{"id":57111,"date":"2016-11-19T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T12:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=57111"},"modified":"2016-11-19T08:02:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T12:02:00","slug":"meet-the-leftist-professor-who-wrote-the-hit-list-of-fake-news-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=57111","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Leftist Professor Who Wrote The ‘Hit List’ Of “Fake News” Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Chelsea Schilling
\nWND.com<\/p>\n

\n
\"Merrimack<\/p>\n

Merrimack College assistant professor Melissa Zimdars, author of the \u201cfake news\u201d list circulated online (Photo: Twitter)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The mainstream media are going wild circulating a viral list of so-called \u201cfake news\u201d websites \u2013 and the list includes established news sites like WND, Zero Hedge, Breitbart, Red State, the Daily Wire and Project Veritas \u2013 but WND has found a leftist, Trump-bashing assistant professor in Massachusetts who specialized in \u201cfat studies\u201d is behind the effort to target and discredit legitimate news organizations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meet Merrimack College Assistant Professor\u00a0Melissa Zimdars, a 30-something self-identified feminist and activist who has expressed great dislike for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Melissa<\/a><\/p>\n

Melissa \u201cMish\u201d Zimdars is an assistant professor of communication at Merrimack College in Massachusetts<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

She\u2019s only actually\u00a0held her teaching position at the private college in North Andover, Mass., for 15 months.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zimdars published and circulated\u00a0a list<\/a> of \u201cfake, false, or regularly misleading websites that are shared on Facebook and social media.\u201d She said\u00a0she began writing the list because she didn\u2019t approve of the sources her students were citing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to some satirical and bogus sites, her list attacks the credibility of\u00a0well-established news organizations such as Breitbart<\/a>, BizPac Review<\/a>, Red State<\/a>, the Blaze<\/a>, the Independent Journal Review<\/a>, Twitchy<\/a>, the Daily Wire<\/a>, WND and\u00a0James O\u2019Keefe\u2019s Project Veritas<\/a>. In\u00a0many cases (such as with her WND listing), she offers no explanation for why the news organizations were included on the list.<\/p>\n

Mainstream media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times circulated Zimdars\u2019 growing list. The Times headlined its story, \u201cWant to keep fake news out of your newsfeed? College professor creates list of sites to avoid.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0The Times offered no details concerning\u00a0Zimdars\u2019 qualifications or background. News organizations such as CNN<\/a>, the\u00a0Washington Post<\/a>,\u00a0Boston Globe<\/a>, New York Magazine<\/a>, USA Today<\/a>, Business Insider<\/a>, the Austin American-Statesman<\/a>, the Dallas Morning News<\/a>\u00a0and others spread the list like gospel and cited it in their reports.<\/p>\n

But nearly none of them considered Zimdars\u2019 political leanings or questioned her criteria or qualifications for determining which news sources should be included on her list.<\/p>\n

(Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Zimdars removed her list following publication of this WND article. However, versions of it continue to be circulated in the mainstream media and online.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A portion of the \u201cfake news\u201d list published by Melissa Zimdars<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Zimdars teaches courses in radio, production, mass communication, feminist media studies, television criticism and new media and digital communication. <\/strong>She received her doctorate in communication and media studies just last year.<\/p>\n

