CounterPunch#Reception

CounterPunch began as a newsletter, established in 1994 by the Washington, D.C.–based investigative reporter Ken Silverstein."Counterpunch is the brainchild of Ken Silverstein, a former AP reporter in Rio de Janeiro." Lies of Our Times, vols 4–5 (1993), p. 26.

Silverstein was soon joined by Alexander Cockburn (b. 1941 – d. 2012) and then Jeffrey St. Clair, who became the publication's editors in 1996 when Silverstein left.Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey St. Clair, Five Days that Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond (London and New York: Verso, 2000), p. 151; Alexander Cockburn, Ken Silverstein, Washington Babylon (London and New York: Verso, 1996), p. 302.Cockburn, Alexander, and Jeffrey St. Clair, End Times: The Death of the Fourth Estate (Petrolia, California, and Oakland, California: CounterPunch and AK Press, 2007), pp. 2, 44.

In 2007, Cockburn and St. Clair wrote that in founding CounterPunch they had "wanted it to be the best muckraking newsletter in the country", and cited as inspiration such pamphleteers as Edward Abbey, Peter Maurin, and Ammon Hennacy, as well as the socialist/populist newspaper Appeal to Reason (1895–1922).Cockburn and St. Clair (2007), End Times, p. 383. When Alexander Cockburn died in 2012 at the age of 71, environmental journalist Joshua Frank became managing editor and Jeffrey St. Clair became editor-in-chief of CounterPunch.{{cite web|last=Nichols|first= John|url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/168996/alexander-cockburn-and-radical-power-word |title=Alexander Cockburn and the Radical Power of the Word |website=thenation.com|date= July 21, 2012| access-date= July 22, 2012}}[http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/blog/1645/an_award-winning_year/ An Award-Winning Year, The Investigative Fund]. Retrieved July 24, 2016 {{Webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20161130183717/http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/blog/1645/an_award%2Dwinning_year/ |date=November 30, 2016 }}

In 2003, The Observer described the CounterPunch website as "one of the most popular political sources in America, with a keen following in Washington".Reed, Christopher (March 2, 2003). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/02/usa.theobserver "Battle of the bottle divides columnists"]. The Observer. Other sources have variously described CounterPunch as "left-wing", "far-left",{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Moynihan|date=December 7, 2010|title=Olbermann, Assange, and the Holocaust Denier When you want to believe, you'll believe anything.|url=http://reason.com/archives/2010/12/07/olbermann-assange-and-the-holo|newspaper=Reason}} "extreme",{{cite news|title=The Fringe Fires at Bush on Iraq|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-mar-11-oe-boot11-story.html|newspaper=LA Times | first=Max|last=Boot|date=March 11, 2004}} a "political newsletter",{{cite news |title=Royalty checks aren't in the mail - Business - International Herald Tribune |first=Dan|last= Mitchell |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/business/worldbusiness/29iht-music.3317335.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 29, 2006 |access-date=June 14, 2011}} and a "muckraking newsletter".{{cite news |title=Who Pays For Mistakes In Making Electricity? |first=Melinda |last=Tuhus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/nyregion/who-pays-for-mistakes-in-making-electricity.html?pagewanted=5 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 22, 1998 |access-date=June 14, 2011}}

{{redirect|Alice Donovan|the American actress|Alice Dougan Donovan}}

During the 2016 presidential election, CounterPunch published a piece attributed to Alice Donovan, who purported to be a freelance writer but US intelligence officials alleged to be a pseudonymous employee of the Russian government.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kremlin-trolls-burned-across-the-internet-as-washington-debated-options/2017/12/23/e7b9dc92-e403-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html|title=Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options|last1=Entous|first1=Adam|date=December 25, 2017|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=December 25, 2017|last2=Nakashima|first2=Ellen|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|last3=Jaffe|first3=Greg}} Donovan was tracked by the FBI for nine months, as a suspected fictitious persona created by the GRU.{{cite web | last=DiResta | first=Renée | title=The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite | website=The Atlantic | date=September 20, 2020 | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/future-propaganda-will-be-computer-generated/616400/ | access-date=September 21, 2021}} In late November 2017, after CounterPunch had published several more pieces by Donovan, The Washington Post contacted Jeffrey St. Clair about her. The co-editor said that Donovan's pitches did not stand out among the pitches that CounterPunch received daily and began making inquiries. St. Clair asked Donovan to substantiate her identity by sending a photo of her driver’s license but she did not.

