Alex Jones (radio host)

For other people named Alex Jones, see Alex Jones (disambiguation).

Alex Jones

Jones, circa 2009
Born Alexander Emerick Jones
1974
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupation Radio host, film producer
Known for Various conspiracy theories such as 9/11 Truth and New World Order theories
Religion Christianity
Website infowars.com

Alexander Emerick "Alex" Jones (born 1974) is an American conspiracy theorist,[1][2] radio show host, documentary filmmaker, and writer.[3] His syndicated news/talk show The Alex Jones Show, based in Austin, Texas, airs via the Genesis Communications Network[4] and shortwave station WWCR[5] across the United States, and on the Internet in video form.[6][7]

Jones has been the center of many controversies, including his controversial statements about gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.[8] He has accused the U.S. government of being involved in the Oklahoma City bombing,[9] the September 11 attacks[10] and the filming of fake Moon landings to hide NASA's secret technology.[11][12][13] He believes that government and big business have colluded to create a New World Order through "manufactured economic crises, sophisticated surveillance tech and—above all—inside-job terror attacks that fuel exploitable hysteria".[14] Jones describes himself as a libertarian, paleoconservative and an "aggressive constitutionalist".[15][16] Mainstream media sources have described Jones as a conservative, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, and a libertarian.

New York magazine described Jones as "America's leading conspiracy theorist",[17] and the Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as "the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America."[18] When asked about these labels, Jones said that he is "proud to be listed as a thought criminal against Big Brother".[17]

Early life

Jones was born in 1974, in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in the Dallas suburb of Rockwall and the city of Austin, Texas. His father David Jones is a dentist; and his mother, a homemaker.[9] In his video podcasts, he reports that he is of Irish,[19] German, Welsh, mostly[20] English, and partially Native American descent.[20] He was a lineman on his high school's football team and graduated from Anderson High School in Austin, Texas in 1993.[9] As a teenager, he read Gary Allen's None Dare Call It Conspiracy, which strongly affected him, and which he calls "the easiest-to-read primer on The New World Order".[21] After high school, Jones attended Austin Community College.[22]

Career

Jones began his career in Austin with a live, call-in format public-access television cable TV program. [23] In 1996, Jones switched format to radio, hosting a show named The Final Edition on KJFK (98.9FM) .[24] During this time Ron Paul was running for Congress and was a guest on Jones's show several times.[25] In his early shows, he frequently talked about his belief that the US government was behind the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995,[26] using the incident to put down a growing "states rights movement".[27] In 1998, he released his first film, America Destroyed By Design.

In 1998, Jones organized a successful effort to build a new Branch Davidian church, as a memorial to those who died during the 1993 fire that ended the government's siege of the original Branch Davidian complex near Waco, Texas.[28] He often featured the project on his public-access television program and claimed that David Koresh and his followers were peaceful people who were murdered by Attorney General Janet Reno and the ATF during the siege.[24]

In 1999, he tied with Shannon Burke for that year's "Best Austin Talk Radio Host" poll as voted by The Austin Chronicle readers.[29] Later that year, he was fired from KJFK-FM for refusing to broaden his topics, his viewpoints making the show hard to sell to advertisers, according to the station's operations manager.[24] Jones stated: "It was purely political, and it came down from on high ... I was told 11 weeks ago to lay off Clinton, to lay off all these politicians, to not talk about rebuilding the church, to stop bashing the Marines, A to Z".[24] He began spreading his show via internet connection from his home.[26]

In early 2000, Jones was one of seven Republican candidates for state representative in Texas House District 48, an open seat swing district based in Austin, Texas. Jones stated that he was running "to be a watchdog on the inside",[30] but withdrew from the race after a couple of weeks.

