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By Jon Sutz, Editor, SaveTheWest.com
Contents
(1) Overview
(2) HuffPost’s repeated public claims that it is a nonpartisan news organization, and adheres to professional journalistic standards and practices
(3) AOL’s pitch to prospective HuffPost advertisers
(4) The reality: HuffPost is a purveyor of radical leftist hate speech, racism, incitement and anti-Semitism
(5) Apparently, HuffPost’s deception was designed into its original business outline, with an explicit intent to deceive advertisers
(6) HuffPost is among the least-trusted news sites
(7) Verizon’s publicly-stated values
(8) How to contact Verizon’s CEO and Board of Directors
(9) How to contact HuffPost management
(10) News items regarding HuffPost
(1) Overview
The Huffington Post, or ‘HuffPost,’ went online in May 2005. Its founder and editor-in-chief (until August 2016), Arianna Huffington, along with its top executives, have repeatedly claimed that HuffPost is not partisan in any way.
Today, HuffPost claims it “reaches nearly 200 million people around the globe each month,” an estimated 80 million of whom reside within America, making it “the largest news site in the U.S.” One traffic analysis site claims that with its fifteen international editions, HuffPost is now the #1 most-popular political website in the world. It is owned by AOL, which in turn is owned by Verizon.
(Update: In August 2016, Huffington was reportedly forced to resign; the site has completely removed her name from its masthead, even as its founding namesake.)
According to Alexa, as of April 1, 2017, HuffPost was the 51st most-popular website in America, and the 203rd most popular in the world:
(2) HuffPost’s repeated public claims that it is a nonpartisan news organization, and adheres to professional journalistic standards and practices
HuffPost’s banner claims its first mission is to “inform” its readers:
According to HuffPost’s senior executives, this means “informing” readers in an nonpartisan and fearless way:
“The Huffington Post has in place rigorous editorial policies and standards, to ensure that we maintain the highest level of journalistic integrity.”
John Montorio, Executive Features Editor, Katie Nelson, National Editor, Danny Shea, Executive Producer, Special Projects, Whitney Snyder, Executive News Editor, November 6, 2014
“There is an objective reality, and it is the media’s job to present it unequivocally.”
Arianna Huffington, November 28, 2011
“Being fully upfront and honest with readers is a mark of our respect for their ability to think freely and for themselves. Withholding certain bits of information out of a fear that it will brainwash readers is the opposite.”
Ryan Grim, Washington Bureau Chief, January 29, 2016
“The editorial stance of the Huffington Post is to debunk the right-left way of thinking, which has become completely obsolete.”
Arianna Huffington interview with Conde Nast Portfolio, November 14, 2007
“Too many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned.”
Arianna Huffington, July 29, 2008
“[W]e are increasingly seen … as an Internet newspaper, not positioned ideologically in terms of how we cover the news.”
Arianna Huffington interview with Politico, May 22, 2009
On August 11, 2016, Arianna Huffington was reportedly forced to resign as executive editor of HuffPost (note: this occurred less than four weeks after this SaveTheWest report was delivered to the chairman of Verizon). On April 25, 2017, HuffPost’s new executive editor, Lydia Polgreen, wrote an editorial that appeared at the top of the front page, which claimed:
We’ve got a new name, look and mission ― to tell the stories of people who have been left out of the conversation.
See many other, similar quotes by senior HuffPost executives regarding its journalistic standards and practices, from 2005 to 2017, at:
HuffPost’s repeated public claims of nonpartisan journalistic principles
(3) AOL’s pitch to prospective HuffPost advertisers, and the mainstream U.S. corporations that now support it
At the bottom of www.HuffingtonPost.com, is a link to “Advertise”:
That link takes the viewer to this part of an AOL page (which bought HuffPost in 2010), in which prospective advertisers are told that:
“The Huffington Post covers the world’s stories from every viewpoint… it is the new model for media organizations.”
