Examiner.com

{{Internet}}
'''Examiner.com''' is a multiuser blogging site owned by [[conservative]] mega-donor {{wpl|Phillip Anschutz}} that presents itself as a [[news]] site. Don't be fooled.

Examiner.com pays its writers based (among other things) on pageviews.<ref><capture>[http://www.suite101.com/content/online-freelance-writing-jobs-at-examinercom-a94449 "Online Freelance Writing Jobs at Examiner.com"]</capture></ref> As a result, a lot of Examiner material tends to be sensationalistic to attract attention &mdash; positive or negative doesn't matter, it's all clicks. Headlines such as "U.S. to bomb moon on [[UFO]] witness [[John Lennon]]'s birthday"<ref>http://www.examiner.com/article/u-s-to-bomb-moon-on-ufo-witness-john-lennon-s-birthday</ref> and "Official disclosure of [[extraterrestrial]] life is imminent"<ref>http://www.examiner.com/article/official-disclosure-of-extraterrestrial-life-is-imminent</ref> are par for the course. You will see enthusiastic Examiner bloggers linkspamming furiously on other sites (to the point of being in [[Wikipedia]]'s spam blacklist<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist</ref> since 2009<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist&diff=322349641&oldid=322293221</ref>), often touting their work as "media coverage" (and themselves as "journalists" or "the press"<ref>[http://cp.noym.net/d607d639d90861ca "As a member of the press...] [[Terry Hurlbut|TerryH]] (Essex County Elections 2010 Examiner)"</ref>) rather than just a blog post they themselves wrote. Not that it pays very well &mdash; ''Writers Weekly'' considers it "just another pay-per-click meat market,"<ref>http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/005351_05062009.html</ref><ref>http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/005364_05132009.html</ref> exploiting writers to attract people to their site by paying them pennies.

[[Crank]]s and those with really bad [[critical thinking]] skills will link Examiner articles as if they're edited [[journalism]] rather than just some guy blogging. If you use an Examiner page as a reference for anything whatsoever, treat it with great caution. Not all Examiners are rubbish, but it's the way to bet. 

The domain name used to be owned by the ''San Francisco Examiner'', a proper (if free and local) newspaper, which now uses [http://sfexaminer.com sfexaminer.com]. It's not clear what they were thinking when giving it up.

The Examiner runs print tabloid editions in several major cities, including [[Washington, D.C.]] Virtually all are freely distributed at mass transit stops and tend to run a local news or sports story as the main headline in an attempt to lure readers. The unlucky readers are bombarded with [[wingnut]] news articles and an editorial section which runs the full spectrum from moderate-right to far-right. 

==See also==

*[[Forbes|Forbes.com]], another multiuser blog pretending to be edited news

==External links==
*[http://www.examiner.com Examiner.com]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{stub|internet}}

[[Category:Media]]
[[Category:Blogs]]
[[Category:Clogosphere]]
[[Category:Internet kooks]]

Categories: Media, Blogs, Clogosphere, Internet kooks