CHARLESTON — Multiple far-left newspapers and activist blogs have launched a disinformation campaign against WV media proprietor Caiden Cowger. Dragline (the blog of the ACLU), RealWV (a blog operated by a former democrat state senator), and Ogden Newspapers all published poorly written “investigative stories” that read more like opinion columns making debunked claims.
Sources told Mountaineer Journal that this whole nonsense started when Del. Geno Chiarelli (R-78) began circulating a lie that the owner of The Pittsburgh Observer was ‘anonymous’ and published a newsworthy story concerning a republican candidate for governor. The Pittsburgh Observer was not anonymous. The Pittsburgh Observer has always been owned by Cowger Media since its recent acquisition.
Chiarelli performed a deceptive theatrical stunt where he pulled the SOA record (which is a public digital record) that showed Cowger owned the site. The Observer even included Cowger Media’s company branding. Chiarelli could have simply scrolled down to the bottom of the website, clicked on the Terms of Service, and seen that the website was owned by Cowger Media.
“Chiarelli enjoys creating dissension and problems,” said an unnamed member of the House Freedom Caucus. “People like that usually don’t last long in Charleston.”
Chiarelli left the West Virginia House Freedom Caucus after allegedly feeding sensitive information to House Leadership, which included a roster of the Caucus’ members.
When asked about this story, Cowger’s comment was limited.
“You know you’ve done something right when corporate leftist newspapers with ‘woke’ wannabe reporters start writing mean things about you,” Cowger stated. “I don’t read any of it and prefer to just ignore it.”
After Chiarelli’s stunt, his false conspiracy was picked-up by radical activist blogs and Ogden Newspapers, who began a cheap effort to discredit Cowger’s news agencies. They even began citing themselves as each other’s authority.
Dragline, who first posted the conspiracy, is not a real news website. It is an activist blog for the ACLU, an organization that now primarily fights in the courts to allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports.
The wordy headline of this fake news story first posted by Dragline (the ACLU’s blog) was titled, Anonymous website attacking WV gubernatorial candidate revealed to be operative with ties to Team Morrisey fundraising partner. Using simple logic, if this website was supposedly “anonymous,” how was Cowger so quickly identified? This was an easily provable false report published maliciously to harm the reputation of Cowger and his news platforms.
Real WV is a blog operated by former Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin (D). Baldwin experienced an embarrassing defeat in 2022, after a landslide victory by Sen. Vince Deeds (R). Deeds received 58.7 percent, with Baldwin obtaining just 37.9 percent. It’s clear that Baldwin couldn’t maintain the trust of voters, so his only connection to West Virginia politics is to manage a political blog.
Ogden Newspapers is owned by Bob Nutting. Their acquired assets include The Parkersburg News & Sentinel, The Intelligencer, The InterMountain, and The Weirton Daily Times. Nutting is the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He also serves as the Vice President of the Nature Conservancy of West Virginia, a radical environmentalist non-profit that wants to eliminate the coal industry, replacing it with ‘green energy.’
The story published in all five of the newspapers, owned by Ogden Newspapers, was written by the same author: Steven Allen Adams.
These self-claiming “reporters” lie, mislead the public, and then accuse journalists (who don’t propagate their agenda) of being guilty of their actions. We are facing an information war and this is a clear example of it. These activist “journalists” will manufacture enough yarn to spin a story, connect it to their conspiracies, and then write irrelevant conclusions with clickbait headlines. Their hope is that gullible readers will quickly glance at it, believe it, and then move about their day.
To make matters worse, most of this biased reporting by Ogden Newspapers is primarily subsidized by West Virginians’ taxpayer dollars. It’s no secret that many of the newspapers in West Virginia are failing. They are primarily kept afloat by legal ads and public notices. Far-left corporations have swept into the state and have bought-out many of these local newspapers. Then, they all publish the same stories with the same untrustworthy reporters.
By acquiring multiple newspapers, they maintain their decreasing but functional circulation to meet the state requirements. Then, they save money by hiring cheap reporters, paying them salaries below the national average. Somehow, these newspapers remain slightly profitable, until their circulation dwindles. As they lose readers, they are eventually acquired by a larger corporation with a greater quantity of news assets… and the cycle continues.
To put it simply, your tax dollars are financing far-left “reporters” to feed you misinformation and ‘fake news.’ Just as with all of their “stories,” many of these misleading reports on Cowger (published by corporate newspapers) were subsidized with money from West Virginians’ tax dollars.
Cowger has been a media proprietor for most of his life, starting at a very young age. He has been active in political circles for years.
As someone deeply committed to his faith and personal convictions, Cowger does not personally engage in for-profit lobbying and does not meet the criteria for registering as a lobbyist. When Cowger first became President of The Family Policy Council of WV, he checked with The West Virginia Ethics Commission to see if he met the criteria for registration. Their answer was that he did not and was not classified as a lobbyist. So, he did not register. Cowger’s work for The Family Policy Council of WV is charitable philanthropy. Cowger’s desire is for West Virginia families to be strengthened, their financial burdens to be diminished, and held together through all circumstances by establishing a foundation consisting of sincere faith.
In Cowger’s own words, “I just want our people and our communities to do well again. Most importantly, I want others to realize that the only place we can find guidance and strength is by genuinely seeking Christ.”
This is a shared desire of The Family Policy Council of WV, and presumably why Cowger accepted their request for him to join.
Cowger’s ad agency, Cowger Creative, has also provided advertising services to a wide array of political candidates throughout West Virginia. Like most popular advertising providers, there have even been times when his agency has provided services to competing candidates in the same race. His company’s services have consisted of campaign signage, graphic design, direct mail, and video production, along with cable and digital media buys. His agency provides very professional work, and has been utilized by candidates throughout West Virginia, including the West Virginia Republican Party and the Republican Senate Caucus. It’s undeniable that Cowger Creative has left its mark on numerous successful political campaigns and company branding endeavors.
Cowger’s diversified portfolio of news reporting, advertising, creative design, and philanthropy has certainly made him a ‘curious case’ indeed that even his haters can’t help but acknowledge.