title: Hygiene

text: Other uses of the term are as follows: "body hygiene, personal hygiene, sleep hygiene, mental hygiene, dental hygiene," and "occupational hygiene", used in connection with public health.


title: Hygiene

text: Home hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices that prevent or minimize the spread of disease at home and other everyday settings such as social settings, public transport, the workplace, public places, etc.


title: Hygiene

text: Hygiene in a variety of settings plays an important role in preventing the spread of infectious diseases. It includes procedures used in a variety of domestic situations such as hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, food and water hygiene, general home hygiene (hygiene of environmental sites and surfaces), care of domestic animals, and home health care (the care of those who are at greater risk of infection).


title: Hygiene

text: At present, these components of hygiene tend to be regarded as separate issues, although based on the same underlying microbiological principles. Preventing the spread of diseases means breaking the chain of infection transmission. Simply put, if the chain of infection is broken, infection cannot spread. "Targeted hygiene" is based on identifying the routes of pathogen spread in the home and introducing hygiene practices at critical times to break the chain of infection. It is using a risk-based approach based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).


title: Hygiene

text: The main sources of infection in the home are people (who are carriers or are infected), foods (particularly raw foods), water, pets and domestic animals. Sites that accumulate stagnant water—such as sinks, toilets, waste pipes, cleaning tools, face cloths, etc. readily support microbial growth and can become secondary reservoirs of infection, though species are mostly those that threaten "at risk" groups. Pathogens (potentially infectious bacteria, viruses etc.—colloquially called "germs") are constantly shed from these sources via mucous membranes, feces, vomit, skin scales, etc. Thus, when circumstances combine, people are exposed, either directly or via food or water, and can develop an infection.


title: Hygiene

text: The main "highways" for the spread of pathogens in the home are the hands, hand and food contact surfaces, and cleaning cloths and utensils (e.g. fecal-oral route of transmission). Pathogens can also be spread via clothing and household linens, such as towels. Utilities such as toilets and wash basins, for example, were invented for dealing safely with human waste but still have risks associated with them. Safe disposal of human waste is a fundamental need; poor sanitation is a primary cause of diarrhea disease in low income communities. Respiratory viruses and fungal spores are spread via the air.


title: Hygiene

text: Good home hygiene means engaging in hygiene practices at critical points to break the chain of infection. Because the "infectious dose" for some pathogens can be very small (10-100 viable units or even less for some viruses), and infection can result from direct transfer of pathogens from surfaces via hands or food to the mouth, nasal mucous or the eye, 'hygienic cleaning' procedures should be sufficient to eliminate pathogens from critical surfaces.


title: Hygiene

text: Correct respiratory and hand hygiene when coughing and sneezing reduces the spread of pathogens particularly during the cold and flu season.


title: Hygiene

text: Routine cleaning of hands, food, sites and surfaces (such as toilet seats and flush handles, door and tap handles, work surfaces, bath and basin surfaces) in the kitchen, bathroom and toilet rooms reduces the spread of pathogens. The infection risk from flush toilets is not high, provided they are properly maintained, although some splashing and aerosol formation can occur during flushing, particularly when someone has diarrhea. Pathogens can survive in the scum or scale left behind on baths, showers, and washbasins after washing and bathing.


title: Hygiene

text: Thorough cleaning is important in preventing the spread of fungal infections. Molds can live on wall and floor tiles and on shower curtains. Mold can be responsible for infections, cause allergic responses, deteriorate/damage surfaces, and cause unpleasant odors. Primary sites of fungal growth are inanimate surfaces, including carpets and soft furnishings. Air-borne fungi are usually associated with damp conditions, poor ventilation, or closed air systems.


title: Hygiene

text: Laundry hygiene involves practices that prevent disease and its spread via soiled clothing and household linens such as towels. Items most likely to be contaminated with pathogens are those that come into direct contact with the body, e.g., underwear, personal towels, facecloths, nappies. Cloths or other fabric items used during food preparation, or for cleaning the toilet or cleaning up material such as feces or vomit are a particular risk.


title: Hygiene

text: Microbiological and epidemiological data indicates that clothing and household linens etc. are a risk factor for infection transmission in home and everyday life settings as well as institutional settings. The lack of quantitative data linking contaminated clothing to infection in the domestic setting makes it difficult to assess the extent of this risk. It also indicates that risks from clothing and household linens are somewhat less than those associated with hands, hand contact and food contact surfaces, and cleaning cloths, but even so these risks need to be managed through effective laundering practices. In the home, this routine should be carried out as part of a multibarrier approach to hygiene which includes hand, food, respiratory and other hygiene practices.


title: Hygiene

text: Infectious diseases risks from contaminated clothing etc. can increase significantly under certain conditions, e.g., in healthcare situations in hospitals, care homes and the domestic setting where someone has diarrhoea, vomiting, or a skin or wound infection. It increases in circumstances where someone has reduced immunity to infection.


title: Hygiene

text: Hygiene measures, including laundry hygiene, are an important part of reducing spread of antibiotic resistant strains. In the community, otherwise healthy people can become persistent skin carriers of MRSA, or faecal carriers of enterobacteria strains which can carry multi-antibiotic resistance factors (e.g. NDM-1 or ESBL-producing strains). The risks are not apparent until, for example, they are admitted to hospital, when they can become "self infected" with their own resistant organisms following a surgical procedure. As persistent nasal, skin or bowel carriage in the healthy population spreads "silently" across the world, the risks from resistant strains in both hospitals and the community increases. In particular the data indicates that clothing and household linens are a risk factor for spread of S. aureus (including MRSA and PVL-producing MRSA strains), and that effectiveness of laundry processes may be an important factor in defining the rate of community spread of these strains. Experience in the United States suggests that these strains are transmissible within families and in community settings such as prisons, schools and sport teams. Skin-to-skin contact (including unabraded skin) and indirect contact with contaminated objects such as towels, sheets and sports equipment seem to represent the mode of transmission.


title: Hygiene

text: During laundering, temperature and detergent work to reduce microbial contamination levels on fabrics. Soil and microbes from fabrics are severed and suspended in the wash water. These are then "washed away" during the rinse and spin cycles. In addition to physical removal, micro-organisms can be killed by thermal inactivation which increases as the temperature is increased. Chemical inactivation of microbes by the surfactants and activated oxygen-based bleach used in detergents contributes to the hygiene effectiveness of laundering. Adding hypochlorite bleach in the washing process achieves inactivation of microbes. A number of other factors can contribute including drying and ironing.


title: Hygiene

text: In 2013 the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) reviewed some 30 studies of the hygiene effectiveness of laundering at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 70 °C, under varying conditions. A key finding was the lack of standardization and control within studies, and the variability in test conditions between studies such as wash cycle time, number of rinses, etc. The consequent variability in the data (i.e., the reduction in contamination on fabrics) obtained, in turn makes it extremely difficult to propose guidelines for laundering with any confidence, based on currently available data. As a result, there is significant variability in the recommendations for hygienic laundering of clothing etc. given by different agencies.


title: Hygiene

text: Medical hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices that prevents or minimizes disease and the spreading of disease in relation to administering medical care to those who are infected or who are more "at risk" of infection in the home. Across the world, governments are increasingly under pressure to fund the level of healthcare that people expect. Care of increasing numbers of patients in the community, including at home is one answer, but can be fatally undermined by inadequate infection control in the home. Increasingly, all of these "at-risk" groups are cared for at home by a carer who may be a household member who thus requires a good knowledge of hygiene. People with reduced immunity to infection, who are looked after at home, make up an increasing proportion of the population (currently up to 20%). The largest proportion are the elderly who have co-morbidities, which reduce their immunity to infection. It also includes the very young, patients discharged from hospital, taking immuno-suppressive drugs or using invasive systems, etc. For patients discharged from hospital, or being treated at home special "medical hygiene" (see above) procedures may need to be performed for them e.g. catheter or dressing replacement, which puts them at higher risk of infection.


title: Hygiene

text: Antiseptics may be applied to cuts, wounds abrasions of the skin to prevent the entry of harmful bacteria that can cause sepsis. Day-to-day hygiene practices, other than special medical hygiene procedures are no different for those at increased risk of infection than for other family members. The difference is that, if hygiene practices are not correctly carried out, the risk of infection is much greater.


title: Hygiene

text: Chemical disinfectants are products that kill pathogens. If the product is a disinfectant, the label on the product should say "disinfectant" or "kills" pathogens. Some commercial products, e.g. bleaches, even though they are technically disinfectants, say that they "kill pathogens" but are not actually labelled as "disinfectants". Not all disinfectants kill all types of pathogens. All disinfectants kill bacteria (called bactericidal). Some also kill fungi (fungicidal), bacterial spores (sporicidal) or viruses (virucidal).


title: Hygiene

text: An antibacterial product acts against bacteria in some unspecified way. Some products labelled "antibacterial" kill bacteria while others may contain a concentration of active ingredient that only prevents them from multiplying. It is, therefore, important to check whether the product label states that it "kills bacteria." An antibacterial is not necessarily anti-fungal or anti-viral unless this is stated on the label.


