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The Raw Story

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The Raw Story
Raw Story logo.png
Raw Story website, July 2021.png
Homepage in July 2021
Type of site
News
Available inEnglish
Founded2004; 17 years ago (2004)
OwnerRaw Story Media, Inc., John K. Byrne, Michael Rogers
Created byJohn K. Byrne
EditorRoxanne Cooper
URLwww.rawstory.com
CommercialYes

The Raw Story (also stylized as RawStory[1]) is an American progressive news website and online tabloid[2] founded in 2004 by John K. Byrne.[3][4] The Raw Story describes itself as bringing attention to stories they see as downplayed or ignored by other media outlets.[3]

The Raw Story is a hyperpartisan outlet.[5][6][7][8][9] The Columbia Journalism Review classifies The Raw Story as a clickbait website.[10] A 2018 report by the Oxford Internet Institute identified The Raw Story as one of the "Top 30 Junk News Sources on Twitter."[11][12][13]

History

The Raw Story was founded in January/February 2004 by John K. Byrne.[14] In a 2007 interview with Mother Jones, Byrne stated that in his view, the most overhyped technology was "The campaign chats and these controlled Washington Post discussions – anything where there is a layer of editors between the person asking the question and the person answering it", adding: "Whenever they have someone go on a Washington Post chat, you're getting a very filtered version of what the questions were."[15]

On August 4, 2008, the Online News Association announced that The Raw Story was a finalist in the 2008 Online Journalism awards in the "Investigative, Small Site" category for the article "The permanent Republican majority", which was about improper partisan influence in the prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama.[16][17]

Raw Story anniversary logo, 2014

An August 2017 study by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society found that between May 1, 2015, and November 7, 2016, The Raw Story was the fourth and fifth most popular left-wing news source on Twitter and Facebook, respectively. The study also found that The Raw Story was the 9th most shared media source on Twitter by Hillary Clinton supporters during the 2016 United States presidential election.[18] During the election, The Raw Story was heavily shared by Twitter accounts operated by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm known for spreading fake news online.[19]

In 2017, The Raw Story was accepted as a member of the Association of Alternative News Media.[20]

In April 2018, Raw Story partners John K. Byrne and Michael Rogers announced that they had acquired AlterNet via a newly created company, AlterNet Media.[3][21]

Content

The Raw Story is an alternative news site[22][23] and mostly aggregates stories from around the web.[24] A study published by the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society classified The Raw Story as a "junk news" website,[25] while a 2018 report by the Oxford Internet Institute identified The Raw Story as one of the "Top 30 Junk News Sources on Twitter."[11] In 2016, DoubleVerify, an ad verification company, included The Raw Story in its "Inflammatory Politics & News" category. Advertisers would have the ability to block ads on websites appearing in the category.[26][27] Journalist Michael Moynihan has referred to The Raw Story as a "conspiracy-friendly" website.[28]

In 2005, the site was described by Newsweek as: "Muck, raked: If you're looking for alleged GOP malfeasance, the folks at rawstory.com are frequently scooping the mainstream media."[29] In 2014, then-executive editor Tony Ortega described The Raw Story's editorial mission as trying to "expose" people "who try to exploit American ideas about fair play and equality by rigging things through their immense wealth or their discriminatory cultural myopia."[30]

In November 2008, The Raw Story reported that the United Mine Workers of America, which had endorsed Barack Obama's presidential campaign, had come to Obama's defense after John McCain's presidential campaign criticized him for a comment he had made about coal to the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle earlier that January.[31] Environmental journalist Andrew Revkin cited the article by The Raw Story in a post he wrote for The New York Times' Dot Earth blog, and Curtis Brainard, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review, described the article as "well-done".[32]

In 2012, then-executive editor Megan Carpentier wrote about undergoing the controversial transvaginal ultrasound procedure.[33][34]

In 2014, Jennifer Mascia published a column on gun violence after compiling records for The New York Times.[35]

