12/5/2016

IBT Media Mail - Fwd: Interview Request from Newsweek

JoannaBrenner<j.brenner@newsweek.com>

Fwd:InterviewRequestfromNewsweek
4messages
RossSchneiderman<rmschneiderman@gmail.com>
Mon,Dec5,2016at8:25AM
To:JoannaBrenner<j.brenner@newsweek.com>,NicholasLoffredo<n.loffredo@newsweek.com>
Hiall,
HereistheemailI'dliketoembedinthewebversionofWesternJournalism.It'stheresponsefromPatrickBrown.Endof
thedayistotallyfine.IthinkScribdisprobbest,justbecauseit'salongemail.
Ross

Forwardedmessage
From:PatrickBrown<patrick@liftablemedia.com>
Date:Fri,Dec2,2016at8:21PM
Subject:Re:InterviewRequestfromNewsweek
To:JonathanKrohn<jonathan.krohn@gmail.com>

Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for reaching out before submitting your story. I can see why you would want a comment from us before
publishing such an imammatory and untrue statement as calling our websites "fake news" and "propaganda" is. I'd
really like to understand your specic reasoning behind those derogatory blanket statements and I hope you'll
realize how untrue that is.
I am going to believe that you want the truth and only want to present the truth to your readers. I respect that, and
we have the same commitment to the truth here at Liftable Media. So I'd like to tell you the truth about our company,
and I hope that you take it for what it is; me reaching out in good faith and I hope that you will take it in that spirit.
1) Floyd Brown, my father, doesn't run Liftable Media. My name is Patrick Brown, and I'm President, Founder, and
CEO of Liftable Media, and I run Liftable Media. My father Floyd Brown is one minority owner, along with myself and
others. He currently is CEO of Anthem Broadcasting, the owner of USA Radio Network. While Liftable Media has an
ownership stake in Anthem Broadcasting, they are run as essentially separate companies, with some cross
promotion and sharing of certain resources. For example, a parallel might be the way NBC runs separately from
Comcast Inc. Floyd does give me advice from time to time and serves on our board, but most of the advice he gives
me directly revolves around business matters (like advice on benets, investments or acquisitions and payroll). He
nancially supported the founding of Liftable Media and personally supported me through advice and
encouragement.
I'll have to let him comment specically on your questions, but really for the most part he's doesn't do interviews as
he feels that for the most part journalists assume the worst and lie about him.
2) It would be very helpful if you could give us the specic articles that you are referring to, but I will try to get you
comments on the stories I think you are referring to. You'll have to let us know which articles you are referring to
specically if you'd like specic comments.
Vince Foster: In regards to thisstorythat we do need to apologize and issue a correction for the headline. The
headline mentioned a murder case when there was none. An explanation that there is a theory about the Clintons
having political motivation for Fosters death would have cleared up the reference but it was not in the article and
therefore, as the story was written, the headline is misleading. The headline was referring to the case of public
opinion and relied on a report from WND. As per our policy, our headline should have either had the word report in
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=65160514e2&view=pt&search=inbox&th=158cfcdbd166917b&siml=158cfcdbd166917b&siml=158cfd21ba18f1cc&siml...