Major corporate advertisers and content partners
Presumably due in large part to HuffPost’s traffic rankings, and both its and AOL’s promises that it is a nonpartisan, professional news organization, it has been able to attract advertising from some of the America’s biggest corporations (directory here), including:
- American Express
- Amtrak
- Caterpillar
- Chrysler
- Comcast
- CitiBank
- Discover
- Eddie Bauer
- Ford
- Goldman Sachs
- Home Depot
- Johnson & Johnson
- Levi Strauss
- Nordstrom
- State Farm
- United Healthcare
- UPS
- US Cellular
- XFinity
HuffPost has also established content-development partnerships with Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil McGraw.
(4) The reality: HuffPost is a purveyor of radical leftist hate speech, racism, incitement and anti-Semitism
Contrary to how HuffPost describes itself, and how AOL promotes it, SaveTheWest has documented the fact that in reality it is a hyper-partisan cesspool of radical leftist hate speech, racism, incitement and anti-Semitism:
(1) HuffPost presents and militantly protects only radical leftist, one-sided “narratives” of vital public issues, and excoriates anyone who dares to substantively challenge them. This has been standard practice at HuffPost practically since the beginning. Invariably, it creates or adopts a “narrative” that serves to advance radical leftist values, interpretations and objectives, and excludes or gives only straw-man coverage to those who dissent. Several particularly egregious, recent examples of this bias include:
(a) It engaged in a two-year, scorched-Earth campaign of lies, deception, bias and anti-Semitic incitement in order to help promote the Iranian nuclear “deal.” One particularly notable aspect of this campaign was to depict a proven front group for Iran’s mullahs as nonpartisan “experts,” then ignore the fact that they were soliciting funds with to lobby the U.S. Senate to enact the “deal.” Another was the fact that it gave top coverage to lies and propaganda by a “weapons expert” who had recently served time in prison for repeatedly soliciting sex from children. It then ignored the fact that the Obama White House’s architect behind the “deal” openly admitted to the deception he perpetrated, as well as the fact that Iran had never even signed it. See our special report:
(b) It not only refused to cover substantive medical concerns about Sen. Clinton’s health status during the 2016 presidential campaign, it removed an article one of its journalists published about the matter. HuffPost not only refused to publish the growing evidence of serious health concerns regarding Sen. Clinton, when one of its journalists was able to publish a video containing the reasons behind medical doctors’ impressions, it not only fired him, it removed every article he’d ever written for the site. This episode stood in stark contrast to its incessant demands throughout 2008 that Sen. McCain disclose all his medical data, to address concerns regarding his fitness for office — which were only exacerbated by its relentless publication of smears against him (1, 2, 3) and his wife, Cindy.
(c) It suppressed evidence demonstrating Rep. Keith Ellison’s unfitness to become chairman of the DNC, that challenged its glowing advocacy for his campaign. See our documentation here.
(2) HuffPost has engaged in a long-term “propaganda jihad” against the U.S. military — and for America’s enemies. It has repeatedly constructed incendiary headlines that accused members of the US military of perpetrating horrific crimes that it knew, or should have known, were completely untrue, unprovable, or were being depicted in an egregiously decontextualized fashion. Further, it has consistently dehumanized American soldiers, while whitewashing and evoking sympathy for jihadist terrorists and their supporters. One particularly egregious incident, HuffPost devoted five consecutive days of top coverage to evoking sympathy for a “homesick American jihadi,” while ignoring an American soldier who was about to receive the Medal of Honor. See detailed documentation here.
(3) HuffPost has engaged in a consistent pattern of incitement of hatred against police officers. Similar to the lies and distortions that it employs against the U.S. military, HuffPost has repeatedly published incendiary, editorialized “news” headlines that paint the worst possible perception of police officers, up to and including calling them murderers. One headline even asked, “Can the cops be stopped before they kill again?” It has also consistently excluded essential facts that are necessary to provide accurate context to its headlines (which would often also serve to undermine them). Then, when police officers are threatened or murdered, HuffPost either ignores or whitewashes these incidents, while maintaining its cauldron of incitement and hate. See detailed documentation here.
