The Poynter Institute, which “champions freedom of expression, civil dialogue, and compelling journalism,” has compiled a list of 515 sites “that spread false or misleading information,” using as research partners such reliable and unbiased sources as Snopes and Politifact.

Barrett Golding writes that “misinformation is a thriving industry on the internet, supported by social media shares, advertising dollars and political donations” — which certainly sounds like Poynter is providing advertisers a list of sites to avoid.

Here are 515 sites that spread false or misleading information https://t.co/PNWa6dlRRh — Poynter (@Poynter) May 1, 2019

You’ll be sorry to hear that Twitchy is on that list, so what you’ve been reading here is unreliable misinformation — which is a surprise to us, because so many of our posts call out mainstream media outlets that push false narratives — ask the Covington kids about that.

For some reason, though, the Washington Examiner was removed from the list:

You claimed that @dcexaminer spreads false information. You then retracted that statement. Does that mean you will be adding your own site to the list of sites that spread false information? — Beard (@RichHomieBeard) May 2, 2019

They really ought to.

I can't stop thinking about what a f***ing disgrace this is. A journalism nonprofit put out a list of sites for advertisers to "blacklist" — its word! — and included the Washington Examiner and the Free Beacon. https://t.co/UBcs0G8hoq — Robert VerBruggen (@RAVerBruggen) May 1, 2019

Get this….the guy who conceived the whole thing is Barrett Golding. Who he? This guy: pic.twitter.com/uyZQbsF7cI — (((L.N. Smithee))) (@LNSmithee) May 1, 2019

.@Poynter has corrected its fake news list: "This index previously listed The Washington Examiner and FirstPost as unreliable news sources. After reviewing our methodology, we found that neither met the criteria for inclusion, so both were removed." https://t.co/gV15lO6gRQ — Philip Klein (@philipaklein) May 1, 2019

I am glad to see the error of the Examiner's inclusion corrected, but I still believe it is worrisome to call for advertisers blacklisting news organizations, especially given the opacity of the process and arbitrariness of many of the judgements. — Philip Klein (@philipaklein) May 1, 2019

So what’s the story, Barrett? How did the Examiner get on the list and then taken off?

@philipaklein I compiled Poynter's list from existing lists. We'll update with input from publishers/readers. A key factor is whether the news site fails fact-checks (pol-leaning is NOT a factor). The WA Examiner passed more than failed, so we removed it. Thx for contacting us. — Barrett Golding (@hearvox) May 1, 2019

Political leaning is NOT a factor — that’s cute how he put “NOT” in all capitals like he was serious. And where exactly should one address their input? Who the hell is “we”? Guess you just tweet ol’ Barrett there at @hearvox.

Take a look at the Poynter officers….all left-wing journalistshttps://t.co/Yt3omaloxN And funders are all left wing or Never Trumper organizationshttps://t.co/Jc7835uzdY — CMartin (@igotthebestmojo) May 1, 2019

Forgot to include @nowthisnews — Zac Rutherford (@ZacRutherfor) May 1, 2019

I’m glad @Poynter has taken us off its “Blacklist” of news orgs it’s targeting to put out of business. It’s a good first step, but obviously it is woefully insufficient for a host of reasons. https://t.co/41cMsVtie1 — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 2, 2019

First it’s clear the Blacklist is being compiled using a deeply flawed and inaccurate system, with no review process or fact checking—we noticed our mistaken inclusion, not @Poynter. Why is DailyKos still on it? Absurd. Free Beacon? Absurd. Even Clickhole is on it! What the hell? — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 2, 2019

Second, what is this Blacklist? According to @Poynter it’s the International Fact-Checking Network. What is that? “The International Fact-Checking Network is a unit of the Poynter Institute dedicated to bringing together fact-checkers worldwide.” Some things it does: a lot! pic.twitter.com/EB93T0FTMV — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 2, 2019

Third, does @Poynter realize that because of its reputation and its centralized hosting of this just how much damage this does to the credibility of the whole fact checking industry? Shouting “Fake News” at sites you know are accurate but you don’t like them? Very… Trumpy! — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 2, 2019

And lastly, @Poynter’s own credibility. The org apparently doesn’t read much news! Nor does it read… its own site? The carelessness with which Poynter approaches its mission is frankly shocking. And deeply dangerous to journalism. — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 2, 2019

So if @Poynter thinks it can just say “oops” and move on, it’s mistaken. A full explanation, to say nothing of a real apology to the journalists it’s been trying to make jobless, followed by a transparent plan for reforming its approach—nothing less is remotely acceptable. /fin — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 2, 2019

I want written letters of apology, personally addressed to each member on staff, and an agreement that Poynter will he added to the list of orgs to blacklist, tbh. Only then will this insult be ameliorated. https://t.co/8oT2g9XyLO — Grant Addison (@jgrantaddison) May 2, 2019

Glad to see the half-dozen articles I've published at the @dcexaminer have been rescued from the blacklist of presumed fakeness. — Walter Olson (@walterolson) May 2, 2019

Judicial Watch is fake news? RedState? PJMedia? But politics has nothing to do with it.