1/4

12/5/2016

IBT Media Mail - Fwd: Interview Request from Newsweek

it, or explained that the phrase "Murder Case" was referring to the case of public opinion about Hillarys involvement
in the sad passing of Vince Foster. We'll be changing the headline and we are issuing an apology and a correction
to the article.
Jade Helm: You don't reference any specic articles, so I'll just have to respond generally. Jade Helm was a two
month long military exercise operated by the U.S. Military in 7 southwestern states. A map was leaked that showed
some states listed as "hostile territory." We covered this issue, which many of our readers were concerned about, in
summer of 2015. We believe it is the role of journalists to question government actions and government motives as
a public service, especially if our audience is specically concerned or fearful about an issue. I'm unsure what part
of this you nd objectionable, or if you are questioning the existence of Jade Helm.
I think that it's also important to note that we acquired ConservativeTribune.com in the spring of 2015, and Jade
Helm happened as we transitioned management of CT into Liftable Media. We are looking into whether we should
do a comprehensive audit of older articles in order to make sure that they line up with our commitment to the truth.
For the most part, older article are read rarely on our sites, but everything published under our ownership should be
the 100% truth, so we'll look into that.
Erick Prince: In regards to the Orgy Island story, it was based on an exclusive interview conducted by Breitbart
News. That interview was linked to in it's entirety from our article. Eric Prince is the founder of Blackwater and has
been a public gure for years. See this New York Times Article from 2011:http://www.nytimes.com/2
011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html. We were reporting what he said in his interview and made that very clear
throughout the article.
On a side note, you may notice that this NYT story has two corrections listed. I'm glad when they made mistakes
that they owned up to these mistakes and issued corrections, just as we should. But I wouldn't use a single example
to blanket their entire outlet as "fake news" or propganda, and it would be irresponsible of me to do that.
Miami-Dade: I've tried to nd what story you are referring to, but I have no idea which one you are referring to about
illegals in Miami-Dade. This is the closest I've found, but there's no mention of an illegal alien
voting:http://www.westernjournalism.com/threearrestedvoterfraud/.
3)Finallyregardingmyeditorial,thankyouforreadingit.Toclarify,Idobelievethatthereisrealobjectivetruth.Iput
"true"inquotationmarkstocontrastitwith"fake"news,whichmanypeople,includingyourselfevidently,are
throwingaroundtodescribeupstartmediaorganizationsservingalargeaudienceinAmericathatfeelsliedtoand
manipulatedbythetraditionalmedia.
Therearerealexamplesoffakenewswherepeoplecompletelymadeupstoriesoutofthinairinordertogenerate
clicksandmoney.Ihateitwhenthishappens,especiallywhenitispreyingonpeoplewhowecareaboutand
respect.Ithinkit'swrongandifIeverfoundanyoneinourorganizationthatwasdoingthis,theywouldbeletgo
immediately.
Iwascorrect,however,whenIforecastthattheseaccusationsoffakerywouldstarttobeappliedtoorganizations
thatprovidepoliticalandculturaldissenttotheexistinggovernment,media,andcorporateestablishment.
Jonathan,I'dreallyliketoencourageyounottojumpreflexivelyontothatnarrativebandwagon.Newsorganizations
makemistakesandaremadeupofrealpeople.
Infact,NewsweekitselfaccidentallyissuedamagazineonelectionnightcallingHillaryClintonthenewPresident,
whichwasclearlynottrue(onecouldcallthisstory"Fake".)Additionally,oneofyourowneditorsacknowledgedthat
thearticlewas"embarrassing",thatthetoneofthearticlewasobsequiousandworshipfulofHillaryClinton,and
evenacknowledgedthatthestorywasn'treadbyeditorialstaffbeforeitwentout.Allofthatcouldeasilybe
describedas"propaganda"ratherthananunbiasednewsstory.
WhatI'mtryingtosayisthateverysinglenewsorganizationmakesmistakes.Itisinappropriate,untrue,andI'llgo
sofarastosay,potentiallylibelous,topaintanentirenewsoperationwiththousandsandthousandsofstories
writtenbymanycommittedethicalstaffas"fake"ifthereareafewmistakesmade.
I will just end by repeating something I said in my editorial.
"As for us at Liftable Media, we are totally committed to the truth. Weve made mistakes before, but we are fully
devoted to putting forth trustworthy news and information sources for millions of Americans. We will continue to

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=65160514e2&view=pt&search=inbox&th=158cfcdbd166917b&siml=158cfcdbd166917b&siml=158cfd21ba18f1cc&siml...

2/4

12/5/2016

IBT Media Mail - Fwd: Interview Request from Newsweek

improve, and continue to provide an excellent alternative to the traditional media sources that have abdicated their
mainstream placement and opted to become hyper-partisan echo chambers of the liberal elite."
I'll add to that that we will continue to apologize, and issue corrections if we let our readers down and we pledge to
invest more and more to make sure we get as close to zero mistakes as possible.
If you'd like some more context about Liftable Media, we reach over 40 million American unique visitors every
month. We had 175 million article impressions and over 100 million video impressions in November. We have 75
staff and are based in Phoenix Arizona and I founded Liftable Media in 2014.
Thanks Jonathan, good luck with your article. I'm sorry I didn't respondto your earlier request, but your description
made it sound like a very general article about media after the election, and we've been very busy since this
election. Once so understood you were writing specically about us and you had a very wrong understanding of our
company, I got this reply together as fast as I could. Please forgive any typos.
Sincerely, Patrick Brown

NicholasLoffredo<n.loffredo@newsweek.com>
To:RossSchneiderman<rmschneiderman@gmail.com>
Cc:JoannaBrenner<j.brenner@newsweek.com>

Mon,Dec5,2016at8:30AM

DowehaveanyissuewithincludingtheMadamePresidentstuff?
[Quotedtexthidden]

NicholasLoffredoWeekendEditor
+1(646)4847518/7325031491(cell)

7HanoverSquare,Fl5,NewYork,NY10004
http://newsweek.com
RossSchneiderman<rmschneiderman@gmail.com>
To:NicholasLoffredo<n.loffredo@newsweek.com>
Cc:JoannaBrenner<j.brenner@newsweek.com>

Mon,Dec5,2016at8:45AM

Ithinkifweediteditout,itwouldmakeuslookbad.Soweshouldprinthisstatementasis.
[Quotedtexthidden]

R.M.SchneidermanSeniorEditor

Cell:+1(937)7510518
www.newsweek.com

NicholasLoffredo<n.loffredo@newsweek.com>
To:RossSchneiderman<rmschneiderman@gmail.com>
Cc:JoannaBrenner<j.brenner@newsweek.com>

Mon,Dec5,2016at8:46AM

Iagree,IjustquestionedbcIknowthey'resupertouchyaboutit.
[Quotedtexthidden]

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=65160514e2&view=pt&search=inbox&th=158cfcdbd166917b&siml=158cfcdbd166917b&siml=158cfd21ba18f1cc&siml...

3/4