The New York Times Editorial Staff - Conspiracy Theories: Real, Imagined and Manufactured

Marchers were among the 500 conspiracy theorists at a two-day Chicago convention in early June 2006 calling for what they considered 9/11 truth.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, inspired similar debates. Some far left groups saw the attack on the World Trade Center as a possible impetus for war, while other theorists analyzed the pattern of explosions and the structure of the buildings, suggesting that the buildings could not have fallen on their own with outside explosives. In a movement that became known as the truther movement, 9/11 conspiracy theorists pointed to signs of controlled demolitions, occasionally making headlines through protests and incendiary documentaries.

In recent years, however, conspiracies have begun to more broadly impact mainstream political discourse. The individual most responsible for this might be Alex Jones of Infowars, a media company known for spreading a variety of far-right conspiracy theories. In recent years, Jones has gained notoriety for calling into question the validity of mass shootings, suggesting survivors and family members were paid actors in a leftist plot for gun control. In 2018, his targeting of Sandy Hook family members earned him his first prohibition from YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, a watershed moment in the Internets censuring of conspiracies.

One of Joness listeners is President Donald J. Trump, who, during his time in office, has promoted stories that have been firmly debunked by experts. Before his election, Trump vocally endorsed a theory that President Obama was born in Kenya, which would have invalidated his candidacy for presidency. Known as birtherism, the movement repeatedly called for Obama to present his birth certificate, and continued well after Obama presented it.

The challenge that conspiracy theories pose to media companies such as The New York Times is immense. News organizations must decide how to cover these conspiracies, analyzing them without giving them credence or expanding their platform. In the articles collected here, journalists cover the spread of conspiracy theories as well as their consequences, navigating the line between truth, theory, belief and falsehood.

CHAPTER 1

Who Shot J.F.K.?

Any discussion of American conspiracy theories must begin with the J.F.K. assassination. On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas. Although experts have concluded that the gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone, there were enough peculiarities to inspire a breadth of conspiracy theories, from rumors of a second gunman to hints of Mafia connections. In 2017, President Trump ordered the declassification of a trove of F.B.I. documents regarding the assassination, opening the door to renewed speculation.

28 Years After Kennedys Assassination, Conspiracy Theories Refuse to Die

BY CLIFFORD KRAUSS | JAN. 5, 1992

NEARLY THREE DECADES after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the film director Oliver Stone has revitalized an American obsession with conspiracies.

Mr. Stones movie J.F.K. liberally mixes fiction with fact, and some have dismissed it as an outrageous distortion of history. But the monstrous web of political, government and corporate interests that the film portrays as being behind the killing does reflect widely held suspicions that more than a single gunman was responsible for the slaying.

Public opinion polls taken over the last several years have shown that fewer than one-third of the American people accept the findings of the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Unanswered questions about the investigations and the disposition of certain evidence, like autopsy notes that were burned, have only fed the doubts.