Poynter pulls blacklist of ‘unreliable’ news websites after backlash

The Poynter Institute has apologized for publishing a list of 515 news websites it deemed “unreliable” after backlash from readers and on social media regarding “weaknesses in the methodology” used by the nonprofit publication.

The index was compiled from “fake news” databases curated by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Southern California, Merrimack University, PolitiFact, Snopes and data designer Chris Herbert. Publications originally on the list included the Washington Examiner and the Washington Free Beacon.

{mosads}”Soon after we published, we received complaints from those on the list and readers who objected to the inclusion of certain sites, and the exclusion of others,” Poynter managing editor Barbara Allen wrote in an explanation behind the piece that was pulled off the site on Thursday.

Allen said that Poynter launched the audit to test the veracity of the list and that while it felt that many of the sites “did have a track record of publishing unreliable information,” the review also “found weaknesses in the methodology.”

“We detected inconsistencies between the findings of the original databases that were the sources for the list and our own rendering of the final report,” she said in the statement.

The language in the original story also called on advertisers to “blacklist” the sites selected for the list.

“Fake news is a business. Much of that business is ad-supported,” Poynter researcher Barrett Golding wrote in the report. “Aside from journalists, researchers and news consumers, we hope that the index will be useful for advertisers that want to stop funding misinformation.”

Reaction on Twitter was swift, which included criticism from journalists whose publication were included on the list.

What a disgusting exercise in bad faith from an organization that’s supposed to be about improving and promoting journalism. Instead, they’re creating tabloid-level listicles to smear reporters without offering even a single piece of evidence. Shame on you, @Poynter.

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 2, 2019

Barrett Golding should be ashamed. @Poynter should be ashamed. Further retractions should be issued and the piece should be taken down until somewhere there can give actual specific reasons why they’re labeling a site as unreliable that are backed up with actual evidence.

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 2, 2019

It’s fine to hate the content at @DailySignal or disagree with that.

But we take journalism and accuracy and transparency very seriously, and @Poynter is smearing us by putting us on an unreliable news database https://t.co/j1frl70V5H

— Katrina Trinko (@KatrinaTrinko) May 2, 2019

Poynter gonna need to make another list that only includes Poynter. https://t.co/EhHbmJ2PJP

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) May 3, 2019

Junkyard Attack Dogs Pose as “Watchdogs”: Journalism Institute Poynter Tries to ‘Blacklist’ 29 Conservative Outlets as ‘UnNews’ via @descarteslover https://t.co/R43zMRMY9E #MAGA @realDonaldTrump #AmericaFirst #Dobbs

— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) May 2, 2019

We should all now remember @Poynter has exposed itself as an agent of the left, but considering its a media organization we already knew that.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 3, 2019