOAX and leaving it on the site for people to find with a title search. So, it gets posted over and over.

Jim, I've added you to the distribution to ask: can you change the moderation policy to edit the title on these hoax/fake articles to identify them as false, rather than deleting them altogether?

I posted a longer comment in #47, explaining my experience with fake news that is reposted over and over, and how some people "remember" fake news because they never learn it was identified as fake.

I think it might also be worthwhile to look at the posting history of people that post fake articles. Consider this quote from the article:

Then, we had our social media guys kind of go out and do a little dropping it throughout Trump groups and Trump forums and boy it spread like wildfire.

This guy is admitting to seeding fake news. If the same Free Republic user is posting fake news repeatedly, it may be a "troll" account. A warning may be appropriate, followed by a ban if he persists.

[Hostage]

> “ His whole campaign was this thing of discrediting mainstream media sources, which is one of those dog whistles to his supporters.”

Here’s my fake response:

1) Donna Brazile never fed Hillary questions and answers for a debate.
2) Vote Fraud doesn’t exist.
3) Megyn Vagina is a fair moderator.
4) Patty Murray is the smartest duck in the room.

Any questions?

[bankwalker]

I prefer ctrl left because they are such rabid control freaks.

[FreeAtlanta]

Ctrl-left makes sense. Good. Lets use it.

[Gargantua]

"...Liberals are like crotch crickets... so great when you get rid of them."

You sound as though you speak from experience...?

LOL