(4) HuffPost has repeatedly engaged in anti-Semitic bias and incitement — while whitewashing and legitimizing those who attack Jews, because they are Jews. SaveTheWest recently produced a major documentary about this issue, “The Huffington Post’s Anti-Semitic Bias and Incitement During the Third Intifada.” In summary, HuffPost consistently whips up hatred against Israel and Jews based on demonstrable lies and egregious distortions, while acting as a a sort of volunteer PR agency for the Islamist terrorists who attack them. It also showers personalized, sympathetic attention on Palestinians, including terrorists and their families, while dehumanizing or ignoring their Jewish (and non-Jewish) victims. Then, there are its front page headlines that contain naked hate speech, including “Fucking dick the fat Jew,” “Filthy Jewess,” and a “report” that claimed Israeli soldiers murder Palestinians to “harvest their organs” — which it knew at the time was completely unsupported (and soon discredited). Major Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and others have condemned HuffPost’s anti-Semitism. See detailed documentation here.
(5) HuffPost has repeatedly engaged in racist incitement and hate speech. This includes publishing materials on its front page that blame all of America’s problems on people of one skin color; that there is a conspiracy by people of one skin color to manipulate elections; and that half of America’s voting population are racists. Ironically, HuffPost has a documented history of hiring almost exclusively white people, and for years was far less diverse than the Tea Party, which it has excoriated with false allegations of racism. See detailed documentation here.
(6) HuffPost has established a de facto double-standard for reporting alleged hate crimes, based on the race, religion and/or political orientation of the victim, or the perpetrator. It consistently gives top, sympathetic coverage to completely proof-less allegations of hate crimes by people in its favored groups, primarily Muslims, black Americans, and leftists. See the documentation here. Then, when it discovers that many of these turned out to be among the many recent fake hate crimes, it ignores or buries this information,thus falsely legitimizing them. See documentation here.
At the same time, HuffPost routinely ignores actual hate crimes that have been perpetrated — even when captured on video — against people in groups it considers worthless, primarily conservatives, white people, Republicans, American soldiers, police officers and Jews. See our documentation of 119 such incidents since January 2016 here.
And while HuffPost emphatically condemns, on its front page, Christians who disapprove of homosexuality, it consistently ignores ignores explicit incitement to violence against members of the LGBT community by Islamist preachers — including one incident that was captured on video, in Orlando, two months before the Pulse nightclub massacre. See the documentation here.
(7) HuffPost has consistently dehumanized prominent female political figures whom it does not like. Examples include calling Sen. John McCain’s wife, Cindy, “a dick”; claiming — without any evidence — that he called her “a cunt”; calling incoming First Lady Melania Trump a “slut”; and giving top publicity to a proof-less allegation that a female Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate “had a one-night stand.” See detailed documentation here.
(8) HuffPost has published explicit, X-rated pornography on its front page, without age restrictions of any kind. These materials include graphic nudity, sex acts and gratuitous material, such as an “artist” whose entire “work” consists of pulling open her vagina in public, and naked women in bondage situations. See detailed documentation here.
(9) HuffPost has published vicious, gay-defaming headlines. These include “A few words from a real, live cocksucking fag”; and “George Michael Was A ‘Filthy’ Gay ‘Fucker’.” See detailed documentation here.
Conclusion: These facts demonstrate that HuffPost has not just abandoned the pretense of the objective journalism it claims to uphold, as well as any dividing line between news and editorial content. Rather, it has been handsomely profiting from all of its lies, deception, deception, hate speech and incitement — with or without the knowledge of the major corporate advertisers who financially make it all possible.
“Arianna Huffington is offended and bewildered by the suggestion that other news outlets think she’s getting a free ride. She sees herself as the future of journalism, not the end of it.
