The National Republican Congressional Committee’s time-honored tradition of deceiving voters is in full swing yet again – this time with faux news sites described as “ethically sketchy.” After coming under fire earlier this year for tricking voters into donating money against their will, it comes as no surprise that the NRCC is looking for yet another deceptive scheme to distract voters from their flawed priorities and record low approval rating – while “shamefully, cynically undermining trust in local news” in the process.
See for yourself:
NRCC Launches Fake News Sites to Attack Democratic Candidates:
The House GOP campaign arm, previously criticized for phony Democratic candidate sites, is now in the faux-news game […] The National Republican Congressional Committee, which came under fire earlier this year for a deceptive series of fake Democratic candidate websites that it later changed after public outcry, has launched a new set of deceptive websites, this time designed to look like local news sources.”
[National Journal, 8/12/14]
Republican Group Rolls Out Fake News Websites:
The group drew criticism earlier this year over websites, including fundraising portals that confused some voters, which spoofed the websites of Democratic candidates. […]The new websites are being paid for and coordinated by the NRCC’s independent expenditure arm, which can raise unlimited sums of money but is not permitted to coordinate with candidates’ campaigns.
[TIME, 8/13/14]
House Republicans unveil a new 2014 strategy: Repurposing press releases on a fake news site.
Why bother noting things that don’t exist? Because each of those ‘Update’ Web sites was created by the National Republican Campaign Committee. They are meant to look like a real news site but really are intended to attack a Democrat who is running for Congress. […] The National Journal reported on the sites Tuesday, pointing out that the NRCC is buying ads on Google for people searching for Democratic candidates to redirect them to these fake news sites. Nor did the NRCC seem to be terribly concerned about the implications of misleading visitors. […] The 33-plus articles we found on the NRCC’s electionupdate2014.com are just the same old politics hoping to wring a bit of believability out of the news media’s already-diminished credibility.
[Washington Post, 8/13/14]
Republicans and the fine art of fake news:
It seems pretty obvious the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to deceive the public, though an NRCC official characterized the fake-news initiative as simply ‘a new and effective way to disseminate information.’ […] This is the second time this year the NRCC’s efforts to push the limits of online propriety have caused a stir. In February, the Republican campaign committee created another series of misleading websites – the sites led visitors to believe they were financially supporting Dem candidates, when in fact the money was ending up in the NRCC’s coffers. But these fake-news websites are arguably more bizarre.
[MSNBC, 8/13/14]
NRCC gets into the fake news business:
The National Republican Congressional Committee is creating websites meant to look like local news sites that are actually attack sites targeting Democratic candidates, National Journal reports. […] The tactic is legal, if ethically sketchy.
[Politico, 8/12/14]
NRCC Launches Fake News Sites to Attack Democratic Candidates:
Earlier this year, the NRCC got in some trouble for creating deceptive fake campaign sites for Democrats that ask people to contribute in order to help ‘defeat’ the candidate. […] The stories appear on election2014update.com, and have site names like ‘Central Valley Update.’ The fake new sites begin stories by explaining that they will analyze the candidate’s position but take a critical tone.
[Talking Points Memo, 8/12/14]
House GOP posts fake ‘Aurora Update’ news site to attack Romanoff.
There are no links, resource cites or quotes provided to readers to support any of the charges. […] As The National Journal reports, the fake news sites come in the wake of a similar campaign launched last year by the same House Republican organization. In that case, the NRCC set up campaign websites designed to appear as if they supported Democratic candidates and asked for donations that in fact went to Republicans. The group pulled down the sites after headlines spurred public outcry and threatened legal action.
[Colorado Independent, 8/12/14]
NRCC Says Democrats Are ‘Just Jealous’ They Didn’t Think of Fake News Sites First.
Fake candidate websites are so winter 2014. If you’re looking for a hip new way to covertly attack political opponents, try creating fake news articles constructed to mislead voters. It’s like The Onion, but for people who have never heard of The Onion. […] The National Journal reports that the National Republican Campaign Committee has introduced more than 20 standalone websites designed to look like local-news hubs. But instead of serving up impartial articles, the stories devolve into one-sided criticism of democratic candidates.
[New York Magazine, 8/13/14]
The National Republican Congressional Committee is getting into the news business, sort of.
National Journal had a fascinating scoop Tuesday about how the committee is going after Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, and other vulnerable Dems by creating fake news sites and targeting local web searchers. […] The NRCC got in trouble last year for making fake campaign pages for their targeted Democrats, in apparent violation of campaign finance law.
[Atlanta Journal Constitution, 8/13/14]
The GOP is deceiving the public. Shamefully, cynically undermining trust in local news: http://t.co/PilqxDmRLv
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) August 12, 2014
BREAKING: House GOP campaign fraud exposed by @ShaneGoldmacher http://t.co/L6cYAYSyRW — Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) August 12, 2014
“So no, we’re not jealous.” – DCCC spokesperson Josh Schwerin