title: Hygiene

text: The term sanitizer has been used to define substances that both clean and disinfect. More recently this term has been applied to alcohol-based products that disinfect the hands (alcohol hand sanitizers). Alcohol hand sanitizers however are not considered to be effective on soiled hands.


title: Hygiene

text: The term biocide is a broad term for a substance that kills, inactivates or otherwise controls living organisms. It includes antiseptics and disinfectants, which combat micro-organisms, and pesticides.


title: Hygiene

text: Personal hygiene involves those practices performed by an individual to care for one's bodily health and wellbeing through cleanliness. Motivations for personal hygiene practice include reduction of personal illness, healing from personal illness, optimal health and sense of wellbeing, social acceptance and prevention of spread of illness to others. What is considered proper personal hygiene can be cultural-specific and may change over time.


title: Hygiene

text: Practices that are generally considered proper hygiene include showering or bathing regularly, washing hands regularly and especially before handling food, washing scalp hair, keeping hair short or removing hair, wearing clean clothing, brushing teeth, trimming fingernails and toenails, besides other practices. Some practices are gender-specific, such as by a woman during her menstruation. Toiletry bags hold body hygiene and toiletry supplies.


title: Hygiene

text: Anal hygiene is the practice that a person performs on the anal area of themselves after defecation. The anus and buttocks may be either washed with liquids or wiped with toilet paper or adding gel wipe to toilet tissue as an alternative to wet wipes or other solid materials in order to remove remnants of feces.


title: Hygiene

text: People tend to develop a routine for attending to their personal hygiene needs. Other personal hygienic practices would include covering one's mouth when coughing, disposal of soiled tissues appropriately, making sure toilets are clean, and making sure food handling areas are clean, besides other practices. Some cultures do not kiss or shake hands to reduce transmission of bacteria by contact.


title: Hygiene

text: Personal grooming extends personal hygiene as it pertains to the maintenance of a good personal and public appearance, which need not necessarily be hygienic. It may involve, for example, using deodorants or perfume, shaving, or combing, besides other practices.


title: Hygiene

text: Excessive cleaning of the ear canals can result in infection or irritation. The ear canals require less care than other parts of the body because they are sensitive and mostly self-cleaning; that is, there is a slow and orderly migration of the skin lining the ear canal from the eardrum to the outer opening of the ear. Old earwax is constantly being transported from the deeper areas of the ear canal out to the opening where it usually dries, flakes, and falls out. Attempts to clean the ear canals through the removal of earwax can push debris and foreign material into the ear that the natural movement of ear wax out of the ear would have removed.


title: Hygiene

text: It is recommended that all healthy adults brush twice a day, softly, with the correct technique, replacing their toothbrush every few months (~3) or after a bout of illness.


title: Hygiene

text: There are a number of common oral hygiene misconceptions. The National Health Service (NHS) of England recommends not rinsing the mouth with water after brushing — only to spit out excess toothpaste. They claim that this helps fluoride from toothpaste bond to teeth for its preventative effects against tooth decay. It is also not recommended to brush immediately after drinking acidic substances, including sparkling water. It is also recommended to floss once a day, with a different piece of floss at each flossing session. The effectiveness of amorphous calcium phosphate products, such as Tooth Mousse, is in debate. Visits to a dentist for a checkup every year at least are recommended.


title: Hygiene

text: Sleep hygiene is the recommended behavioral and environmental practice that is intended to promote better quality sleep. This recommendation was developed in the late 1970s as a method to help people with mild to moderate insomnia, but, , the evidence for effectiveness of individual recommendations is "limited and inconclusive". Clinicians assess the sleep hygiene of people who present with insomnia and other conditions, such as depression, and offer recommendations based on the assessment. Sleep hygiene recommendations include establishing a regular sleep schedule, using naps with care, not exercising physically or mentally too close to bedtime, limiting worry, limiting exposure to light in the hours before sleep, getting out of bed if sleep does not come, not using the bed for anything but sleep and avoiding alcohol as well as nicotine, caffeine, and other stimulants in the hours before bedtime and having a peaceful, comfortable and dark sleep environment.


title: Hygiene

text: Personal care services hygiene pertains to the practices related to the care and use of instruments used in the administration of personal care services to people:


title: Hygiene

text: Excessive body hygiene is a possible sign of obsessive compulsive disorder. Neglecting bodily hygiene, or the cleanliness of one's environment, may be a sign of major depression and other psychological disorders.


title: Hygiene

text: Although media coverage of the hygiene hypothesis has declined, a strong 'collective mindset' has become established that dirt is 'healthy' and hygiene somehow 'unnatural'. This has caused concern among health professionals that everyday life hygiene behaviors, which are the foundation of public health, are being undermined. In response to the need for effective hygiene in home and everyday life settings, the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene has developed a "risk-based" or targeted approach to home hygiene that seeks to ensure that hygiene measures are focused on the places, and at the times most critical for infection transmission. Whilst targeted hygiene was originally developed as an effective approach to hygiene practice, it also seeks, as far as possible, to sustain "normal" levels of exposure to the microbial flora of our environment to the extent that is important to build a balanced immune system.


title: Hygiene

text: Although there is substantial evidence that some microbial exposures in early childhood can in some way protect against allergies, there is no evidence that humans need exposure to harmful microbes (infection) or that it is necessary to develop a clinical infection. Nor is there evidence that hygiene measures such as hand washing, food hygiene etc. are linked to increased susceptibility to atopic disease. If this is the case, there is no conflict between the goals of preventing infection and minimizing allergies. A consensus is now developing among experts that the answer lies in more fundamental changes in lifestyle etc. that have led to decreased exposure to certain microbial or other species, such as helminths, that are important for development of immuno-regulatory mechanisms. There is still much uncertainty as to which lifestyle factors are involved.


title: Hygiene

text: Medical hygiene pertains to the hygiene practices related to the administration of medicine and medical care that prevents or minimizes the spread of disease.


title: Hygiene

text: Most of these practices were developed in the 19th century and were well established by the mid-20th century. Some procedures (such as disposal of medical waste) were refined in response to late-20th century disease outbreaks, notably AIDS and Ebola.


title: Hygiene

text: Culinary hygiene (or food hygiene) pertains to the practices related to food management and cooking to prevent food contamination, prevent food poisoning and minimize the transmission of disease to other foods, humans or animals. Culinary hygiene practices specify safe ways to handle, store, prepare, serve, and eat food.


title: Hygiene

text: In developing countries (or low and middle income countries), universal access to water and sanitation, coupled with hygiene promotion is essential in reducing infectious diseases. This approach has been integrated into the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 whose second target states: "By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations". Due to their close linkages, water, sanitation, hygiene are together abbreviated and funded under the term WASH in development cooperation.


title: Hygiene

text: About 2 million people die every year due to diarrheal diseases, most of them are children less than 5 years of age. The most affected are the populations in developing countries, living in extreme conditions of poverty, normally peri-urban dwellers or rural inhabitants. Providing access to sufficient quantities of safe water, the provision of facilities for a sanitary disposal of excreta, and introducing sound hygiene behaviors are of capital importance to reduce the burden of disease caused by these risk factors.


title: Hygiene

text: Research shows that, if widely practiced, hand washing with soap could reduce diarrhea by almost fifty percent and respiratory infections by nearly twenty-five percent Hand washing with soap also reduces the incidence of skin diseases, eye infections like trachoma and intestinal worms, especially ascariasis and trichuriasis. Other hygiene practices, such as safe disposal of waste, surface hygiene, and care of domestic animals, are important in low income communities to break the chain of infection transmission.


title: Hygiene

text: Cleaning of toilets and hand wash facilities is important to prevent odors and make them socially acceptable. Social acceptance is an important part of encouraging people to use toilets and wash their hands, in situations where open defecation is still seen as a possible alternative, e.g. in rural areas of some developing countries.


title: Hygiene

text: Household water treatment and safe storage ensure drinking water is safe for consumption. These interventions are part of the approach of self-supply of water for households. Drinking water quality remains a significant problem in developing and in developed countries; even in the European region it is estimated that 120 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. Point-of-use water quality interventions can reduce diarrheal disease in communities where water quality is poor or in emergency situations where there is a breakdown in water supply.


title: Hygiene

text: Since water can become contaminated during storage at home (e.g. by contact with contaminated hands or using dirty storage vessels), safe storage of water in the home is important.


title: Hygiene

text: Bathing culture in Chinese literature can be traced back to the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE), where Oracle bone inscriptions describe people washing their hair and body in a bath, suggesting people paid attention to personal hygiene. The "Book of Rites", a work regarding Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) ritual, politics, and culture compiled during the Warring States period, describes that people should take a hot shower every five days, and wash their hair every three days. It was also considered good manners to take a bath provided by the host before a dinner. In the Han dynasty, bathing became a regular activity and for government officials, bathing was required every five days.