– Arianna Huffington, interview with Time magazine, March 19, 2009
(5) Apparently, HuffPost’s deception was designed into its original business outline, with an explicit intent to deceive advertisers
There is documentation that strongly indicates the actual reason behind the galactic discrepancy between what HuffPost claims it is, versus what it actually is, was designed into its original business planning document. The document was exposed as part of a lawsuit that lasted four years, and was ultimately validated by virtue of how the case was resolved.
In 2010, shortly after AOL purchased HuffPost, a lawsuit was filed against Arianna Huffington, her former business partner, and HuffPost by two former associates, Peter Daou and James Boyce. The basis of the duo’s lawsuit was their allegation that they had conceived of what would become HuffPost in early 2005, but received neither credit nor a share of its profits after the sale to AOL. Daou and Boyce sought $350 million in damages.
2 Dems: Huffington stole our idea, by Ben Smith, Politico.com, November 15, 2010. Excerpt:
Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post.
Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed the website from a plan they had presented them, and in doing so, violated a handshake agreement to work together, according to a lawsuit to be filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
The complaint is a direct challenge to the left’s most important media property from two stalwarts of the progressive movement. And it challenges Huffington’s own oft-told story of coming up with the idea in conversation with Lerer and other friends.
“Huffington has styled herself as a ‘new media’ maven and an expert on the effective deployment of news and celebrity on the Internet in the service of political ends,” says the complaint. “As will be shown at trial, Huffington’s and Lerer’s image with respect to the Huffington Post is founded on false impressions and inaccuracies: They presented the ‘new media’ ideas and plans of Peter Daou and James Boyce as their own in order to raise money for the website and enhance their image, and breached their promises to work with Peter and James to develop the site together.”
HuffPost’s hyper-partisan deception was apparently built into the original document that Daou and Boyce inserted into evidence, that they claim served as the basis for the creation of HuffPost.
Daou’s alleged ‘Huffpo’ proposal: ‘Appear more mainstream’, by Ben Smith, Politico.com, January 5, 2011. Excerpt:
Vanity Fair offers some more detail today on a lawsuit I first reported in November, in which two Democratic consultants accuse Arianna Huffington and Ken Lerer of stealing their idea for the Huffington Post, which the site’s founders deny.
The story doesn’t really advance the argument on the merits, but it does offer a copy of the document which the consultants had circulated, and on which they say Huffington Post is based.
The “1460” document — plaintiffs’ Peter Daou and James Boyce’s proposal, named for the number of days between presidential elections — outlines plans for a liberal Drudge. It also suggests with unusual bluntness a level of disingenuousness that is, perhaps, more common in the partisan media than some are comfortable admitting.
Specifically, according to the Politico article and the lawsuit, the “1460” blueprint laid out its specific intent to cloak its hyper-partisan thrust behind “enough non-partisan news” to deceive the public and advertisers:
The site would be, they say:
“[A] Democratic-leaning site with enough non-partisan news as to appear more mainstream than it truly is; this is critical for credibility and advertising revenue.”
The ultimate, hyper-partisan objective of the site, as articulated on page 1 of the “1460” blueprint, was to revolutionize the Democratic Party — while concealing this mission from the general public; specifically:
“to use the potential of the Internet to the fullest extent possible to continue the momentum started during the [2004 presidential] campaign and re-organize the Democratic Party from the outside in, not the inside out.”
Pages 4-5 claim the site:
“will contain ‘scoops’ generated by the founders’ contacts with the Democratic Party and the Democratic leadership, and will be a gathering place for Democrats online.”
And on page 6, it asserts the site would create and operate an “inner ring” of seemingly external, leftist partisan activist sites, which the authors stated would:
“… generate traffic, news and profit by serving… the Democratic Party.”
Huffington claimed Daou’s and Boyce’s lawsuit was “laughable,” and she and her partners and their lawyers repeatedly tried, and failed, to get it dismissed. Over the next three years, the case wound its way through the legal process.