On the same day The Washington Post article about Donovan was published, St. Clair and Frank published a piece stating that CounterPunch only ran one article by Alice Donovan during the 2016 election, which was on cyber-breaches of medical databases. Donovan was also exposed by the newsletter as a serial plagiarizer.{{cite web|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/25/go-ask-alice-the-curious-case-of-alice-donovan-2/|title=Go Ask Alice: the Curious Case of 'Alice Donovan'|first=Jeffrey |last=St. Clair |author2= Joshua Frank|date=December 25, 2017|publisher=CounterPunch|access-date=January 6, 2018|quote=In sum, we published five stories by Donovan. One was apolitical. Four could be considered critiques of US foreign policy during the Trump administration. None mentioned Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, the 2016 elections, Wikileaks or Julian Assange.}} CounterPunch removed all of the articles from their site.{{cite web | last=O'Sullivan | first=Donie | title=Facebook removes Syrian war page it believes is linked to Russian intel, Twitter keeps it online | website=CNNMoney | date=August 23, 2018 | url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/23/technology/facebook-twitter-syria-media-center/index.html | access-date=September 21, 2021}}

In a January 2018 follow-up article, St. Clair and Frank exposed a network of alleged trolls that operated a site called Inside Syria Media Center, promoting a pro-Bashar al-Assad and pro-Russian view of the Syrian Civil War. St. Clair and Frank speculated that the website was connected to the same network of trolls as Alice Donovan, which was later confirmed by the Atlantic Council and other researchers.{{cite web|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/05/ghosts-in-the-propaganda-machine/|title=Ghosts in the Propaganda Machine|first=Jeffrey |last=St. Clair |author2= Joshua Frank|date=January 5, 2018|publisher=CounterPunch|access-date=January 6, 2018}}

On 8 June 2016, "Alice Donovan",

• {{cite magazine |last1=Entous |first1=Adam |title=The Rise and Fall of a Kremlin Troll |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-kremlin-troll |access-date=11 October 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=19 July 2018}}
• {{cite web |last1=Toler |first1=Aric |title=Details on Newly Uncovered GRU Online Personas |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2017/12/26/details-newly-uncovered-gru-online-personas/ |website=bellingcat |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=26 December 2017}}
• {{cite web |title=Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 presidential election |url=https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download |website=Department of Justice |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=March 7, 2019}}
• {{cite web |title=GRU and the Minions |url=https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_report_gru_minions.pdf |website=Graphika |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=September 23, 2020 |quote=The GRU ultimately used the Alice Donovan account to create its DCLeaks Facebook page, according to a U.S. indictment of GRU operators.}}
• {{cite web |last1=Frank |first1=Joshua |title=Alice Donovan, Russiagate and the Rabbit Hole of Sanctimony |url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/27/alice-donovan-russiagate-and-the-rabbit-hole-of-sanctimony/ |website=CounterPunch.org |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=27 July 2018}}
• {{cite news |title=How an American who lost his job due to COVID-19 got roped into an apparent Russian plot to meddle in American life |url=https://whdh.com/news/how-an-american-who-lost-his-job-due-to-covid-19-got-roped-into-an-apparent-russian-plot-to-meddle-in-american-life/ |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=WHDH 7 News |agency=CNN |date=4 September 2020 |location=Boston}}
• {{cite news |last1=Poulsen |first1=Kevin |title=Alleged Russian Operatives Spreading Fake News Sneak Back Onto Facebook |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/alleged-russian-operatives-spreading-fake-news-sneak-back-onto-facebook |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=The Daily Beast |date=5 September 2018 |language=en}}
• {{cite news |last1=Entous |first1=Adam |last2=Nakashima |first2=Ellen |last3=Jaffe |first3=Greg |title=Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kremlin-trolls-burned-across-the-internet-as-washington-debated-options/2017/12/23/e7b9dc92-e403-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html |access-date=11 October 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=9 April 2023}}
• {{cite web |last1=St Clair |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Frank |first2=Joshua |title=Go Ask Alice: the Curious Case of "Alice Donovan" |url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/25/go-ask-alice-the-curious-case-of-alice-donovan-2/ |website=CounterPunch.org |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=25 December 2017}}
• {{cite news |last1=Thielman |first1=Sam |title=TL;DR: From Russia, with love |url=https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/tldr-from-russia-with-love.php |date=July 19, 2018 |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=Columbia Journalism Review |language=en}}

and other Russian-controlled fake American personas began promoting the DCLeaks website on Facebook.

• {{Cite web |title=The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907170230/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html |archive-date=2017-09-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The New York Times |date=September 7, 2017 |access-date=September 20, 2020 |last=Shane |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Shane}}
• {{cite news |last1=Shane |first1=Scott |title=The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=7 September 2017}}

{{cite news|title=Timeline: How Russian agents allegedly hacked the DNC and Clinton's campaign|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/13/timeline-how-russian-agents-allegedly-hacked-the-dnc-and-clintons-campaign |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 13, 2018|access-date=July 15, 2018|last=Bump|first=Philip}}

In 2016, CounterPunch appeared in a PropOrNot list of websites in which it was described as a Russian propaganda outlet. Writing in the New Yorker, Adrian Chen described the list as a mess and CounterPunch as a "respected left-leaning" publication.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-propaganda-about-russian-propaganda |title=The Propaganda About Russian Propaganda |first=Adrian |last=Chen |date=December 1, 2016 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=March 23, 2017}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|https://www.counterpunch.org}}

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