title: Hygiene

text: Ancient bath facilities have been found in ancient Chinese cities, such as Dongzhouyang archaeological site in Henan Province. Bathrooms were called (), and bathtubs were made of bronze or timber. Bath beans – a powdery soap mixture of ground beans, cloves, eaglewood, flowers, and even powdered jade – were recorded in the Han Dynasty. Bath beans were considered luxury toiletries, while common people simply used powered beans without spices mixed in. Luxurious bathhouses built around hot springs were recorded in Tang dynasty. While royal bathhouses and bathrooms were common among ancient Chinese nobles and commoners, public bathhouses were a relatively late development. In the Song dynasty (960–1279), public bathhouses became popular and people could find them everywhere on the street, and bathing became an essential part of social life and recreation. Bathhouses often provided massage, nail cut service, rubdown service, ear cleaning, food and beverages. Marco Polo, who traveled to China during the Yuan dynasty, noted Chinese bathhouses were using coal to heat the bathhouse, which he had never seen before in Europe. Coal was so plentiful that Chinese people of every social class had bathrooms in their houses, and people took showers everyday in the winter for enjoyment.


title: Hygiene

text: A typical Ming dynasty bathhouse had slabbed floors and brick domed ceilings. A huge boiler would be installed in the back of the house, connected with the bathing pool through a tunnel. Water could be pumped into the pool by turning wheels attended by the staff.


title: Hygiene

text: In the Heian period (794–1185), houses of prominent families, such as the families of court nobles or samurai, had baths. The bath had lost its religious significance and instead became leisure. became , to bathe in a shallow wooden tub. In the 17th century, the first European visitors to Japan recorded the habit of daily baths in mixed sex groups.


title: Hygiene

text: The earliest written account of Elaborate codes of hygiene can be found in several Hindu texts, such as the Manusmriti and the Vishnu Purana. Bathing is one of the five Nitya karmas (daily duties) in Hinduism, and not performing it leads to sin, according to some scriptures.


title: Hygiene

text: Ayurveda is a system of medicine developed in ancient times that is still practiced in India, mostly combined with conventional Western medicine. Contemporary Ayurveda stresses a sattvic diet and good digestion and excretion. Hygiene measures include oil pulling, and tongue scraping. Detoxification also plays an important role.


title: Hygiene

text: Spanish chronicles describe the bathing habits of the peoples of Mesoamerica during and after the conquest.


title: Hygiene

text: Bernal Díaz del Castillo describes Moctezuma (the Mexica, or Aztec, emperor at the arrival of Cortés) in his "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España" as being "...Very neat and cleanly, bathing every day each afternoon...".


title: Hygiene

text: Bathing was not restricted to the elite, but was practised by all people; the chronicler Tomás López Medel wrote after a journey to Central America that "Bathing and the custom of washing oneself is so quotidian (common) amongst the Indians, both of cold and hot lands, as is eating, and this is done in fountains and rivers and other water to which they have access, without anything other than pure water..."


title: Hygiene

text: The Mesoamerican bath, known as "temazcal" in Spanish, from the Nahuatl word "temazcalli", a compound of "temaz" ("steam") and "calli" ("house"), consists of a room, often in the form of a small dome, with an exterior firebox known as "texictle" (teʃict͜ɬe) that heats a small portion of the room's wall made of volcanic rocks; after this wall has been heated, water is poured on it to produce steam, an action known as "tlasas". As the steam accumulates in the upper part of the room a person in charge uses a bough to direct the steam to the bathers who are lying on the ground, with which he later gives them a massage, then the bathers scrub themselves with a small flat river stone and finally the person in charge introduces buckets with water with soap and grass used to rinse. This bath had also ritual importance, and was vinculated to the goddess Toci; it is also therapeutic when medicinal herbs are used in the water for the "tlasas". It is still used in Mexico.


title: Hygiene

text: Regular bathing was a hallmark of Roman civilization. Elaborate baths were constructed in urban areas to serve the public, who typically demanded the infrastructure to maintain personal cleanliness. The complexes usually consisted of large, swimming pool-like baths, smaller cold and hot pools, saunas, and spa-like facilities where individuals could be depilated, oiled, and massaged. Water was constantly changed by an aqueduct-fed flow. Bathing outside of urban centers involved smaller, less elaborate bathing facilities, or simply the use of clean bodies of water. Roman cities also had large sewers, such as Rome's Cloaca Maxima, into which public and private latrines drained. Romans did not have demand-flush toilets but did have some toilets with a continuous flow of water under them. The Romans used scented oils (mostly from Egypt), among other alternatives.


title: Hygiene

text: Christianity places an emphasis on hygiene. Despite the denunciation of the mixed bathing style of Roman pools by early Christian clergy, as well as the pagan custom of women naked bathing in front of men, this did not stop the Church from urging its followers to go to public baths for bathing, which contributed to hygiene and good health according to the Church Fathers, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. The Church built public bathing facilities that were separate for both sexes near monasteries and pilgrimage sites; also, the popes situated baths within church basilicas and monasteries since the early Middle Ages. Pope Gregory the Great urged his followers on value of bathing as a bodily need. The use of water in many Christian countries is due in part to the Biblical toilet etiquette which encourages washing after all instances of defecation. Bidet and bidet showers were used in regions where water was considered essential for anal cleansing.


title: Hygiene

text: Contrary to popular belief, and although some of the Early Christian leaders, such as Boniface I, condemned bathing as unspiritual, bathing and sanitation were not lost in Europe with the collapse of the Roman Empire. Public bathhouses were common in medieval Christendom larger towns and cities such as Constantinople, Paris, Regensburg, Rome and Naples. Great bathhouses were built in Byzantine centers such as Constantinople and Antioch.


title: Hygiene

text: Northern Europeans were not in the habit of bathing: in the ninth century, Notker the Stammerer, a Frankish monk of St Gall, related a disapproving anecdote that attributed ill results of personal hygiene to an Italian fashion:


title: Hygiene

text: Secular medieval texts constantly refer to the washing of hands before and after meals, but Sone de Nansay, a hero of a 13th-century romance, discovers to his chagrin that the Norwegians do not wash up after eating. In the 11th and 12th centuries, bathing was essential to the Western European upper class: the Cluniac monasteries to which they resorted or retired were always provided with bathhouses, and even the monks were required to take full immersion baths twice a year, at the two Christian festivals of renewal, though exhorted not to uncover themselves from under their bathing sheets. In the 14th century Tuscany, the newlywed couple's bath together was such a firm convention one such couple, in a large coopered tub, is illustrated in fresco in the town hall of San Gimignano. Catholic religious orders of the Augustinians' and Benedictines' rules contained ritual purification, and inspired by Benedict of Nursia encouragement for the practice of therapeutic bathing; Benedictine monks played a role in the development and promotion of spas.


title: Hygiene

text: Bathing had fallen out of fashion in Northern Europe long before the Renaissance, when the communal public baths of German cities were in their turn a wonder to Italian visitors. Bathing was replaced by the heavy use of sweat-bathing and perfume, as it was thought in Europe that water could carry disease into the body through the skin. Bathing encouraged an erotic atmosphere that was played upon by the writers of romances intended for the upper class; in the tale of Melusine the bath was a crucial element of the plot. "Bathing and grooming were regarded with suspicion by moralists, however, because they unveiled the attractiveness of the body. Bathing was said to be a prelude to sin, and in the penitential of Burchard of Worms we find a full catalogue of the sins that ensued when men and women bathed together." Medieval church authorities believed that public bathing created an environment open to immorality and disease; the 26 public baths of Paris in the late 13th century were strictly overseen by the civil authorities. At a later date Roman Catholic Church officials even banned public bathing in an unsuccessful effort to halt syphilis epidemics from sweeping Europe. Protestantism also played a prominent role in the development of the British spas.


title: Hygiene

text: Until the late 19th century, only the elite in Western cities typically possessed indoor facilities for relieving bodily functions. The poorer majority used communal facilities built above cesspools in backyards and courtyards. This changed after Dr. John Snow discovered that cholera was transmitted by the fecal contamination of water. Though it took decades for his findings to gain wide acceptance, governments and sanitary reformers were eventually convinced of the health benefits of using sewers to keep human waste from contaminating the water. This encouraged the widespread adoption of both the flush toilet and the moral imperative that bathrooms should be indoors and as private as possible.


title: Hygiene

text: Modern sanitation was not widely adopted until the 19th and 20th centuries. According to medieval historian Lynn Thorndike, people in Medieval Europe probably bathed more than people did in the 19th century. Some time after Louis Pasteur's experiments proved the germ theory of disease and Joseph Lister and others put them into practice in sanitation, hygienic practices came to be regarded as synonymous with health, as they are in modern times.


title: Hygiene

text: The importance of hand washing for human healthparticularly for people in vulnerable circumstances like mothers who had just given birth or wounded soldiers in hospitalswas first recognized in the mid 19th century by two pioneers of hand hygiene: the Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis who worked in Vienna, Austria and Florence Nightingale, the English "founder of modern nursing". At that time most people still believed that infections were caused by foul odors called miasmas.


title: Hygiene

text: Islam stresses the importance of cleanliness and personal hygiene. Islamic hygienical jurisprudence, which dates back to the 7th century, has a number of elaborate rules. (ritual purity) involves performing (ablution) for the five daily (prayers), as well as regularly performing (bathing), which led to bathhouses being built across the Islamic world. Islamic toilet hygiene also requires washing with water after using the toilet, for purity and to minimize pathogens.