Poynter calls this list an “index of unreliable news sites” and is openly calling for advertisers to stop sponsoring these sites, to pull their sponsorship, to put these sites out of business. If that’s not a blacklist, tell me what is……..https://t.co/f5dPXcyzIL — Alan Edwards (@ASREdwards) May 1, 2019

Just who the hell do they think they are to blacklist anyone? This is the USA. We don't blacklist here. We mock. We put up with stupid Nazi and terrorist groups by marginalizing and making fun of them. Small price to pay. — Flavor Country (@LS6Dave) May 1, 2019

Here's another problem with the @poytner "blacklist" (aside from irony of a supposedly free-press organization calling for blacklisting): the blacklist criteria are so sweeping and arbitrarily applied that the blacklist is incoherent. — Fred Bauer (@fredbauerblog) May 1, 2019

Poynter's blacklist includes (obvious) satire sites like Clickhole. It lumps journalist sites (like @FreeBeacon) in with the publications of serious think tanks (like @DailySignal) in with tiny conspiracy-oriented sites that actually traffic in invented "facts." — Fred Bauer (@fredbauerblog) May 1, 2019

Far from building trust in journalism, this "blacklist" seems poised to make our media politics even more contentious and confused. (Full confession: I'm predisposed to like Poynter, but this project seems poorly conceived. I'm also pretty anti-blacklist.) — Fred Bauer (@fredbauerblog) May 1, 2019

Speaking of obvious satire sites, it looks like the Babylon Bee managed to escape the blacklist, though Snopes has been busy “fact-checking” them anyway. (No, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not guess “Free” as a contestant on “The Price Is Right” — thanks for looking out for us and protecting democracy, Snopes.)

.@Poynter's evidence that @DailyCaller is unreliable is merely a link to all stories we are mentioned in at https://t.co/gIyBloIyhZ. In the vast majority of these mentions, we are actually being cited as sources of information rather than fact-checked. https://t.co/QyFPQna3Rv — Amber Athey (@amber_athey) May 1, 2019

Poynter's list of unreliable sites is completely unreliable. They included several respectable sites on the right while omitting some of the most unreliable political sites on the left (ex: ThinkProgress). They should put themselves at the top of the list. https://t.co/Y6CokTfTtf — (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) May 2, 2019

Stephen Gutowski, the only reporter in America who actually knows what he’s talking about when the topic is guns, isn’t too happy the Free Beacon is still blacklisted.

I see the @FreeBeacon is still included in @Poynter's list. I know for a fact that their staff shares my reporting so I'd love to hear any explanation for why my work and the work of my colleaguesis now being deemed unreliable without so much as a single accusation of innacuracy. https://t.co/xAraEbctfy — Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 2, 2019

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

You've compiled a bunch of conservative websites, put them on a list with conspiracy theorists to make them look bad, and added like two leftist websites to try to paint yourself as objective. No one harms media accuracy and public trust as much as agenda-driven "fact-checkers." — James Silberman (@James_Silberman) May 2, 2019

So where's your liberal website list? — KOB (@TheOneTrueKOB) May 2, 2019

Garbage list targeting right-leaning sites, congrats on the immense waste of your time — Zach Hanover (@zhanover) May 2, 2019

I like the way you sneakily add in legit conservative sites in with hack sites. What a joke. You are a modern day McCarthy. pic.twitter.com/Ffnv71BG6h — Easter Worshiper (@John_Wayyne) May 1, 2019

Did you mean for it to be worthless garbage or was that just accidental? — Alex Jeffries ? (@the1codemonkey) May 2, 2019

Seriously, Poynter, what’s up? Could you tell us what false stories we’ve been reporting so we can stop?

Related:

'Huge, if true'! Snopes runs interference for AOC by … fact-checking the Babylon Bee [pic] https://t.co/H48lIT1r3d — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 17, 2019

Fake News-a-Palooza! Brian Williams tries to real-time fact check Lindsey Graham with a ‘straight-up lie’ https://t.co/CWMWipXGjY — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 1, 2019

'Oh, that's rich'! Vox peddles straight-up fake news about Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and AOC https://t.co/C5eeP4YzQ1 — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 9, 2019

‘Godfather of Fake News’ again earns the title with hot take on Trump’s ‘animals’ comment https://t.co/XvPBBZZs1v — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 6, 2019

Fake News-a-Palooza! Sharyl Attkisson’s LONG list of media ‘mistakes’ in the Trump era should EMBARRASS the MSM https://t.co/8FR5EMWXS3 — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 26, 2019

'Literal fake news': Mother Jones blames 'conservatives' for Kamala Harris birther theory — and gets shredded https://t.co/DSxE2yFceC — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 22, 2019

NAIL, MEET COFFIN: Mueller report blows up BuzzFeed's Trump-Cohen 'bombshell' once and for all https://t.co/AvQ2fNXkEt — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 18, 2019

'I demand a retraction'! Ben Shapiro torches the Economist for peddling this utterly 'vile lie' https://t.co/t0P7Vobahm — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 28, 2019