Fake right-wing websites are appropriating 'credibility'

(Image credit: iStock.)

published 14 February 2018

When the Arizona Monitor endorsed Republican Senate candidate Kelli Ward last fall, her campaign quickly touted the news on Facebook. Only, there was one problem: The Arizona Monitor isn't a real publication. It is an "anonymous, pro-Ward blog" that "launched just a few weeks before publishing the endorsement, and its domain registration is hidden, masking the identity of its owner," Politico reports.

In other words, the Arizona Monitor is the very definition of fake news.

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The Arizona Monitor seems to be part of a growing trend of conservative political-messaging sites with names that mimic those of mainstream news organizations and whose favored candidates then tout their stories and endorsements as if they were from independent journalists. It's a phenomenon that spans the country from northern New England, where the anonymous Maine Examiner wreaked havoc on a recent mayoral election, all the way out to California, where Rep. Devin Nunes launched — as reported by Politico — his own so-called news outlet, the California Republican. [Politico]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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