Will Sommer,

Will Sommer is a media reporter for the Style section, specializing in covering conservative media and conspiracy theories. He's the author of "Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America," a book covering the QAnon movement. Before starting at The Washington Post in May 21, he worked for The Daily Beast as a politics reporter and the host of the 'Fever Dreams' podcast.

Biography:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/will-sommer/

72%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermines the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
Analysis.OverallConflictOfInterestScore * 0.3F + Analysis.OverallBiasScore * 0.3F + Analysis.DeceptivenessScore * 0.3F + Analysis.ReadabilityScore * 0.1F

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

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

80%

Examples:

  • Finkelstein vowed to hire 550 journalists within a year, a figure that would have turned it into one of the largest newsrooms in the country. With ad rates crashing though, that was a hard sell; media observers quipped to the New York Post that the site would be a 'money pit.'
  • The Messenger was bedeviled by both editorial and financial challenges almost as soon as it launched.
  • The Messenger was saddled with problems all its own since launching in May 2014 including the founder's confidence in a traffic-based business model that rivals had dismissed as outdated.

Conflicts of Interest

50%

Examples:

  • None.

Contradictions

100%

Examples:

  • The Messenger closes down after blowing millions on ill-fated news site

Deceptions

100%

Examples:

  • The Messenger was a news site that failed to attract enough readers or advertisers and ended up shutting down after losing millions of dollars. The author does not provide any evidence for his claims about the site's problems.

Recent Articles

The Messenger: A Digital News Startup's Failed Attempt to Raise Funding and Shutdown

The Messenger: A Digital News Startup's Failed Attempt to Raise Funding and Shutdown

Broke On: Saturday, 03 February 2024 The Messenger, a digital news startup launched with $50 million in funding last May, failed to raise the necessary funds and lost tens of millions of dollars. Despite bringing in around $3 million in revenue last year.