Buffalo Chronicle

Last updated

Buffalo Chronicle
Type of site
 Fake news website
Founded2014
OwnerMatthew Ricchiazzi
URL buffalochronicle.com

The Buffalo Chronicle is a fake news website. [1] [2] It has run fake stories concerning one or more Canadian politicians, [3] [4] and has paid to have its content about them run on Facebook. [5] It was founded in the United States in 2014. [6]

Contents

Content

In February 2019, the Buffalo Chronicle published an article titled "Wernick likely to depart the Trudeau government as RCMP probes SNC Lavalin influence", claiming that Michael Wernick was set to leave his job in "the next several days". The story was sent by the media monitoring desk of the Privy Council Office to various civil servants, despite Wernick not having been interviewed by the RCMP and SNC-Lavalin not donating to the Liberal Party. That afternoon, the Privy Council Office's director of media affairs said, "I will speak with my team about double-checking the validity of news sources. We have been keeping a close eye on coverage related to the Clerk and unfortunately this one slipped through. We will be more cautious going forward." Wernick would not resign until April. [7]

Prior to the 2019 Canadian federal election, the Buffalo Chronicle claimed without evidence that Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was looking to suppress a supposed sex scandal involving a student at the West Point Grey Academy, where Trudeau taught at between 1998 and 2001, [3] [8] [9] and that they had seen a "password-protected" non-disclosure agreement sent by the supposed student's father. [8] The latter claim was cited in January 2022 by InfoWars host Owen Shroyer, who claimed that Trudeau had signed a $1 million non-disclosure agreement with a minor who had allegedly accused him of sexual misconduct. The video clip of Shroyer was shared by James Wells, a former British Member of the European Parliament. [8]

The Buffalo Chronicle also falsely claimed that Trudeau had filed an injunction to prevent The Globe and Mail from publishing an investigation into the supposed sex scandal. When there was a delay in the paper's distribution to certain kiosks in Ottawa and Quebec, several online sources attributed the delay to the supposed injunction. The Globe's communications manager told Agence France-Presse that the paper "had technical press delays in the Montreal area plant". [4] [9]

In November 2020, the website published an article falsely claiming that Philadelphia mafia boss Joey Merlino was paid $3 million to forge 300,000 votes for Joe Biden in that year's presidential election. [10] In June 2022, Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley told lawmakers that the article prompted violent threats against her. [11]

In 2022, a satirical cannabis hoax Buffalo Chronicle story about Amtrak selling cannabis onboard U.S. trains, and allowing consumption in designated smoking cars, at the urging of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a proponent of cannabis legalization, was reprinted in its entirety in Railway Age along with commentary. The story had Schumer saying the regulation "will improve the passenger experience and increase ticket sales". [12]

Operation

The website is operated by Matthew Ricchiazzi, who sought office in several New York state elections without success. A 2019 investigation by BuzzFeed News and the Toronto Star found that Ricchiazzi had previously offered to publish positive or negative coverage of political candidates for money, [13] which is a violation of journalistic ethics. [8]

In 2019, the website claimed to have "never been sued for defamation or any other matter" or received a cease and desist letter. [9] Prior to the 2019 Canadian federal election, the website ran paid Facebook advertisements to promote two dubious stories about Justin Trudeau, despite the website's content being repeatedly debunked by news organizations. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Trudeau</span> Prime Minister of Canada since 2015

Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who has been serving as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013.

Warren James Kinsella is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Citizen, the National Post,The Walrus, and Postmedia newspapers. He appeared regularly on the Sun News Network. Kinsella is the founder of the Daisy Consulting Group, a Toronto-based firm that engages in paid political campaign strategy work, lobbying and communications crisis management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic LeBlanc</span> Canadian politician (born 1967)

Dominic A. LeBlanc is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs since 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, LeBlanc sits as the member of Parliament (MP) for Beauséjour, representing the New Brunswick riding in the House of Commons since 2000. He has held a number of Cabinet portfolios throughout his tenure in government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Scheer</span> Canadian politician

Andrew James Scheer is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Regina—Qu'Appelle since 2004. Scheer served as the 35th speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015, and was the leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Official Opposition from 2017 to 2020.

The Western Standard is a Canadian conservative social commentary media website operated by Western Standard New Media Corp. and its president Derek Fildebrandt. The Standard is based in Calgary, Alberta, where its main offices are located. The Standard also has bureaus in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent Hehr</span> Canadian politician (born 1969)

Kent Hehr is a Canadian politician from Alberta. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Centre from 2015 to 2019. Hehr was named Minister of Veterans Affairs in the federal Cabinet, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015, and was shuffled to be Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities in August 2017. Hehr resigned from cabinet on January 25, 2018, after allegations of workplace misconduct surfaced from when he was the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Buffalo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Brown (journalist)</span> Canadian journalist

Jesse Benjamin Brown is a Canadian journalist, media personality, and businessperson. In 2013, he founded the Canadaland podcast that grew into a podcasting company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jody Wilson-Raybould</span> Canadian politician

Jody Wilson-Raybould, also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the British Columbia (BC) riding of Vancouver Granville from 2015 to 2021. She was initially elected as a member of the Liberal Party – serving as justice minister and attorney general from 2015 to 2019, and briefly as veterans minister and associate national defence minister in 2019 – until she resigned in response to statements from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the SNC-Lavalin affair. After she was expelled from the Liberal caucus, she continued to sit in Parliament as an independent and was reelected in 2019, but did not run in 2021. Before entering federal politics, she was a BC provincial Crown prosecutor, a treaty commissioner and regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadaland</span> Canadian news site and podcast network