In September 2016, The Raw Story published a satirical article claiming that the Surgeon General of the United States warned that "drinking every time Trump lied during the first presidential debate could result in 'acute alcohol poisoning.'" The fake story was aggregated by Occupy Democrats, US Uncut, and other outlets as real news.[36]

On February 15, 2021, The Raw Story reported that South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem had used a state airplane to travel to conservative political events.[37] The report led Democratic lawmakers to formally request that the state's attorney general investigate Noem.[38]

False claims

In November 2013, The Raw Story, citing a local news report, claimed that teenagers were playing the "knockout game" and sharing the videos online. There was almost no evidence to suggest that teenagers were uploading videos of the knockout game.[39]

In February 2015, during the Gamergate controversy, a Wikipedia article incorrectly stated that a Wikipedia arbitration case resulted in the banning of five feminist editors. This falsehood was initially reported by The Guardian and then by The Raw Story, which never issued a correction.[40]

In July 2015, Inquisitr falsely reported that Costco stopped selling dinosaur cakes after a mother complained that the cake contained the demonic symbol "666". The hoax was aggregated by The Raw Story and other news outlets.[41][42]

In January 2016, The Raw Story falsely reported that legislation introduced by Virginia lawmaker Mark Cole would require schools to "verify children’s [sic] genitals before using the restroom." The proposed legislation would require children to use the bathroom based on their "anatomical sex" but did not include any provisions on "genital checks."[43]

In February 2016, The Raw Story reported that Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly had lost custody of his children because he had physically abused their mother; the article was cited by Occupy Democrats later that May. Snopes determined that the Gawker article cited by The Raw Story had reported that O'Reilly had lost custody of his children, but did not suggest that O'Reilly had lost custody due to violent behavior.[44]

In July 2016, The Raw Story attributed a tweet to Donald Trump Jr. in their reporting, even though the tweet originated from a parody account. The Raw Story later issued a correction.[45]

In February 2017, The Raw Story reported that the White House had turned off the recorder for a phone call between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The claim originated from Ilan Berman, vice-president of the American Foreign Policy Council, who later stated his comment was an "aside" and "not intended to be a factual statement." The Raw Story changed the headline of the article and issued a correction.[46]

In October 2017, a fake news story spread that claimed that the chief deputy for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office was a white supremacist who wanted "to rape and kill a black man or a Jew." The false story was picked up by The Raw Story under the headline, "Top Florida law enforcement official plotted to abduct, rape and murder 'a black man or a Jew.'" Activist Tim Wise, who had shared the article by The Raw Story on Facebook, vowed to never share from The Raw Story again due to their failure to fact-check.[24][47]

In December 2017, The Raw Story published an article based on a CNN report which mistakenly stated that on September 4, 2016, Donald Trump Jr. had received a website and a decryption key to preview the emails from the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak before they were made public by WikiLeaks; the date was later corrected by CNN to September 14, 2016, which was after the emails had been reported on publicly. The Raw Story did not include the correction in its article.[48]

On February 19, 2018, The Raw Story published a report claiming that Russian trolls co-opting the Me Too movement had forced Minnesota senator Al Franken to resign, and that an article by writer Ijeoma Oluo had been used as part of the campaign.[49][50] Oluo told Snopes that her article had been published after Franken announced his resignation, adding: "I was hoping that the piece would give people context and help people grow from all of this into a better place."[49] The Raw Story later retracted its report.[50]

In April 2018, The Raw Story falsely reported that Fox News put up a graph showing that they were the least trusted news network compared to CNN and MSNBC; the three networks were actually being compared with Donald Trump as a trusted source of information. The falsehood was later shared by CNN commentator Chris Cuomo.[51][52]

In November 2018, a college student faked being a Trump supporter and started a GoFundMe, claiming that her parents had cut her off financially. The Raw Story falsely reported that the student garnered $150,000 in donations, when the actual amount was only around $200.[53]