After their final defeat in 2014, in which the judge ruled the lawsuit would go to trial, Huffington and her partners paid an undisclosed sum to Daou and Boyce, via an out-of-court settlement.
Conclusion: Given these facts in Sections 1-5, and the extensive documentation that SaveTheWest.com has produced regarding HuffPost’s consistent, long-term, hyper-partisan hate speech, incitement and more, it is clear that:
- There was merit to Daou’s and Boyce’s assertions
- Their “1460” blueprint — and its baked-in deception — played a major role in influencing what the site actually became, under Huffington’s leadership
This deception also tracks with the fact that until 2000, Huffington was a hard-right conservative, and was very close friends with Newt Gingrich. Then, just prior to the 2000 election, she swung to the left. As reported by CNN, according to multiple eyewitnesses, at the 2000 “Shadow Convention” she announced, “I have become radicalized.” According to other sources, however, her transition was far deeper than originally reported, and was due to her interaction with leftist billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
(6) HuffPost is among the least-trusted news sites
In early 2017, the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri conducted a nationwide survey of news consumers, facilitated by 28 independent news organizations across America:
Who trusts — and pays for — the news? Here’s what 8,728 people told us, by Joy Mayer, Reynolds Journalism Institute, July 27, 2017. Excerpt:
Is there a connection between people’s politics and their trust in news? (Yes.) Do people’s race or age play a factor in what they trust? (Yes on race, less on age.) And do those factors influence how likely people are to spend money on news? (They sure do.)
As part of the Trusting News project, 28 partner newsrooms asked their audiences to tell them about their views on the credibility of news. They published a questionnaire asking their readers, listeners and viewers about their demographics and political leanings, and how many news organizations they support financially.
What we found can offer insight into the general attitudes and beliefs of people toward the value and credibility of news.
As the RJI admitted, respondents were heavily weighted towards the left side of the political spectrum:
Even with this heavy weighting, HuffPost still was revealed as among the least-trustworthy news organizations in America — lower even than Fox News and Rush Limbaugh:
See the full report and methodology at:
Trusting News Project Report 2017: A Reynolds Journalism Institute research project, by Michael W. Kearney, July 25, 2017.
(7) Verizon’s publicly-stated values
Verizon is the corporate parent of both AOL and HuffPost. The following are its publicly-stated values and credo:
Verizon’s Values
We stand for integrity, respect, performance excellence and accountability. This reaches beyond products and services, connecting our customers to a larger truth about what we do and why it matters.
Verizon’s Credo
We are committed to do the right thing and follow sound business practices…to make the world in which we work better than it was yesterday.
(8) How to contact Verizon’s CEO and Board of Directors
If you’d like to express your views on these matters to HuffPost’s parent company, Verizon, see the contact information below. Please be polite and concise.
Verizon Communications, Inc.
1095 Avenue Of The Americas
New York, NY, 10036
212-395-1000
Lowell C. McAdam, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (bio)
James J. Gerace, Chief Communications Officer (bio)
Contact Mr. Gerace here
Verizon’s Office of Ethics and Business Conduct
844-894-8433
Contact page description: “This website may be used to… ask questions, express concerns or report suspected violations of Verizon’s Code of Conduct [or] corporate policies.”
Verizon’s Board of Directors
Info page here
If you are a Verizon shareholder, contact the Board here
(9) How to contact HuffPost’s management
If you’d like to express your views on these matters to HuffPost’s management, see the contact information below. Please be polite and concise.
Jared Grusd, Chief Executive Officer
Lydia Polgreen, Editor-in-Chief
Huffington Post
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003-9522
212-652-6400
General comments here.
For members of the media, contact here.
(10) News items regarding HuffPost
(1) August 2016: Arianna Huffington was reportedly forced to resign from HuffPost, because of her behavior — days after the third major SaveTheWest expose’
(2) December 2017: A journalist filed a $23.5 million lawsuit against HuffPost for libel and defamation, by one of its “journalists”
(1) August 2016: Arianna Huffington was reportedly forced to resign from HuffPost, because of her behavior — days after the third major SaveTheWest expose’
In 2016, SaveTheWest produced, in rapid succession, three major exposes that may have led, or helped lead to the ouster of Arianna Huffington from the organization.