Canadaland is a Canadian digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing a network of podcasts. The company was founded by Jesse Brown in 2013. The original podcast covers Canadian media and media criticism. Subsequently, new shows have been added to the network covering a range of topics from current affairs, art and culture, cooking, medicine, and Canadian politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardish Chagger</span> Canadian politician (born 1980)

Bardish Chagger is a Canadian politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Chagger has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Waterloo since the 2015 federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celina Caesar-Chavannes</span> Canadian politician (born 1974)

Celina R. Caesar-Chavannes is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Whitby in the House of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2019. Elected as a Liberal in the 2015 federal election, she later sat as an independent member. Caesar-Chavannes also unsuccessfully ran in the 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election, placing thirty-ninth out of 102 candidates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Canadian federal election</span>

The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the Canada Elections Act, the writs of election for the 2019 election were issued by Governor General Julie Payette on September 11, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Justin Trudeau</span>


The premiership of Justin Trudeau began on November 4, 2015, when the first Cabinet headed by Justin Trudeau was sworn in by Governor General David Johnston. Trudeau was invited to form the 29th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of Canada following the 2015 federal election, where Trudeau led his Liberal Party to win a majority of seats in the House of Commons of Canada, defeating the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Trudeau's Liberals were reduced to two minority governments in the federal elections of 2019 and 2021, with his party losing the national popular vote twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Wernick</span>

Michael Wernick is a Canadian retired public servant who served as the 23rd clerk of the Privy Council for Canada from 2016 to 2019. Following his tenure as clerk, Wernick joined the University of Ottawa, where he was named Jarislowsky chair of public sector management.

<i>Cannabis Act</i> 2018 Canadian law legalizing recreational cannabis use

The Cannabis Act is a law which legalized recreational cannabis use in Canada in combination with its companion legislation Bill C-46, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code. The law is a milestone in the legal history of cannabis in Canada, alongside the 1923 prohibition.

The People's Voice is an American fake news website based in Los Angeles. The site was founded as Your News Wire in 2014 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai and his husband, Sinclair Treadway. In November 2018, it rebranded itself as NewsPunch. Your News Wire was revived as a separate website in November 2020, and has continued publishing hoaxes similar to those in NewsPunch. In 2023, NewsPunch adopted its current name, The People's Voice.

The SNC-Lavalin affair is a political scandal involving attempted political interference with the justice system by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The Parliament of Canada's Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found that Trudeau improperly influenced then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against Quebec-based construction company SNC-Lavalin by offering a deferred prosecution agreement.

The Post Millennial is an English-language far-right Canadian online website. Founded in 2017, it publishes national and local news and has a large amount of opinion content. It has been owned by Human Events Media Group, the parent company of the American right-wing website Human Events, since 2022. It is described as a far-right website by Southern Poverty Law Center and Media Matters for America.

Ian Douglas Shugart was a Canadian politician, professor, and public servant who served as a senator from Ontario from September 2022 until his death in October 2023. Prior to his appointment to the Senate, Shugart held a number of senior roles within the Public Service of Canada, including as the 24th clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet from 2019 to 2021.

References

  1. ↑ Ling, Justin (March 18, 2019). "The Buffalo Chronicle Is Not A Reliable News Outlet (yet people who should know better keep sharing their stuff)". Canadaland . Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  2. ↑ Brachfeld, Ben (January 31, 2022). "Website spreads fake Brooklyn news to thousands". The Brooklyn Paper . Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Dan MacGuill (October 9, 2019). "Did Justin Trudeau Stop Teaching at a Vancouver Private School Under the Cloud of a Sex Scandal?". Snopes.com . Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Baudoin-Laarman, Louis (October 9, 2019). "Canada's national newspaper was not barred from publishing a scandal involving PM Trudeau". Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on March 24, 2024. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Silverman, Craig; Oved, Marco Chown; Lytvynenko, Jane (October 29, 2019). "The Buffalo Chronicle Ran Facebook Ads Promoting Dubious Trudeau Stories". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  6. ↑ Lytvynenko, Jane; Oved, Marco Chown; Silverman, Craig (October 18, 2019). "The Canadian Election's Surprise Influencer Is A Buffalo Man Targeting Canadians With Viral Disinformation". BuzzFeed News . Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  7. ↑ Ling, Justin (June 5, 2019). "Canadian Government Fooled By False Report About Canadian Government". Canadaland . Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Khandelwal, Devika (January 20, 2022). "False: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had sexual relations with a minor and had her sign a two and a quarter million dollar non-disclosure agreement so no one would find out about it". Logically . Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 Coleman, Alistair (October 21, 2019). "Website spreads untrue Trudeau rumours ahead of Canada election". BBC. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  10. ↑ "The local news site behind fake Biden 'mafia plot'". BBC News . November 21, 2020. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  11. ↑ Stein, Shira (January 21, 2023). "The San Francisco Inquirer looks like local news. Here's why politicians are furious with the site". San Francisco Chronicle . Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  12. ↑ William C. Vantuono (October 24, 2022), "All Aboard Amtrak's Mary Jane Limited?", Railway Age , archived from the original on November 5, 2022, retrieved November 5, 2022
  13. ↑ Lytvynenko, Jane; Oved, Marco Chown; Silverman, Craig (October 19, 2019). "The Owner Of The Buffalo Chronicle Once Offered To Publish Negative Political Stories For Money". BuzzFeed News . Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.