In October 2018, The Raw Story claimed that Meghan McCain, a co-host on The View, drew a comparison between bombs threats targeting Democrats and Republicans getting heckled at restaurants. A video of the episode showed that McCain did not directly compare the two.[54] McCain previously disputed The Raw Story's assertion that she "drank through" her father's cancer treatment (McCain is the daughter of the late senator John McCain).[55]

During the 2020 United States presidential election, The Raw Story published an article on November 4, 2020 which claimed that the United States Postal Service (USPS) had failed to deliver 27% of mail-in ballots in South Florida. PolitiFact determined that the figure was based on a misreading of Postal Service data, and the USPS stated that it had skipped some steps to get ballots to election offices faster.[56][57]

The Raw Story spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.[58]

Staff

According to the site's masthead, the editor and publisher of the site is Roxanne Cooper as of June 2021. Other editors include managing editor Eric W. Dolan and senior editors David Edwards, Travis Gettys, Sarah Burris, Bob Brigham,Tom Boggioni,[59] and political reporter Sahil Kapur.[60][61] Editorial staff are members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.[62]

Notable former editorial staff include The New York Times reporter Michael Roston[63] and former Village Voice Executive Editor Tony Ortega.[64]

See also

References

  1. ^ HTML <title> tag on homepage as at December 10, 2016: http://rawstory.com
  2. ^ Dapcevich, Madison (July 16, 2020). "Did Missouri Schools Require Parents Sign COVID-19 'Death' Waivers?". Snopes. Retrieved June 24, 2021. The focus on the word "death" came from an article published by online tabloid Raw Story
  3. ^ a b c O'Reilly, Lara (April 10, 2018). "CMO Today: Zuckerberg's Congress Hearing; P&G to Build Cross-Holding Company Creative Agency; Movie Theaters Go Upmarket". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  4. ^ Grinapo, Corinne (July 21, 2017). "Raw Story Joins the Washington-Baltimore News Guild as Management Voluntarily Recognizes Its Union". Ad Week. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  5. ^ Benkler, Yochai; Faris, Robert; Roberts, Hal (October 18, 2018). "The Architecture of Our Discontent". Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 72. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190923624.003.0002. ISBN 978-0-19-092362-4.
  6. ^ Pennycook, Gordon; Rand, David G. (February 12, 2019). "Fighting misinformation on social media using crowdsourced judgments of news source quality" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (7): 2521–2526. doi:10.1073/pnas.1806781116. PMC 6377495. PMID 30692252. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 3, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  7. ^ Alba, Davey (February 14, 2017). "The Best Way to Quash Fake News? Choke Off Its Ad Money". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  8. ^ Dias, Nicholas; Pennycook, Gordon; Rand, David G. (January 14, 2020). "Emphasizing publishers does not effectively reduce susceptibility to misinformation on social media". Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. 1 (1). doi:10.37016/mr-2020-001. S2CID 214290315.
  9. ^ Xu, Weiai Wayne; Sang, Yoonmo; Kim, Christopher (April 20, 2020). "What Drives Hyper-Partisan News Sharing: Exploring the Role of Source, Style, and Content". Digital Journalism. 8 (4): 486–505. doi:10.1080/21670811.2020.1761264. ISSN 2167-0811. S2CID 219764736.
  10. ^ "CJR index of fake-news, clickbait, and hate sites". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Nahema, Marchal; Neudert, Lisa-Maria; Kollanyi, Bence; Howard, Phillip N. (November 1, 2018). "Polarization, Partisanship and Junk News Consumption on Social Media During the 2018 US Midterm Elections" (PDF). Programme on Democracy and Technology. Oxford Internet Institute. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  12. ^ Owen, Laura Hazard (November 9, 2018). "Facebook Groups are "the greatest short-term threat to election news and information integrity"". Nieman Lab. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  13. ^ Kuchler, Hannah; Blood, David (October 31, 2018). "'Junk news' still rising, study finds, as US midterms near". Financial Times. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  14. ^ "About Us & Masthead". The Raw Story. Archived from the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  15. ^ "Interview with John Byrne: Editor and Founder of Rawstory.com". Mother Jones. June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  16. ^ Alexandrovna, Larisa; Kane, Muriel (November 18, 2002). "The permanent Republican majority". The Raw Story. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  17. ^ "2008 Online Journalism Awards – Finalists". Online News Association. August 4, 2008. Archived from the original on June 27, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  18. ^ Faris, Robert M.; Roberts, Hal; Etling, Bruce; Bourassa, Nikki; Zuckerman, Ethan; Benkler, Yochai (August 16, 2017). "Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election". Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Harvard Library. ISSN 3375-9251. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  19. ^ L. Yin, F. Roscher, R. Bonneau, J. Nagler, J. A. Tucker, “Your friendly neighborhood troll: The Internet Research Agency’s use of local and fake news in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign” (SMaPP Data Report, Social Media and Political Participation Lab, New York University, 2018)
  20. ^ ago, Raw Story Raw Story Website: https://www rawstory com/ Categories: Member Publication Updated 2 years. "Raw Story » AAN Publications • Association of Alternative Newsmedia". Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  21. ^ Byrne, John (April 9, 2018). "It's a new day for AlterNet". AlterNet. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  22. ^ Jr, Tom Zeller (January 4, 2007). "CNN Steps Into Osama/Obama Bramble; Blogs Document It". The New York Times. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  23. ^ Szlezák, Klara Stephanie; Bender, Melissa M. (September 25, 2019). Contested Commemoration in U.S. History: Diverging Public Interpretations. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-70222-4.
  24. ^ a b Mower, Lawrence (November 18, 2017). "Story labeling PBSO chief deputy as racist is fake news". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  25. ^ Bradshaw, Samantha (December 31, 2019). "Disinformation optimised: gaming search engine algorithms to amplify junk news". Internet Policy Review. Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. 8 (4). doi:10.14763/2019.4.1442. hdl:10419/214101. ISSN 2197-6775. S2CID 213329261.
  26. ^ Maheshwari, Sapna (December 2, 2016). "Ads Show Up on Breitbart and Brands Blame Technology". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  27. ^ Alba, Davey (December 15, 2016). "Fake News Will Go Away if the Tech Behind the Ads Won't Pay". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  28. ^ Moynihan, Michael (July 17, 2009). "The Assassins Debate". Reason. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  29. ^ "BlogWatch". Newsweek. March 21, 2005.
  30. ^ "The 60-Second Interview: Tony Ortega, Executive Editor, The Raw Story". Politico. March 4, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  31. ^ Juliano, Nick (November 3, 2008). "Miners' union: McCain camp 'twisting the truth' on Obama, coal". The Raw Story. Archived from the original on November 6, 2008. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  32. ^ Brainard, Curtis (November 4, 2008). "Coal's Curtain Call". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  33. ^ Lowder, J. Bryan (April 18, 2012). "Transvaginal Ultrasounds: Megan Carpentier Reports". Slate Magazine. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  34. ^ "Transvaginal Ultrasound: A Patient's Perspective". Rewire News Group. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  35. ^ "Must-reads of the week". Columbia Journalism Review. July 18, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  36. ^ Silverman, Craig (October 20, 2016). "Hyperpartisan Facebook Pages Are Publishing False And Misleading Information At An Alarming Rate". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  37. ^ "Exclusive: GOP governor Kristi Noem, potential Trump successor, used state aircraft for tens of thousands of dollars in political travel". Raw Story - Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism. February 15, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  38. ^ Groves, Stephen. "Democratic lawmaker asks attorney general to investigate Gov. Noem's plane use". Argus Leader. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  39. ^ Broderick, Ryan (November 19, 2013). "There Is No Evidence Online That Teenagers Are Actually Playing The "Deadly Knockout Game"". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  40. ^ Auerbach, David (February 5, 2015). "Wikipedia Chews Up and Spits Out Bad Facts, and Its Own Policies Are Letting It Happen". Slate Magazine. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  41. ^ LaCapria, Kim (July 20, 2015). "Costco "Demonic" Dinosaur Cake Hoax". Snopes. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  42. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (July 24, 2015). "What was fake on the Internet this week: mutant daisies, Nazi minions and demonic birthday cakes". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  43. ^ LaCapria, Kim (January 13, 2016). "Virginia GOP Bill Would Require Schools to Verify Children's Genitals Before Using the Restroom?". Snopes. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  44. ^ LaCapria, Kim (May 11, 2016). "Bill O'Reilly Loses Custody Battle Due to Domestic Violence?". Snopes. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  45. ^ Notopoulos, Katie (July 18, 2016). "This Fake Donald Trump Jr. Twitter Account Is Tricking People". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  46. ^ Silverman, Craig (February 6, 2017). "How Liberal Websites Pushed A Dubious Claim That Trump "Turned Off" The Recorder For His Call With Putin". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  47. ^ Poulsen, Kevin (January 12, 2018). "The Saga of 'BadVolf': A Fugitive American Cop, His Russian Allies, and a DNC Hoax". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
  48. ^ Benkler, Yochai; Faris, Robert; Roberts, Hal (2018). "Mainstream Media Failure Modes and Self-Healing in a Propaganda-Rich Environment". Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190923624.003.0006. ISBN 978-0-19-092366-2.
  49. ^ a b Palma, Bethania (February 20, 2018). "Did 'Bots' Force Al Franken to Resign?". Snopes. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  50. ^ a b Ingram, Matthew (February 21, 2018). "The media today: Are Russian trolls behind everything?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  51. ^ Wong, Herman (April 9, 2018). "Fox News host slams incorrect reports saying graphic showed network is least trusted". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  52. ^ Valverde, Miriam (April 13, 2018). "PolitiFact - No, Fox News did not put up graphic showing it was the least trusted network". Politifact. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
  53. ^ Chen, Tana (November 5, 2018). "A College Student Faked A Sob Story About Being A MAGA Supporter. People Then Donated To Her Cause". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 27, 2021. Quran told New York magazine she's given back the money donated to her, which she estimated to be around $200. (Raw Story wrongly reported off of rumors spreading on Twitter that her campaign had raised $150,000.)
  54. ^ Leingang, Rachel (October 24, 2018). "Meghan McCain tells off outlet that said she compared bomb threats to restaurant heckling". USA Today. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  55. ^ Lejeune, Tristan (October 9, 2018). "Meghan McCain explodes on air after website says she drank through dad's cancer: 'Screw you!'". The Hill. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  56. ^ Greenberg, Jon (November 5, 2020). "Claim that postal service failed to deliver 27% of mail-in ballots in South Florida is 100% wrong". PolitiFact. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  57. ^ Sadeghi, McKenzie (November 17, 2020). "Fact check: False claim that 27% of mail-in ballots in South Florida not delivered". USA Today. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  58. ^ Cheng, Mingxi; Yin, Chenzhong; Nazarian, Shahin; Bogdan, Paul (May 17, 2021). "Deciphering the laws of social network-transcendent COVID-19 misinformation dynamics and implications for combating misinformation phenomena". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 10424. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-89202-7. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8128875. PMID 34001937.
  59. ^ "Masthead". Raw Story. September 15, 2010. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  60. ^ "Sahil Kapur". The Guardian. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  61. ^ Carney, John (December 2, 2010). "Bank of America's Risky WikiLeaks Strategy". CNBC. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  62. ^ GrinapolJuly 21, Corinne; 2017. "Raw Story Joins the Washington-Baltimore News Guild as Management Voluntarily Recognizes Its Union". Retrieved August 3, 2021.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  63. ^ Staff, Capital. "The 60-second interview: Michael Roston, senior staff editor, social media, The New York Times". POLITICO Media. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  64. ^ HorganOctober 31, Richard; 2013. "Former Village Voice EIC Tony Ortega Joins Raw Story". Retrieved August 5, 2021.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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