(1) March 1: 2016: SaveTheWest.com released its debut documentary video, “The Huffington Post’s Anti-Semitic Bias and Incitement During the Third Intifada” (44 minutes). This video exposes HuffPost’s consistent efforts to ignore, whitewash and even legitimize anti-Semitic hatred and Palestinian terrorism against Jews, even after being criticized by several of the major Jewish organizations. Trailer here; 2-minute accolades video, featuring Melanie Phillips, here
(2) April 30, 2016: SaveTheWest.com released its second documentary, “STW’s new “HuffPost’s Dehumanization of Capt. Taylor Force” (16 minutes). This film exposes how HuffPost dehumanized a beloved U.S. combat veteran who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist — while super-humanizing ISIS terrorists, sad celebrities, and animals.
(3) July 15, 2016: SaveTheWest.com released its first major written report, “The Rhodes To HuffPost”: The Huffington Post’s use of lies, deception, bias and anti-Semitic incitement in order to help “sell” the Iran deal. This report exposes the major role that HuffPost played in helping Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes to create and operate what he later admitted was an “echo chamber” of lies and propaganda to help manipulate and bully America, and the Senate, to pass the deceptive treaty.
The founder and president of SaveTheWest, Ken Abramowitz, sent a personal letter to the chairman of Verizon, which owns HuffPost, after the release of each of these items, asking him to respond with his comments, and any action he intends to take to ensure that this mass deception and manipulation will no longer be allowed to continue at HuffPost. Ken never heard back from him.
Less than 30 days after the release of our Iran report, Arianna Huffington unexpectedly announced she was leaving HuffPost:
August 11, 2016: News breaks that Arianna Huffington is unexpectedly leaving HuffPost.
This was an unusual occurrence for two reasons:
(1) It occurred only eight months after she signed a new five-year contract to remain as Executive Editor of HuffPost
(2) No successor was named
Soon after, Vanity Fair produced an in-depth, two-part report that indicated Huffington’s departure from HuffPost was not voluntary:
September 7, 2016: How Arianna Huffington Lost Her Newsroom
September 8, 2016: The Inside Story of Why Arianna Huffington Left the Huffington Post
Although SaveTheWest is not mentioned in either of the above articles, we believe that our videos and report may have had a significant role in helping to prompt Verizon to force Huffington out of her site — and completely remove her name from its masthead, even as its founding namesake.
(2) December 2017: A journalist filed a $23.5 million lawsuit against HuffPost for libel and defamation, by one of its “journalists”
Former reporter sues HuffPost for $23.5M over rape accusation, by Julia Marsh, NY Post, December 13, 2017. Excerpt:
A former political reporter for The Young Turks web newscast is suing the Huffington Post for $23.5 million for accusing him of being a rapist.
Jordan Chariton, 31, worked for TYT and started the left-leaning news site Truth Against the Machine. Last month HuffPost contributor Christian Chiakulas published a pieced titled “Jordan Chariton Accused by Former Employees of Sexual Abuse, Harassment.”
Chariton says he never assaulted anyone. Instead he says he had consensual sex with his married accuser who worked for him at Truth Against the Machine.
Chariton says in the new Manhattan Supreme Court suit that his accuser Carly Hammond had an ax to grind because she wanted to start a competing news outlet.
Chariton also says the HuffPost reporter showed bias when he said in a leaked group Facebook chat “we’re bringing this motherf—-r down” and “let’s add him to the list including Weinstein.”
Chariton was fired from The Young Turks after the story was published in HuffPost. It has since been removed, but the site has refused to issue a retraction, his suit says.
A lawyer for Huffington Post did not immediately return a request for comment. Chiakulas and Hammond, who are not named as defendants in the suit, also did not immediately respond to messages.
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