title: Hygiene

text: In the Abbasid Caliphate (8th–13th centuries), its capital city of Baghdad (Iraq) had 65,000 baths, along with a sewer system. Cities and towns of the medieval Islamic world had water supply systems powered by hydraulic technology that supplied drinking water along with much greater quantities of water for ritual washing, mainly in mosques and hammams (baths). Bathing establishments in various cities were rated by Arabic writers in travel guides. Medieval Islamic cities such as Baghdad, Córdoba (Islamic Spain), Fez (Morocco) and Fustat (Egypt) also had sophisticated waste disposal and sewage systems with interconnected networks of sewers. The city of Fustat also had multi-storey tenement buildings (with up to six floors) with flush toilets, which were connected to a water supply system, and flues on each floor carrying waste to underground channels.


title: Hygiene

text: A basic form of contagion theory dates back to the Persian medicine in the medieval, where it was proposed by Persian physician Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna) in "The Canon of Medicine" (1025), the most authoritative medical textbook of the Middle Ages. He mentioned that people can transmit disease to others by breath, noted contagion with tuberculosis, and discussed the transmission of disease through water and dirt. The concept of invisible contagion was eventually widely accepted by Islamic scholars. In the Ayyubid Sultanate, they referred to them as ("impure substances"). The scholar Ibn al-Haj al-Abdari (), while discussing Islamic diet and hygiene, gave advice and warnings about how contagion can contaminate water, food, and garments, and could spread through the water supply.


title: Hygiene

text: In the 9th century, Ziryab invented a type of deodorant to get rid of bad odors. He also promoted morning and evening baths, and emphasized the maintenance of personal hygiene. Ziryab is thought to have invented a type of toothpaste, which he popularized throughout Islamic Iberia. The exact ingredients of this toothpaste are not currently known, but it was reported to have been both "functional and pleasant to taste."


title: Hygiene

text: Hard toilet soap with a pleasant smell was invented in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age when soap-making became an established industry. Recipes for soap-making are described by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (), who also gave a recipe for producing glycerine from olive oil. In the Middle East, soap was produced from the interaction of fatty oils and fats with alkali. In Syria, soap was produced using olive oil together with alkali and lime. Soap was exported from Syria to other parts of the Muslim world and to Europe. Two key Islamic innovations in soapmaking was the invention of bar soap, described by al-Razi, and the addition of scents using perfume technology perfected in the Islamic world.


title: Hygiene

text: By the 15th century, the manufacture of soap in the Christendom had become virtually industrialized, with sources in Antwerp, Castile, Marseille, Naples and Venice. In the 17th century the Spanish Catholic manufacturers purchased the monopoly on Castile soap from the cash-strapped Carolinian government. Industrially-manufactured bar soaps became available in the late 18th century, as advertising campaigns in Europe and America promoted popular awareness of the relationship between cleanliness and health.


title: Hygiene

text: A major contribution of the Christian missionaries in Africa, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Korea, and other places was better health care of the people through hygiene and introducing and distributing the soap, and "cleanliness and hygiene became an important marker of being identified as a Christian".


title: Hygiene

text: Many religions require or encourage ritual purification via bathing or immersing the hands in water. In Islam, washing oneself via "wudu" or "ghusl" is necessary for performing prayer. Islamic tradition also lists a variety of rules concerning proper hygiene after using the bathroom. The Baháʼí Faith mandates the washing of the hands and face prior to the obligatory Baháʼí prayers. Orthodox Judaism requires a "mikveh" bath following menstruation and childbirth, while washing the hands is performed upon waking up and before eating bread. Water plays a role in Christian rituals as well, and in certain denominations of Christianity such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church prescribes several kinds of hand washing for example after leaving the latrine, lavatory or bathhouse, or before prayer, or after eating a meal, or ritual handwashing.


title: Hygiene

text: First attested in English in 1676, the word "hygiene" comes from the French "hygiène", the latinisation of the Greek ὑγιεινή (τέχνη) "hygieinē technē", meaning "(art) of health", from ὑγιεινός "hygieinos", "good for the health, healthy", in turn from ὑγιής ("hygiēs"), "healthful, sound, salutary, wholesome". In ancient Greek religion, Hygeia (Ὑγίεια) was the personification of health, cleanliness, and hygiene.


title: ATP Tour

text: The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organisation is the WTA Tour.


title: ATP Tour

text: The ATP Tour comprises ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500, and ATP 250 and the ATP Cup. The ATP also oversees the ATP Challenger Tour, a level below the ATP Tour, and the ATP Champions Tour for seniors. The Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympic tennis tournament, the Davis Cup, and the entry-level ITF World Tennis Tour do not fall under the purview of the ATP, but are overseen by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) instead and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Olympics. In these events, however, ATP ranking points are awarded, with the exception of the Olympics. Players and doubles teams with the most ranking points (collected during the calendar year) play in the season-ending ATP Finals, which, from 2000–2008, was run jointly with the ITF. The details of the professional tennis tour are:


title: January

text: January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the first of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the Northern Hemisphere (where it is the second month of winter) and the warmest month of the year within most of the Southern Hemisphere (where it is the second month of summer). In the Southern hemisphere, January is the seasonal equivalent of July in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa.


title: January

text: Ancient Roman observances during this month include Cervula and Juvenalia, celebrated January 1, as well as one of three Agonalia, celebrated January 9, and Carmentalia, celebrated January 11. These dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar.


title: January

text: January (in Latin, "Ianuarius") is named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology.


title: January

text: Traditionally, the original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months totaling 304 days, winter being considered a month-less period. Around 713 BC, the semi-mythical successor of Romulus, King Numa Pompilius, is supposed to have added the months of January and February, so that the calendar covered a standard lunar year (354 days). Although March was originally the first month in the old Roman calendar, January became the first month of the calendar year either under Numa or under the Decemvirs about 450 BC (Roman writers differ). In contrast, each specific calendar year was identified by the names of the two consuls, who entered office on March 15 until 153 BC, at which point they started entering office on January 1.


title: January

text: Various Christian feast dates were used for the New Year in Europe during the Middle Ages, including March 25 (Feast of the Annunciation) and December 25. However, medieval calendars were still displayed in the Roman fashion with twelve columns from January to December. Beginning in the 16th century, European countries began officially making January 1 the start of the New Year once again—sometimes called "Circumcision Style" because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the seventh day after December 25.


title: January

text: Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the Saxon term "Wulf-monath" (meaning "wolf month") and Charlemagne's designation Wintarmanoth ("winter / cold month"). In Slovene, it is traditionally called "prosinec". The name, associated with millet bread and the act of asking for something, was first written in 1466 in the Škofja Loka manuscript.


title: January

text: According to Theodor Mommsen, 1 January became the first day of the year in 600 AUC of the Roman calendar (153 BC), due to disasters in the Lusitanian War. A Lusitanian chief called Punicus invaded the Roman territory, defeated two Roman governors, and killed their troops. The Romans resolved to send a consul to Hispania, and in order to accelerate the dispatch of aid, "they even made the new consuls enter into office two months and a half before the legal time" (March 15).


title: January

text: "All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at sundown prior to the date listed, and end at sundown on the date in question."


title: Ken McElroy

text: Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 – July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States. He was known as "the town bully", and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. Over the course of his life, McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, animal cruelty, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary.


title: Ken McElroy

text: In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. McElroy successfully appealed the conviction and was released on bond, after which he engaged in an ongoing harassment campaign against Bowenkamp and others who were sympathetic to Bowenkamp, including the town's Church of Christ minister. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. The next day, McElroy was shot to death in broad daylight as he sat with his wife Trena in his pickup truck on Skidmore's main street. He was struck by bullets from at least two different firearms, in front of a crowd of people estimated as numbering between 30 and 46. To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death.


title: Ken McElroy

text: McElroy was born in 1934, the 15th of 16 children born to a poor, migrant tenant-farming couple named Tony and Mabel (née Lister) McElroy, who had moved between Kansas and the Ozarks before settling outside of Skidmore. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the eighth grade and quickly established a local reputation as a cattle rustler, small-time thief, and womanizer. For more than two decades, McElroy was suspected of being involved in theft of grain, gasoline, alcohol, antiques, and livestock, but he avoided conviction when charges were brought against him 21 times—often after witnesses refused to testify because he allegedly intimidated them, frequently by following his targets or parking outside their homes and watching them. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri.


title: Ken McElroy

text: McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (1957–2012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade. He raped McCloud repeatedly. The 12-year-old's parents initially opposed the relationship, but after McElroy burned their house down and shot the family dog, they relented and agreed to the marriage. She became pregnant when she was fourteen, dropped out of school in the ninth grade, and went to live with McElroy and his second wife Alice. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, both she and Alice fled to Trena's mother's and stepfather's house. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. He then returned to Trena's parents' home when they were away and, once again, shot the family dog and burned the house down.


title: Ken McElroy

text: Based on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. Trena and her baby were placed in foster care at a home in Maryville, Missouri. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. He told the foster family that he would trade "girl for girl" to get his child back, since he knew where the foster family's biological daughter went to school and what bus route she rode. Additional charges were filed against McElroy.


