Left-wing website Slate should be the final arbiter of what is or not “fake news,” according to left-wing website Slate.
The site, which itself has a questionable track record, announced the launch of a Chrome extension that will alert readers if they are reading something deemed “fake news” by Slate. The announcement comes less than a week after Slate ran a story deemed “ridiculous and false” by CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
That story, titled “Kellyanne Conway Suggests Men Don’t Want Their Wives to Work in the White House,” twisted Conway’s words to fit a narrative.
2 women I know who attended this event say this headline/piece are ridiculous and false and say it totally twists what Conway said. fwiw https://t.co/XwszKdabRG
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 8, 2016
Slate is the same site that boldly spread the Hillary Clinton-backed lie that an offensive Internet video caused the 2012 Benghazi terror attacks in a piece titled, “What We Know About the Obscure Film That Sparked The Riots in Libya.”
Slate is also the same site that claimed to have exposed a secret link between the Trump organization and a secret bank, only to have that story debunked in near-record time. Even other left-wing news organizations like Vox didn’t buy it. (That story did, however, provide ammunition for the Clinton campaign.) (RELATED: Slate Writer Calls For ‘Symbol Of Solidarity’ To Distinguish Bigots From Everyone Else)
Nevertheless, the site which raises the journalistic bar with hard-hitting pieces like “I Ruined Men’s Childhoods by Dressing Up as a Ghostbusters Character for Halloween Last Year,” or “What Iran—Yes, Iran—Can Teach America About the Fight for LGBTQ Rights” thinks it should be the judge of what is or isn’t real news.
So, Slate has come out with its Chrome extension, “This Is Fake.” (RELATED: Liberal Media See ‘Fake News’ Label Thrown Back In Their Faces)
“Once you install the extension, as you scroll through your Facebook feed, stories that Slate has identified as fake news will be flagged with a red banner over the preview image, informing you that they’ve been debunked,” explains the site, whose writers can oscillate between calling Trump a “moderate Republican” and a “fascist” in less than a week.
Users of the extension can flag news organizations or stories as “fake,” but Slate editors will be the final judge of what is or isn’t fake. (RELATED: Journalists Struggle To Define ‘Fake News’ Even As They Declare War On It)
Slate editor Jonathan Fischer said the site is open to “blacklisting” entire website.
“I don’t think there’s a danger in blacklisting entire websites because our standard for inclusion is high, although of course it’s reliant on editorial judgement, which is why we’ll be releasing the data, and why we’re eager to find more news organizations to partner with us on This Is Fake,” Fischer said.
The Daily Caller’s Eric Owens and Justin Caruso contributed to this report.
