Belén Fernández

Belén Fernández is a journalist at Al Jazeera, covering politics and international affairs. She has written extensively on US elections, wealth inequality, and the influence of money in politics. Her work often highlights the power dynamics at play in global issues and examines how these dynamics impact individuals and societies.

Biography: https://www.aljazeera.com/author/belen_fernandez_201163082655120314/

78%

The Daily's Verdict

This author has a mixed reputation for journalistic standards. It is advisable to fact-check, scrutinize for bias, and check for conflicts of interest before relying on the author's reporting.

Bias

85%

Examples:

Dark money industry is pretty much to thank for producing the most conservative court in nearly a century.
Folks with monetary capital who effectively reign.
It is just about the most unhidden conspiracy ever.
Plutocratic operations have become so normalised a part of the political landscape that hardly anyone bats an eye when we talk about millions being flung around here and there in order to affect electoral outcomes.
Shameless plutocracy euphemised as democracy.
The people's will could not matter less.

Conflicts of Interest

100%

Examples:

Louisiana's Ten Commandments crusade is no doubt a handy distraction from more profoundly existential problems.
US presidents have put themselves above international law. Now they are also immune from domestic law.
Wealthy donors are playing an outsized role in US elections and this is apparent now more than ever.

Contradictions

85%

Examples:

Bill Clinton's name appears 73 times in the documents released thus far.
Epstein committed suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 before standing trial.
Epstein took a continued interest in how Maxwell might respond, writing 'I tried to call. What have you decided?'
Four more tranches of court records pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein were unsealed on Friday.
Giuffre's claim that she met President Bill Clinton on Epstein's island would later become a contentious issue between Maxwell and Giuffre.
Many influential people were in Epstein's orbit but only he and Maxwell have been prosecuted so far.
Prince Andrew has denied Giuffre's claims. In 2022 he settled a civil lawsuit she filed against him with no admission of wrongdoing.
The Miami Herald continued pursuing records requests to force transparency from the courts regarding Epstein's crimes and the failures that allowed him to evade justice for so long.
The newly unsealed documents showed that the defamation lawsuit from which all of these documents originated was filed by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell on September 21, 2015.
The release of these records demonstrates the power of dogged reporting done in the service of truth and in the public interest.
The third round of documents from a lawsuit connected to Jeffrey Epstein was publicly released on Friday.
Unsealing the documents is not just about the Epstein case, making sure this kind of misuse of influence and secrecy in the court system is stopped in its tracks or keeping public records public

Deceptions

50%

Examples:

The phrase 'not so surprising' used to downplay the significance of Epstein being named as an associate of paedophile financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is deceptive.
The use of loaded language such as 'those at the top of the hierarchy' implies that those named in court documents are part of an elite group who have usurped wealth and power, which is not true given their involvement in criminal activities.