title: Ken McElroy

text: On July 27, 1976, Skidmore farmer Romaine Henry said McElroy shot him twice with a shotgun after Henry challenged him for shooting weapons on Henry's property. McElroy was charged with assault with intent to kill. McElroy denied he was at the scene. As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. Henry was forced to admit in court, under questioning by McElroy's attorney Richard Gene McFadin, that he had concealed his own petty criminal conviction from more than 30 years previous. McElroy was acquitted.


title: Ken McElroy

text: In 1980, one of McElroy's children got into an argument with a clerk, Evelyn Sumy, in a local grocery store owned by 70-year-old Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp and his wife Lois, allegedly because the young McElroy child tried to steal some candy. McElroy began stalking the Bowenkamp family, and eventually threatened Bo Bowenkamp in the back of his store with a shotgun in hand. In the ensuing confrontation, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck; Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. Immediately after being released at a post-trial hearing, McElroy went to the D&G Tavern, a local bar, with an M1 Garand rifle with a bayonet attached, and made graphic threats about what he would do to Bo Bowenkamp. This led to several patrons deciding to see what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. Nodaway County Sheriff Dan Estes suggested they form a neighborhood watch.


title: Ken McElroy

text: McElroy's appeal hearing was again delayed. On the morning of July 10, 1981, townspeople met at the Legion Hall in the center of town with Sheriff Estes to discuss how to protect themselves. During the meeting, McElroy arrived at the D&G Tavern with Trena. As he sat drinking at the bar, word got back to the men at the Legion Hall that he was in town. Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. Estes then drove out of town in his police cruiser. The citizens decided to go to the tavern en masse. The bar soon filled completely.


title: Ken McElroy

text: After McElroy finished his drinks, he purchased a six pack of beer, left the bar, and entered his pickup truck. Someone shot at McElroy while he was sitting in his truck. He was shot at several times and hit twice, once by a centerfire rifle and once by a .22 rimfire rifle. In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. No one called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness either was unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges. An extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges. Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "He needed killing."


title: Ken McElroy

text: McElroy was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri. On July 9, 1984, Trena McElroy filed a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Skidmore, County of Nodaway, Sheriff Danny Estes, Steve Peters (Mayor of Skidmore), and Del Clement (whom Trena accused of being the shooter, but who was never charged). The case was later settled out of court by all parties for $17,600, with no one admitting guilt, for the stated reason of avoiding costly legal fees should the suit proceed. Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: The United States Intelligence Community (IC) is a group of separate United States government intelligence agencies and subordinate organizations that work both separately and collectively to conduct intelligence activities which support the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States. Member organizations of the IC include intelligence agencies, military intelligence, and civilian intelligence and analysis offices within federal executive departments.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: The IC is overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which is headed by the director of national intelligence (DNI) who reports directly to the president of the United States. The IC was established by Executive Order 12333 ("United States Intelligence Activities"), signed on December 4, 1981, by President Ronald Reagan. The statutory definition of the IC, including its roster of agencies, was codified as the Intelligence Organization Act of 1992 ().


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: "The Washington Post" reported in 2010 that there were 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies in 10,000 locations in the United States that were working on counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence, and that the intelligence community as a whole would include 854,000 people holding top-secret clearances. According to a 2008 study by the ODNI, private contractors make up 29% of the workforce in the U.S. intelligence community and account for 49% of their personnel budgets.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: The term "Intelligence Community" was first used during LTG Walter Bedell Smith's tenure as Director of Central Intelligence (1950–1953).


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Intelligence is information that agencies collect, analyze, and distribute in response to government leaders' questions and requirements. Intelligence is a broad term that may entail for example:


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: "Collection, analysis, and production of sensitive information to support national security leaders, including policymakers, military commanders, and members of Congress. Safeguarding these processes and this information through counterintelligence activities. Execution of covert operations approved by the president. The IC strives to provide valuable insight on important issues by gathering raw intelligence, analyzing that data in context, and producing timely and relevant products for customers at all levels of national security—from the war-fighter on the ground to the president in Washington."


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: The IC is headed by the director of national intelligence (DNI), whose statutory leadership is exercised through the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The other members of the IC are:


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Since the definitions of the NIP and MIP overlap when they address military intelligence, the assignment of intelligence activities to the NIP and MIP sometimes proves problematic.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: The overall organization of the IC is primarily governed by the National Security Act of 1947 (as amended) and . The statutory organizational relationships were substantially revised with the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) amendments to the 1947 National Security Act.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Though the IC characterizes itself as a federation of its member elements, its overall structure is better characterized as a confederation due to its lack of a well-defined, unified leadership and governance structure. Prior to 2004, the director of Central Intelligence (DCI) was the head of the IC, in addition to being the director of the CIA. A major criticism of this arrangement was that the DCI had little or no actual authority over the budgetary authorities of the other IC agencies and therefore had limited influence over their operations.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Following the passage of IRTPA in 2004, the head of the IC is the director of national intelligence (DNI). The DNI exerts leadership of the IC primarily through statutory authorities under which he or she:


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Despite these responsibilities, the DNI has no authority to direct and control any element of the IC except his own staff—the Office of the DNI—nor does the DNI have the authority to hire or fire personnel in the IC except those on his or her own staff. The member elements in the executive branch are directed and controlled by their respective department heads, all cabinet-level officials reporting to the president. By law, only the director of the Central Intelligence Agency reports to the DNI.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: In light of major intelligence failures in recent years that called into question how well Intelligence Community ensures U.S. national security, particularly those identified by the 9/11 Commission (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States), and the "WMD Commission" (Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction), the authorities and powers of the DNI and the overall organizational structure of the IC have become subject of intense debate in the United States.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Previously, interagency cooperation and the flow of information among the member agencies was hindered by policies that sought to limit the pooling of information out of privacy and security concerns. Attempts to modernize and facilitate interagency cooperation within the IC include technological, structural, procedural, and cultural dimensions. Examples include the Intellipedia wiki of encyclopedic security-related information; the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Centers, Program Manager Information Sharing Environment, and Information Sharing Council; legal and policy frameworks set by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, information sharing and Executive Order 13388, and the 2005 National Intelligence Strategy.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: The U.S. intelligence budget (excluding the Military Intelligence Program) in fiscal year 2022 was appropriated as $65.7 billion, an increase of $3.4 billion from the $62.3 billion requested and up from $60.8 billion in fiscal year 2021. The total budget of the National Intelligence Program has been public since 2007, due to the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, which required the to disclose the "aggregate amount of funds appropriated by Congress” for the NIP within 30 days of the end of the fiscal year. The requested budget of the NIP has been public since 2011 due to a requirement enacted by Congress in Section 364 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: About 70 percent of the intelligence budget went to contractors for the procurement of technology and services (including analysis), according to the May 2007 chart from the ODNI. Intelligence spending has increased by a third over ten years ago, in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: In a statement on the release of new declassified figures, DNI Mike McConnell said there would be no additional disclosures of classified budget information beyond the overall spending figure because "such disclosures could harm national security". How the money is divided among the 16 intelligence agencies and what it is spent on is classified. It includes salaries for about 100,000 people, multibillion-dollar satellite programs, aircraft, weapons, electronic sensors, intelligence analysis, spies, computers, and software.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: On August 29, 2013 "The Washington Post" published the summary of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's multivolume FY 2013 Congressional Budget Justification, the U.S. Intelligence Community's top-secret "black budget". The IC's FY 2013 budget details how the 16 spy agencies use the money and how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress. Experts said that access to such details about U.S. spy programs is without precedent. Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, which provides analyses of national security issues, stated that "It was a titanic struggle just to get the top-line budget number disclosed, and that has only been done consistently since 2007 ... but a real grasp of the structure and operations of the intelligence bureaucracy has been totally beyond public reach. This kind of material, even on a historical basis, has simply not been available." Access to budget details will enable an informed public debate on intelligence spending for the first time, said the co-chair of the 9/11 Commission Lee H. Hamilton. He added that Americans should not be excluded from the budget process because the intelligence community has a profound impact on the life of ordinary Americans.


title: United States Intelligence Community

text: Intelligence Community Oversight duties are distributed to both the executive and legislative branches. Primary executive oversight is performed by the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Joint Intelligence Community Council, the Office of the Inspector General, and the Office of Management and Budget. Primary congressional oversight jurisdiction over the IC is assigned to two committees: the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee draft bills to annually authorize the budgets of DoD intelligence activities, and both the House and Senate appropriations committees annually draft bills to appropriate the budgets of the IC. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs took a leading role in formulating the intelligence reform legislation in the 108th Congress.


title: Breitbart News

text: Breitbart News Network (known commonly as Breitbart News, Breitbart, or Breitbart.com) is an American far-right syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 by American conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. "Breitbart News"s content has been described as misogynistic, xenophobic, and racist by academics and journalists. The site has published a number of conspiracy theories and intentionally misleading stories. Posts originating from the "Breitbart News" Facebook page are among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.


title: Breitbart News

text: Initially conceived as "the "Huffington Post" of the right", "Breitbart News" later aligned with the alt-right, the European populist right, and the pan-European nationalist identitarian movement under the management of former executive chairman Steve Bannon, who declared the website "the platform for the alt-right" in 2016. In 2016, "Breitbart News" became a virtual rallying spot for supporters of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The company's management, together with former staff member Milo Yiannopoulos, solicited ideas for stories from, and worked to advance and market ideas of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups and individuals. After the election, more than 2,000 organizations removed "Breitbart News" from ad buys following Internet activism campaigns denouncing the site's controversial positions. "Breitbart News" has promoted climate change denial and COVID-19 misinformation.


