After receiving a “questionable source rating” and graded as “FAR LEFT” biased by the Media Bias Fact Check website, we the co-editors of National Zero, respond individually as follows.
JACK: We’re not them–and by “them,” I mean a website that really gives a damn about what other people think. National Zero wasn’t set up to be a be-all, end-all news source. We’re two guys who post stories when we can, trying our best to keep up with the news, curating material, and adding our commentary to the stories–all while supporting a community of commenters who contribute to the esprit de corps of the site.
What we are, however, is honest in our opinions, and we’re honest with ourselves. We’re liberals. We support liberal causes and we find many people on the conservative side of the discourse to be, well, fucking idiots. It’s not like we try to hide, and I believe the transparency of our views is more honorable than those who hypocritically claim, “We Report. You Decide.”
The thing is, neither Spartan nor I tolerate willful stupidity well, and unfortunately, much of the rhetoric coming from the American Right relies on people being willfully stupid. Our sarcasm and snarkiness are used with the purpose of showing how persistently corrupt (morally, ethically and financially) GOP and conservative leaders are–and how unabashedly they are in fostering and exploiting their willful ignorance of their followers to garner political power.
All that said, I’m grateful that the work Spartan and I have done on NatZero is getting attention, and that we’ve gotten to the point where we merit a rating from an independent source. But I do disagree with some of the characterizations: We’re not “far left;” we’re solidly left. We’re not communists or socialists; we’re liberals on the American political spectrum–and honestly, if you were to look at us in a global perspective, I’d say we’re more moderate/left.
Addressing other issues brought up by the review: Yes, we do lack some transparency, partly by design to protect our private lives and partly out of not developing the site entirely. We know we need an “About” page and contact methods, things which will be corrected in the near future. We’re not advertising-based (although that also may change in the future); if the reviewer actually thought we were selling “alien abduction insurance,” he may want to check his own reporting. We rely on the generosity of our community to keep the machinery oiled.
We’re more accurate about our stories than many other sites, largely because we link to original reporting and our posts are designed to be summaries with a healthy dose of snark. However, when we post original stories, we make sure our sources are sound; readers aren’t privy to the give-and-take Spartan and I have on a regular basis about content where we push each other to make sure of what we’re posting or to include a pertinent fact.
Finally, I challenge the reviewer’s characterization of our site, but only to say that his linear method for describing the political bias of a site is exceptionally simplistic and limited. Again: we are strongly liberal, but we are not “extreme liberals.” Our views are very much mainstream. Our rhetoric is intentionally over-the-top, primarily for entertainment purposes–and to express our frustration with the ongoing shitshow that is the GOP at the moment, so we’re working with the material we’re given.
SPARTAN: Jack pretty much said it all here. Not a whole lot I can add that isn’t more or less the same thing except more profane and venomous. However I have to take issue in particular with Van Zandt pointing out that NationalZero.com is hosted in Iceland.
So fucking what if it’s hosted in another country? I didn’t pick them, it’s our host, Namecheap.com who did. Adding that extraneous detail to his review to me looks like a transparent attempt to make us sound somehow vaguely nefarious. It’s fucking Iceland, not some corrupt lawless shithole like Russia or Hungary. Hell, I’m proud to say the energy that powers our host server comes from 99% renewable sources given Iceland’s reliance on hydropower and geothermal generation for its grid. It’s the kind of power that gives Joe Manchin nightmares.
Lastly, the fact we got this kind of review speaks I believe to our production value. It is misleading in parts. Some readers think we’re an actual professional news organization at first glance and that’s no accident. I put a lot of work into fine-tuning the look and feel of this site but nothing on filling out mission statements or background info. In that maybe it does look like a fake news site. However without going on for another twelve paragraphs, I think David Van Zandt should’ve either put more time into actually reading from our site to inform his rating or not done it at all. Even just an “N/A” rating saying “This site is crazy bullshit, there’s some news in here but it’s so obnoxious I could barely stomach more than five minutes of it,” would’ve been more respectable of an effort.
Hell, I would’ve made an About page just to tout that review.
BONUS – Unsigned response rejected after internal deliberation: The so-called “Media Bias Fact Check” website, an obviously fake and phony scam that is probably secretly funded by China, has rated National Zero as “Extremely Far-Left Biased” in its completely rigged grading scale. Their “expert” David Van Zandt is a total “Never-NZer” who has no credibility! The enthusiasm people have for National Zero is tremendous and Van Zandt (a Dutch last name so he’s very pro-windmill) didn’t show that in his report! He also falls for the Iceland Iceland Iceland HOAX scandal, a disgusting lie about National Zero that should be illegal. We know nothing about our site being hosted in Iceland. We don’t know Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, have never spoken to her. She’s a very savvy woman, a genius. Very tough and smart.