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KittyWampus

(55,894 posts)
6. About using The Examiner as a source:
Sat Aug 31, 2013, 01:06 PM
Aug 2013

Examiner.com is a multiuser blogging site that presents itself as a news site. Don't be fooled.
Examiner.com pays its writers based (among other things) on pageviews.[1] As a result, a lot of Examiner material tends to be sensationalistic to attract attention — positive or negative doesn't matter, it's all clicks. Headlines such as "U.S. to bomb moon on UFO witness John Lennon's birthday"[2] and "Official disclosure of extraterrestrial life is imminent"[3] are par for the course.
You will see enthusiastic Examiner bloggers linkspamming furiously on other sites, often touting their work as "media coverage" (and themselves as "journalists" or "the press"[4]) rather than just a blog post they themselves wrote. Not that it pays very well — Writers Weekly considers it "just another pay-per-click meat market,"[5][6] exploiting writers to attract people to their site by paying them pennies.
Cranks and those with really bad critical thinking skills will link Examiner articles as if they're edited journalism rather than just some guy blogging. If you use an Examiner page as a reference for anything whatsoever, treat it with great caution. Not all Examiners are rubbish, but it's the way to bet.
The domain name used to be owned by the San Francisco Examiner, a proper (if free and local) newspaper, which now uses sfexaminer.com. It's not clear what they were thinking when giving it up.
The Examiner runs print tabloid editions in several major cities, including Washington, D.C. Virtually all are freely distributed at mass transit stops and tend to run a local news or sports story as the main headline in an attempt to lure readers. The unlucky readers are bombarded with wingnut news articles and an editorial section which runs the full spectrum from moderate-right to far-right.

Why would that be "welcome news"? (And why quote The Examiner?) cthulu2016 Aug 2013 #1
I think use by rebels remains a possibility, but not this way... MNBrewer Aug 2013 #2
the Examiner is a rag. The fact you have to dig into garbage to find this is telling. KittyWampus Aug 2013 #3
Dale Gavlak is a credible reporter Maedhros Aug 2013 #36
Who is to be believed over there? TheCowsCameHome Aug 2013 #4
About using The Examiner as a source: KittyWampus Aug 2013 #6
What is the best strategy for dealing with these type of stories? Generic Other Aug 2013 #27
See my post #36. Maedhros Aug 2013 #37
About relying on US intell sources ... Ever hear of EVDebs Aug 2013 #38
One of many earlier threads > > lamp_shade Aug 2013 #5
sources, sources, sources. cali Aug 2013 #7
I interpreted "welcome news" as meaning an accident is better than deliberately using poison gas arcane1 Aug 2013 #13
The Examiner is not the source. JackRiddler Aug 2013 #23
About the examiner... lamp_shade Aug 2013 #8
The Examiner is not the source. JackRiddler Aug 2013 #24
The WND has been pushing the story for 5 days now. pnwmom Aug 2013 #44
Excellent! You found another site that IS NOT the source. JackRiddler Aug 2013 #49
I miss UNREC for total horseshit like this. n/t zappaman Aug 2013 #9
Who knows the truth? TexasProgresive Aug 2013 #10
The Dog Ate My Homework Defense otohara Aug 2013 #11
Snap! So it's back to the drawing board. 99th_Monkey Aug 2013 #12
consider the source before jumping on board cali Aug 2013 #14
The Examiner is not the source. JackRiddler Aug 2013 #25
There are other sources reporting on this 99th_Monkey Aug 2013 #26
Nope. Bernardo de La Paz Aug 2013 #33
The sources are not anonymous. JackRiddler Aug 2013 #50
This was posted yesterday and got locked as it was from a RW site. n/t pnwmom Aug 2013 #41
Without corroboration, the "Examiner" is not a valid source. MineralMan Aug 2013 #15
World Net Daily and Russia Times have been pushing this too. KittyWampus Aug 2013 #22
WND is the king of unreliable news. MineralMan Aug 2013 #28
I realize this is a doubtful source - but if it does turn out to be true - this is going to really Douglas Carpenter Aug 2013 #16
What about this reporter is unreliable? Coyotl Aug 2013 #39
I would like to see this reported reported in a credible news source Douglas Carpenter Aug 2013 #42
Like this: Coyotl Aug 2013 #48
Don't know the voracity of the Examiner but the article caught my eye as I was Skidmore Aug 2013 #17
So convenient to discount the source and not try to look at the facts. dkf Aug 2013 #18
Furthermore, The Examiner is NOT the source. JackRiddler Aug 2013 #21
The Examiner is not the source for this! JackRiddler Aug 2013 #19
This story has been pushed by WND for 5 days. nt pnwmom Aug 2013 #46
Funny how the hawks are ignoring this little news item Taverner Aug 2013 #20
I am not a war hawk but this site is not credible. It is a RW site. hrmjustin Aug 2013 #29
It's a bulletin board for loony tunes--you can make up ANYTHING and post it there. MADem Aug 2013 #47
Pf! And the Obama administration IS? sibelian Aug 2013 #51
So much for Bush light, this is more like Bush II. reusrename Aug 2013 #30
Very credible source. They published The "Unskewed Polls" Guy DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2013 #31
While the Examiner is a rag. I hope someone reliable looks into this issue. If there is a chance jwirr Aug 2013 #32
This doesn't pass the stink test. rdharma Aug 2013 #34
So If This Was An Accident DallasNE Aug 2013 #35
This keeps popping up, unfortunately. It was locked yesterday as a RW site. pnwmom Aug 2013 #40
At this point, that story in no more reliable than the stories coming out of Washinton, bvar22 Aug 2013 #43
EXAMINER is not a real news source. MADem Aug 2013 #45
Is the examiner a reputable source? iandhr Aug 2013 #52
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