title: Breitbart News

text: The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with bureaus in Texas, London, and Jerusalem. Co-founder Larry Solov is the co-owner (along with Andrew Breitbart's widow Susie Breitbart and the Mercer family) and CEO, while Alex Marlow is the editor-in-chief, Wynton Hall is managing editor, and Joel Pollak and Peter Schweizer are senior editors-at-large.


title: Breitbart News

text: Andrew Breitbart launched "Breitbart.com" as a news aggregator in 2005. The website featured direct links to wire stories at the Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News, the "New York Post", TMZ as well as a number of other outlets. The website's initial growth was largely fueled by links from the "Drudge Report". In 2007, "Breitbart.com" launched a video blog, "Breitbart.tv".


title: Breitbart News

text: According to co-founder Larry Solov, the two men were in agreement that the site should be "unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel" during their visit to Israel in 2007. In August 2010, Andrew Breitbart told the Associated Press that he was "committed to the destruction of the old media guard." As part of that commitment, he founded "Breitbart.com", a website designed to become "the "Huffington Post" of the right" according to "Breitbart News"s former executive chairman, Steve Bannon. "Breitbart News" exclusively re-posted the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, the resignation of Shirley Sherrod, and the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy. Following Andrew Breitbart's death in 2012, the site was redesigned, bringing the formerly distinct "Big" websites under one umbrella website at "Breitbart.com".


title: Breitbart News

text: Billionaire conservative activist Robert Mercer endowed "Breitbart.com" with at least $11 million in 2011.


title: Breitbart News

text: Andrew Breitbart died in March 2012. The website hosted a number of memorials for him. Editors said they intended to carry on his legacy at the website. Following Andrew Breitbart's death, former board member Steve Bannon became executive chairman and Laurence Solov became CEO. The company also hired Joel Pollak as editor-in-chief and Alex Marlow as managing editor. An October 2012 article in "BuzzFeed News" suggested there were internal tensions in the organisation in the year after Andrew Breitbart's death as staffers battled for ownership of his legacy.


title: Breitbart News

text: Before his death, Andrew Breitbart had begun a redesign of the "Breitbart News" website to transform it from a links-aggregator into a more tabloid-style website. The redesign was launched shortly after his death in March 2012.


title: Breitbart News

text: In February 2014, Bannon announced the addition of approximately 12 staff members and the opening of Texas and London-based operations. The new offices were the beginning of an expansion plan that included the addition of a new regional site roughly every 90 days, with new locations to include Florida, California, Cairo, and Jerusalem. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center study, 3% of respondents got their news from "Breitbart" in a typical week, and 79% of its audience reported having political values that are right-of-center.


title: Breitbart News

text: Under Bannon's management, "Breitbart News" aligned with the American alt-right, the European populist right, and the pan-European nationalist identitarian movement. Bannon declared the website "the platform for the alt-right" in 2016, but denied all allegations of racism and later stated that he rejected what he called the "ethno-nationalist" tendencies of the alt-right movement. One of Bannon's coworkers said he wasn't referring to Richard Spencer but instead to "the trolls on Reddit or 4Chan." The owners of "Breitbart News" deny that their website has any connection to the alt-right or has ever supported racist or white supremacist views. Anthony R. DiMaggio has described these denials as "gaslighting".


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" spokesperson Kurt Bardella stated in 2015 that the site "is a for-profit operation". The company's investors include computer scientist and hedge fund CEO Robert Mercer. Editors commented in 2015 that the site is a "private company and we don't comment on who our investors or backers are." According to the "Los Angeles Times", web traffic is vital to the company as it supports itself from advertising revenue.


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" strongly supported Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election. In July 2015, "Politico" reported that Ted Cruz "likely has the Republican presidential field's deepest relationship with the Breitbart machine." In August 2015, an article in BuzzFeed reported that several anonymous "Breitbart News" staffers claimed that Donald Trump had paid for favorable coverage on the site. The site's management strongly denied the charge. In March 2016, Lloyd Grove of "The Daily Beast" characterized the website as "Trump-friendly", writing that "Breitbart News" "regularly savages the GOP establishment, the media elite, the Washington consultant class, and the Fox News Channel."


title: Breitbart News

text: On March 11, 2016, "Breitbart News" reporter Michelle Fields filed a battery complaint against Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, alleging that Lewandowski had grabbed her and bruised her while she was attempting to ask a question at an event. After claiming that "Breitbart News"s management was not sufficiently supportive of Fields, "Breitbart"s editor-at-large Ben Shapiro and Fields resigned. A "Breitbart News" article published on March 14, 2016, accused Shapiro of betraying "Breitbart News"s readers; the article was subsequently removed from the website. Editor-at-large Joel Pollak apologized for writing the article, saying he had done so in an attempt "to make light of a significant company event". The website's spokesperson Kurt Bardella also resigned following the incident, objecting to the company's handling of the incident and its favorable coverage of Trump. By March 14, several top executives and journalists at "Breitbart News" had resigned, with "The New York Times" saying that "Breitbart's unabashed embrace of Mr. Trump, particularly at the seeming expense of its own reporter, struck them as a betrayal of its mission." Former employees accused Bannon of having "turned a website founded on anti-authoritarian grounds into a de facto propaganda outlet for Mr. Trump."


title: Breitbart News

text: On August 17, 2016, Bannon stepped down from his role as executive chairman to join the Trump campaign as its new CEO.


title: Breitbart News

text: On August 25, Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton criticized him for hiring Bannon as his CEO in her rally in Reno, Nevada. She quoted the Southern Poverty Law Center's view that the site embraces "ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right. Racist ideas." She also said that the "de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump campaign represents a landmark achievement for the alt-right". She also condemned the site as "the Democratic Party's media enemy No. 1" and "racist, radical and offensive".


title: Breitbart News

text: A 2017 study by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University found that "Breitbart News" was the most shared source by Trump supporters on Twitter during the election.


title: Breitbart News

text: In November 2016, the cereal manufacturer Kellogg's announced they would no longer advertise on "Breitbart News", saying the site was not "aligned with [their] values". In response, "Breitbart" announced plans to boycott the company. "Breitbart" announced they would be willing to go to "war" with Kellogg's over its decision to remove ads from the site.


title: Breitbart News

text: In January 2017, editor Julia Hahn resigned from "Breitbart News" to work as special assistant to president Donald Trump.


title: Breitbart News

text: Milo Yiannopoulos, who had served as a senior editor of "Breitbart News" since 2014, resigned from the company on February 21, 2017 after a video of him making controversial statements in relation to hebephilia surfaced.


title: Breitbart News

text: Allies of Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner complained to Trump in April 2017 after "Breitbart" published several unflattering articles about Kushner. Shortly afterwards, the site's senior editors asked staffers to stop writing stories critical of Kushner.


title: Breitbart News

text: Bannon was appointed White House Chief Strategist in the administration of US President Donald Trump and served in that role for seven months; he was dismissed from the White House on August 17, 2017. That same day, he was again appointed executive chairman of "Breitbart News". In January 2018, "Breitbart News" announced that Bannon had stepped down from his position as executive chairman.


title: Breitbart News

text: In October 2019, Facebook announced that "Breitbart News" would be included as a "trusted source" in its Facebook News feature alongside sources like "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post". The decision sparked controversy due to "Breitbart"'s status as a platform for the alt-right and its reputation for publishing misinformation. In October 2021, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that Facebook executives resisted removing "Breitbart News" from Facebook's News Tab feature to avoid angering Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress, despite criticism from Facebook employees.


title: Breitbart News

text: From November 2016 to June 2017, "Breitbart"s readership fell faster than other news sites. In the two months from April to June 2017, the site lost about 90% of its advertisers. The decline coincided with boycotts aimed at getting advertisers to stop running ads on the site. The boycotts were mainly organized by the anonymous online group Sleeping Giants, which said on June 5 that 2,200 organizations had committed to stop advertising on "Breitbart News" (and similar sites) due to its controversial positions. Soon thereafter, "Breitbart News" trimmed prominently displayed, overtly racist content and fired contributor Katie McHugh for posting Islamophobic tweets about the 2017 London Bridge attack.


title: Breitbart News

text: By 2019, "Breitbart" had lost nearly 75% of its readership, going from 17.3 million at the beginning of 2017 to 4.6 million in May 2019.


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" is a far-right American news, opinion, and commentary website. Some news outlets describe it as a conservative news outlet or as part of the alt-right. One of the site's objectives is to court millennial conservatives. Its consistently conservative editorial positions overlap with the ideological positions of radical right-wing populist parties in Europe. It supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and political scientist Matthew Goodwin described "Breitbart News" as being "ultra-conservative" in orientation. "Breitbart News" publishes articles that critique feminism, Islam, and immigration.


title: Breitbart News

text: In August 2017, Joel Pollak, the senior editor-at-large for "Breitbart News", described the "mission" of "Breitbart News" in this way: "#WAR has been our motto since the days of Andrew Breitbart, and we use it whenever we go to war against our three main targets, which are, in order: Hollywood and the mainstream media, number one; the Democratic Party and the institutional left, number two; and the Republican establishment in Washington, number three."