Zimdars has not responded to WND\u2019s request for clarification on her expertise or criteria for deciding which news sources to include on her list. WND asked Merrimack College President Christopher Hopey if he\u00a0stands by Zimdars\u2019 decision to publish the list and use it as teaching material for her classes. However. Merrimack Vice President of Communications Jim Chiavelli replied, \u201cThanks for your question to the president about professor Zimdars pedagogy. The college has no comment for this story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerned individuals may contact Melissa Zimdars<\/a> and Merrimack College President Christopher Hopey<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In response to the list,\u00a0PJ Media\u2019s Stephen Kruiser wrote<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s no surprise that a college professor compiled this list; what\u2019s galling is that the Los Angeles Times \u2018reported\u2019 on it without mentioning that it\u2019s complete garbage.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sean Hannity\u2019s website<\/a> warned that Zimdars\u2019 list\u00a0includes \u201cmainstream conservative sources\u201d and \u201cis giving us insight into just what kind of websites the left plans on targeting for censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her new job as an assistant professor, Zimdars is also a columnist and contributor<\/a> for Little Village Magazine<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a left-leaning magazine that says it\u2019s focused on issues such as \u201cracial justice,\u201d \u201cgender equity,\u201d \u201ccritical culture,\u201d \u201ceconomic and labor justice\u201d and \u201cenvironmental sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her Twitter profile describes her as a \u201cfeminist\u201d and \u201cactivist.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Zimdars\u2019 social-media accounts<\/a> are protected from public view, leading tweeter Vanessa Beeley<\/a> to note that Zimdars \u201ccan\u2019t take the heat. Named \u2018fake media\u2019 & then protected all her own media sites.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But Newsbusters found tweets from Zimdars<\/a>\u00a0harshly criticizing President-elect Trump and Vice-President elect Mike Pence during the vice-presidential debate in October.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cUndocumented workers contribute more to this country (beyond taxes) than Drumpf ever has or ever will,\u201d she tweeted on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The same day, she tweeted to Pence that Hillary\u2019s \u201cbasket of deplorables\u201d comment does not equal \u201cTrump\u2019s constant sexist, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic comments.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Zimdars-tweets\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Zimdars says she\u2019s an expert on the media\u2019s portrayal of \u201cfat\u201d people.<\/strong> In 2015, the same year she received her doctorate, Zimdar published a paper on \u201cfat acceptance TV\u201d<\/a> in the journal Popular Communication. The paper critiqued the TLC television miniseries \u201cBig Sexy.\u201d It\u2019s unclear whether the paper was Zimdar\u2019s doctoral dissertation.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the \u201cFeminist Killjoys Podcast,\u201d<\/a> Zimdar talks about her \u201cfat studies\u201d research.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mostly focus on media representations of fatness, or any kind of body that deviates from the normal health prescription,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>she said.<\/p>\n

She enthusiastically declares that she\u2019s \u201cless self-conscious of my own rear end than I used to be\u201d and participates in an extensive discussion of the Kardashians, a reality TV family. She further suggests women should \u201ccelebrate eating pizza.\u201d Zimdars praises actress Amy Schumer for stating, \u201cI\u2019m probably like 160 pounds right now, and I can catch a d\u2013k whenever I want, like, that\u2019s the truth. It\u2019s not a problem!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Concerned individuals may contact Melissa Zimdars<\/a> and Merrimack College President Christopher Hopey<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Zimdars published a\u00a02014 article in Little Village Magazine<\/a>\u00a0on the TV series \u201cGirls,\u201d starring Lena Dunham.<\/p>\n

\u201cGirls is meaningful to me mainly for one reason: Lena Dunham\u2019s naked body,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Zimdars writes, praising Dunham\u2019s \u201cbody confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a University of Notre Dame conference in June of this year, Zimdars gave a presentation\u00a0titled, \u201cFailures of the Self or Failures of Fitbit?: Gendered Fit\/Fatness, Tracking Technologies, and Self-SurveillingPost-Feminist Subjects.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Zimdars racked up about $60,000 for her degrees in communication and media studies, according to the Iowa Gazette<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a graduate student, she also complained about tuition costs in a 2014 interview with\u00a0the Des Moines Register<\/a>, telling the newspaper she was joining a protest because, \u201cWe wanted to all work together to bring awareness to the fact that it doesn\u2019t have to be an issue if the state would start funding higher education again. Then we wouldn\u2019t be acquiring so much debt as individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for her list of \u201cfake news\u201d sites, one Twitter user offered up the following \u201clist of journalists who colluded with the Clinton campaign.\u201d The reporters and news organizations in his post\u00a0were not included on Zimdars\u2019 list.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He tweeted<\/a>, \u201cHere\u2019s the actual list of fake news sites from WikiLeaks. Melissa Zimdars is a troll.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"journalists-wiki-tw\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2016-11-18\/meet-leftist-professor-who-wrote-hit-list-fake-news-sites<\/a><\/p>\n

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