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" has published a number of falsehoods and conspiracy theories, as well as intentionally misleading stories, including a story that the Obama administration had supported ISIS during insurgency against the Syrian regime. It has sometimes published these misleading stories as part of an intentional strategy to manipulate media narratives via disinformation. In July 2010, Shirley Sherrod was fired from her appointed position as Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. Her firing was largely in response to coverage in "Breitbart News" of video excerpts from her address to an event of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in March 2010, though it was later picked up by Fox News. Both NAACP and White House officials apologized for their statements after a longer version of her address was reviewed.


title: Breitbart News

text: In April 2016, Stephen Piggott wrote in a Southern Poverty Law Center blog that the "outlet has undergone a noticeable shift toward embracing ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right" and was using "racist", "anti-Muslim" and "anti-immigrant ideas". Piggott wrote that the website was openly promoting, and had become associated with, the beliefs of the alt-right. "Breitbart News" has published material that has been called misogynist, xenophobic, and racist. The owners of "Breitbart News" deny their website has any connection to the alt-right.


title: Breitbart News

text: The Anti-Defamation League described "Breitbart News" as "the premier website of the alt-right" representing "white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists." The Zionist Organization of America rejected accusations of antisemitism, saying that "Breitbart News" instead "bravely fights against anti-Semitism" and called for the ADL to apologize. An article in "The Jewish Daily Forward" argued that Bannon and Andrew Breitbart are antisemitic. An article by Shmuley Boteach in "The Hill" disputed the allegations, arguing that "Breitbart" defends Israel against antisemitism. Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of "Breitbart News", denies that "Breitbart" is a "hate-site", stating "that we're consistently called anti-Semitic despite the fact that we are overwhelmingly staffed with Jews and are pro-Israel and pro-Jewish. That is fake news." "Science" magazine called "Breitbart" "a far-right site that avoids explicit white nationalism."


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" has had staff members associated with white supremacists. An exposé by "BuzzFeed News" published in October 2017 documented how "Breitbart" solicited story ideas and copy edits from white supremacists and neo-Nazis via the intermediation of Milo Yiannopoulos. Yiannopoulos, together with other "Breitbart News" employees, developed and marketed the values and tactics of these groups and attempted to make them palatable to a broader audience. According to "BuzzFeed News", "These new emails and documents ... clearly show that Breitbart does more than tolerate the most hate-filled, racist voices of the alt-right. It thrives on them, fueling and being fueled by some of the most toxic beliefs on the political spectrum—and clearing the way for them to enter the American mainstream." In November 2017, British anti-fascism charity Hope Not Hate identified one of the website's writers as an administrator of a far-right Facebook group that serves as a platform for fascists and white supremacists.


title: Breitbart News

text: In 2017, the Mueller investigation examined the role of "Breitbart News" in Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and its role in both amplifying stories from Russian media and being amplified by Russian bots in social media. In 2017, a "Breitbart News" reporter left the company to join Sputnik.


title: Breitbart News

text: In a 2017 survey among US readers, "Breitbart News" was voted the third least trustworthy source among American readers, with BuzzFeed and Occupy Democrats being lower-ranked. In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organizations, "Breitbart News" was ranked the sixth least trusted news organization by Americans in a tie with the Daily Kos, with the "Palmer Report", Occupy Democrats, "InfoWars" and "The Daily Caller" being lower-ranked. An August 2019 internal Facebook study found that "Breitbart News" was the least trusted news source, and also ranked as low-quality, in the sources it looked at across the U.S. and Great Britain.


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" has published several articles accusing the English Wikipedia of having a left-wing and liberal bias, including headlines such as "Five of the best examples of left-wing bias on Wikipedia in 2017". In March 2018, "Breitbart News" responded negatively to a pop-up on Facebook containing content from the Wikipedia article on "Breitbart News" that described the news website as "intentionally misleading", resulting in several users attempting to change the article's content. In September 2018, Wikipedia editors "deprecated" "Breitbart News" as a source due to its unreliability; "Breitbart News" can still be cited on Wikipedia as an opinion or commentary source. "Breitbart News" is also on Wikipedia's , requiring special permission for links to the website to be used.


title: Breitbart News

text: In 2008, Andrew Breitbart launched the website "Big Hollywood", a group blog by individuals working in Hollywood. The site was an outgrowth of Breitbart's "Big Hollywood" column in "The Washington Times", which included issues faced by conservatives working in Hollywood. In 2009, the site used audio from a conference call to accuse the National Endowment of the Arts of encouraging artists to create work in support of President Barack Obama's domestic policy. The Obama Administration and the NEA were accused of potentially violating the Hatch Act. The White House acknowledged regrets, and the story led to the resignation of a White House appointee, and new federal guidelines for how federal agencies should interact with potential grantees.


title: Breitbart News

text: Andrew Breitbart launched "" on September 10, 2009, with a $25,000 loan from his father. He hired Mike Flynn, a former government affairs specialist at the Reason Foundation, as Editor-in-Chief of Big Government. The site premiered with hidden camera video footage taken by Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe at Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) offices in various cities, attracting nationwide attention resulting in the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy. According to law enforcement and media analysts, the videos were heavily edited to create a negative impression of ACORN.


title: Breitbart News

text: In January 2010, Andrew Breitbart launched "Big Journalism". he told Mediaite: "Our goal at Big Journalism is to hold the mainstream media's feet to the fire. There are a lot of stories that they simply don't cover, either because it doesn't fit their world view, or because they're literally innocent of any knowledge that the story even exists, or because they are a dying organization, short-staffed, and thus can't cover stuff like they did before." "Big Journalism" was edited by Michael A. Walsh, a former journalism professor and "Time" magazine music critic.


title: Breitbart News

text: "BigPeace.com", which later became the "National Security" component of "Breitbart News", debuted on July 4, 2010. National Security covers foreign policy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism, Islamic extremism, espionage, border security, and energy issues.


title: Breitbart News

text: On October 27, 2015, the website launched "Breitbart Tech", a technology journalism subsection of the site that focuses on technology, gaming, esports, and internet culture. It was initially edited by Milo Yiannopoulos, who was recruited by Bannon, until his resignation on February 21, 2017, following the controversy surrounding questionable comments he made regarding hebephilia and the sexuality of children during two podcasts. In July 2016, Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter after racist abuse was directed towards "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones following Yiannopoulos's insulting tweets about her. Although Yiannopoulos's Twitter account was removed, "Breitbart News" has since republished the full tweet exchange and has published articles criticizing Twitter. Yiannopoulos mostly wrote about cultural issues, particularly Gamergate.


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News"s London edition was launched in February 2014. It was headed at the time by executive editor James Delingpole, described as a "high traffic hire" by "The Spectator"s Steerpike column. He co-founded it with Raheem Kassam.


title: Breitbart News

text: On November 17, 2015, the website launched "Breitbart Jerusalem", which covers events in Israel and the wider Middle East. It is edited by Israel-based American reporter Aaron Klein. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has been an occasional columnist.


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News"s Texas edition was launched in February 2014 and its editor and managing director at launch was Brandon Darby. Michael Quinn Sullivan was a founding contributor.


title: Breitbart News

text: "Breitbart News" played a central role in the 2009 ACORN video controversy, which resulted in the reorganization of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), as well as its loss of private and government funding. "Breitbart News" contributor Hannah Giles posed as a prostitute fleeing an abusive pimp and seeking tax and legal advice on how to run an illegal business that included the use of underage girls in the sex trade, while James O'Keefe, another contributor, posed as her boyfriend. They clandestinely videotaped meetings with ACORN staff who "gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income."


title: Breitbart News

text: Andrew Breitbart paid Giles and O'Keefe $32,000 and $65,000, respectively, to film, edit and blog about the videos. Giles paid $100,000 and O'Keefe paid $50,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by former ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera regarding the videos.


title: Breitbart News

text: Subsequent investigations by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and the California Attorney General found the videos were heavily edited in an attempt to make ACORN's responses "appear more sinister", and contributed to the group's demise. Clark Hoyt, "The New York Times" public editor, wrote, "The videos were heavily edited. The sequence of some conversations was changed. Some workers seemed concerned for Giles, one advising her to get legal help. In two cities, ACORN workers called the police. But the most damning words match the transcripts and the audio, and do not seem out of context." However, a former Massachusetts Attorney General hired to investigate the matter found no pattern of illegal conduct by the ACORN employees and said the news media should have been far more skeptical, demanding the raw video from which the edited versions were produced.


title: Breitbart News

text: In July 2010, "Breitbart News" released an edited video titled "Proof NAACP Awards Racism" which featured USDA official Shirley Sherrod speaking at a NAACP fundraising dinner in March 2010. In the video, Sherrod admits to a racial reluctance to help a white farmer obtain government aid. As a result of the video, the NAACP condemned Sherrod's remarks, and U.S. government officials called on Sherrod to resign, which she did.


title: Breitbart News

text: The NAACP later posted the longer 43-minute video of the speech. In it, Sherrod said her reluctance to help a white man was wrong, and she had ended up assisting him. The NAACP then reversed their rebuke of Sherrod, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack apologized and offered Sherrod a new government position. Andrew Breitbart said that the point of the piece was not to target Sherrod, but said the NAACP audience's reception of some parts of the speech demonstrated the same racism the NAACP's President had accused the Tea Party movement of harboring. In 2011, Sherrod sued Andrew Breitbart and his business partner Larry O'Connor for defamation. In 2015, Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart's estate settled the case.


title: Breitbart News

text: On May 28, 2011, "Breitbart News"'s "BigJournalism" website reported on a sexually explicit photo linked on New York Representative Anthony Weiner's Twitter feed. Weiner initially denied that he had sent a 21-year-old female college student the link to the photograph, but later admitted to inappropriate online relationships. On June 6, "Breitbart News" reported other photos Weiner had sent, including one that was sexually explicit. Two days later, the sexually graphic photo was leaked after Andrew Breitbart participated in a radio interview with hosts Opie and Anthony. Andrew Breitbart stated that the photo was published without his permission. Weiner subsequently resigned from his congressional seat on June 21.


title: Breitbart News

text: On February 7, 2013, Ben Shapiro published an article on "Breitbart News" reporting allegations that former Senator and nominee for United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) may have been paid to speak at an event sponsored by a group called "Friends of Hamas." "Breitbart News" said that the story was based on exclusive information from U.S. Senate sources.


title: Breitbart News

text: An investigation by "Slate" reporter David Weigel failed to confirm the existence of the purported group.<ref name="Weigel_2/14/2013"></ref> On February 19, New York "Daily News" reporter Dan Friedman said that the story had originated from a sarcastic comment he had made to a congressional staffer. "Friends of Hamas" was one of several groups which Friedman considered to be so over-the-top as to be implausible and obviously fictitious. He was investigating rumors that Hagel had been paid for speaking to "controversial organizations", and asked sarcastically whether he had addressed "Friends of Hamas." Friedman followed with an email to the congressional staffer asking if Hagel had received a $25,000 fee from "Friends of Hamas" for his speaking engagement. No reply to the email was received, and the next day, "Breitbart News" ran a story with the headline "Secret Hagel Donor?: White House Spox Ducks Question on 'Friends of Hamas'."


title: Breitbart News

text: Shapiro maintained that the report was accurate, claiming that the source was not Friedman. Writers for "The Washington Post", "New York" magazine and "The Daily Beast" criticized "Breitbart News" for the "Friends of Hamas" story, calling it "wrong" and "made-up".


title: Breitbart News

text: In April 2014, "Breitbart News" created an advertising campaign to launch "Breitbart California", which included posters bearing an image of House minority leader Nancy Pelosi's head superimposed onto singer Miley Cyrus's body as seen twerking on California governor Jerry Brown, spoofing the 2013 VMAs. DNC Chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz denounced the images as disrespectful to women. In response, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy requested that his column be removed from the site.


title: Breitbart News

text: On November 8, 2014, "Breitbart News" posted an article by Warner Todd Huston, which erroneously reported that Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general, had been part of Bill Clinton's defense team during the Whitewater scandal about the Whitewater Development Corporation. In fact, the Whitewater lawyer was a different Loretta Lynch. After this mistake was pointed out by "Talking Points Memo" and Media Matters for America, "Breitbart News" noted that the two Lynches were different people by correcting and appending the original article. Andrew Rosenthal of "The New York Times" editorial page editor criticized this, writing: "The appended correction didn't really do justice to the scope of the misidentification."


title: Breitbart News

text: The "American Journalism Review" said "that Breitbart had let the mistaken fact stand in the headline and the article itself," and had published a second story containing the incorrect information on November 9. By November 10, the initial story had been deleted from "Breitbart.com". "PolitiFact" rated the claim "Pants on Fire" and noted that the false claim had "already spread to other conspiracy, opinion and conservative news websites", as an example of how fast false information can spread on the Internet.


title: Breitbart News

text: According to "The New York Times", "Breitbart News" promoted the falsehood that President Obama was a Kenyan-born Muslim ("birtherism"). In "Devil's Bargain", however, Joshua Green writes that Breitbart never promoted birtherism. "Breitbart" senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak has denied that "Breitbart News" had ever "advocated the narrative of 'Birtherism.'"


title: Breitbart News

text: In March 2017, "Breitbart News" published a story by conservative talk radio host Mark Levin claiming that Obama had wiretapped Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. President Trump repeated the claims on his Twitter feed less than 24 hours after "Breitbart News" ran the story.


title: Breitbart News

text: During the 2016 presidential election, "Breitbart News" were accused by "Rolling Stone" magazine of promoting conspiracy theories including the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which alleged that high-ranking Democrats were involved a child sex ring. The website made unconfirmed claims about Hillary Clinton's health, including asserting she had issues caused by a supposed brain injury. A June 2016 "Breitbart News" article presented Stone's conspiracy theory that Clinton aide Huma Abedin was involved with terrorism.


title: Breitbart News

text: On January 3, 2017, "Breitbart News"s Virginia Hale wrote that "At New Year's Eve celebrations in Dortmund a mob of more than 1,000 men chanted 'Allahu Akhbar', launched fireworks at police, and set fire to a historic church". According to Agence France-Presse, the story gave the impression of "chaotic civil war-like conditions in Germany, caused by Islamist aggressors". The story was later shown to be false; St. Reinold's Church is neither the oldest church in Germany nor was the church set on fire. While 1000 people did gather, which is not unusual on New Year's Eve in a public place, video footage from the scene does not show a "mob", and no policemen were targeted. The official police report recorded an "average to quiet New Year's Eve" with "no spectacular facts to report", while firefighters note an "almost normal weekend night" and state that a "safety net at the Reinoldi church caught fire by a fireworks rocket, but was quickly extinguished". Witness said it was not the church roof that was scorched, but a construction scaffolding on the church's far side, away from the crowd. The group that shouted "Allahu Akbar" consisted of only 50–70 people and was celebrating the ceasefire in Aleppo.


title: Breitbart News

text: The false story was then subsequently picked up by an Austrian far-right website before it made its way back to Germany where politician Thorsten Hoffmann fell for it. In Germany, several newspapers reported on "Breitbart News" publishing the hoax and distorting facts. "Breitbart News" initially declined to comment, but on January 8 published a story in which it stood by its claims, which had been shown to be false, and refused to admit to any exaggeration. The only correction issued was with regard to the church's age. The follow-up story used a screen capture of different fireworks at the near side of the church, with no scaffolding. "Ruhr Nachrichten", the original outlet and the alleged witness cited by "Breitbart News", replied to the update, and stated that "Breitbart News" had not contacted them or the firefighters present to verify their story. They also reiterated the accusation against "Breitbart News" of exaggerating minor facts to give a false "impression that a 'mob' of 1000 migrants had shot at Christian churches in Dortmund and set them on fire." The newspaper went on to accuse "Breitbart News" of not adhering to journalistic ethics. "Ruhr Nachrichten" also accused "Breitbart" of "using our online reports for fake news, hate and propaganda" and published video fragments recorded on site that contradicted "Breitbart News"s story.


title: Breitbart News

text: In November 2016, "Breitbart News" published an article summarizing a "Daily Mail" piece that falsely claimed that record-high global temperatures were unrelated to global warming. The "Breitbart" article, by James Delingpole, was cited by the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for which the latter itself was criticized. "Weather.com" condemned the "Breitbart" story in an article titled "Note to Breitbart: Earth Is Not Cooling, Climate Change Is Real and Please Stop Using Our Video to Mislead Americans".


title: Breitbart News

text: In June 2017, "Breitbart News" published an article by Dellingpole that claimed that 58 scientific papers disproved anthropogenic climate change. A number of scientists criticized the article, describing it as cherry-picking, derogatory, inaccurate, misleading, and employing flawed reasoning. In April 2019, "Breitbart News" published an article that claimed that a scientific study on past climate proved that man-made climate change was a hoax. Climate scientists sharply criticized the article, variously describing it as ignorant, misleading, and misrepresentative of the study's actual findings. In 2020, "Breitbart News" falsely claimed that the sea level has remained stable throughout the 20th century.


title: Breitbart News

text: In November 2021, a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate described "Breitbart News" as being among "ten fringe publishers" that together were responsible for nearly 70 percent of Facebook user interactions with content that denied climate change. Facebook disputed the study's methodology.<ref name="Porterfield_11/2/2021"></ref><ref name="Toxic_Ten_11/2/2021"></ref>


title: Breitbart News

text: In August 2017, "Breitbart News" featured a picture of professional German soccer player Lukas Podolski in an article entitled "Spanish Police Crack Gang Moving Migrants on Jet-Skis". Podolski is neither a migrant gang member nor a victim of human trafficking. The picture was of Podolski riding a jet-ski in the summer of 2014 in Brazil. "Breitbart News" apologized to Podolski after the picture drew attention.


title: Breitbart News

text: In October 2017, "Breitbart News" published a false story claiming that an illegal immigrant was arrested in connection with the October 2017 Northern California wildfires. Sonoma County's sheriff department responded to "Breitbart"s reporting, "This is completely false, bad, wrong information that Breitbart started and is being put out into the public."