In July, a group of Austin Community Access Center (ACAC) programmers claimed that Jones used legal proceedings and ACAC policy to intimidate them or get their shows thrown off the air.[31]

In 2001, his show was syndicated on approximately 100 stations.[26] After the 9/11 terrorist attack, Jones began to speak of a conspiracy by the Bush administration as being behind the attack, which caused a number of the stations that had previously carried him to drop his program, according to Will Bunch.[32]

On June 8, 2006, while on his way to cover a meeting of the Bilderberg group in Ottawa, Jones was stopped and detained at the Ottawa airport by Canadian authorities who confiscated his passport, camera equipment and most of his belongings. He was later allowed to enter Canada lawfully. Jones said regarding the reason for his immigration hold: "I want to say, on the record, it takes two to tango. I could have handled it better."[33]

On September 8, 2007, he was arrested while protesting at 6th Avenue and 48th Street in New York City. He was charged with operating a bullhorn without a permit. Two others were also cited for disorderly conduct when his group crashed a live television show featuring Geraldo Rivera. In an article one of Jones's fellow protesters said, "It was ... guerrilla information warfare."[34]

Media

Main article: The Alex Jones Show

The Alex Jones Show syndicated radio program is broadcast nationally by the Genesis Communications Network to more than ninety AM and FM radio stations in the United States,[4] and to WWCR Radio shortwave. Live broadcast times are weekdays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CST and Sundays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST. The Sunday broadcast is also broadcast by Emmis Communications' KLBJ Radio. According to Texas Monthly editor Nate Blakeslee the show had a listenership of 2 million per week in 2010.[35]

According to journalist Will Bunch, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America,[36][37] the show has a demographic heavier in younger viewers than other conservative pundits due to Jones's "highly conspiratorial tone and Web-oriented approach". Bunch has also stated that "there was always a cast of bottom-feeders like cult radio personality Alex Jones to feed on the deepest paranoia".[32] According to Alexander Zaitchik of Rolling Stone magazine, in 2011 he had a larger on-line audience than Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh combined.[38]

Jones is the operator of several websites centered on news and information about civil liberties issues, global government and a wide variety of current events topics.

Point of view

Jones during a 9/11 Truth Movement event on September 11, 2007, in Manhattan

Political

Mainstream sources have described Jones as a conservative,[39][40][41][42] a right-wing conspiracy theorist,[43][44][45][46] and a libertarian.[47] Jones sees himself as a libertarian and rejects being described as a right-winger.[48] He has also called himself a libertarian,[49] paleoconservative,[50] and an "aggressive constitutionalist".[15][16]

Religious

Jones is a Christian and expresses high regard for the Bible, often citing the more prophetic books of the Bible in order to back up his conspiracy theories,[51] stating: "I just want to try to be a pure and virtuous person. I want to try to transcend my flesh and be the true leader that we're all meant to be... I feel the spirit of the Creator and it embraces me with chills..."[52]

However, he views organized religion as part of the New World Order, saying, "One of the biggest problems in the United States is organized religion. Not just Christians, but Hindus, Muslims, other people. The leaders of their denominations have been funded openly by governments and corporations to preach doctrines of submission to government, submission to tyranny."[53] He is also very critical of Pope Francis, whom he considers to be a socialist advocate of a global government, and a global religion, while ignoring traditional Catholic issues such as abortion.[54]

Controversies

Jones has been the center of many controversies, such as the controversy surrounding his actions and statements about gun control after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.[8] He has accused the US government of being involved in the Oklahoma City bombing[9] and the September 11 attacks.[10] Jones was in a "media crossfire" in 2011, which included criticism by Rush Limbaugh, when the news spread that Jared Lee Loughner, perpetrator of the 2011 Tucson shooting, had been "a fan" of the 9/11 conspiracy film Loose Change, of which Jones had been an executive producer.[38]

TV shows and interviews

In January 2013, Jones was invited to speak on Piers Morgan's show after promoting an online petition to deport Morgan due to his support of gun control laws.[55] The interview turned into "a one-person shoutfest, as Jones riffed about guns, oppressive government, the flag, his ancestors' role in Texan independence, and what flag Morgan would have on his tights if they wrestled".[55] The event drew widespread coverage,[55] and according to The Huffington Post, Morgan and others such as Glenn Beck "agreed that Jones was a terrible spokesman for gun rights".[56] Jones's appearance on the show was a top trending Twitter topic the following morning.[57]

On June 9, 2013, Jones appeared as a guest on the BBC's television show Sunday Politics. During a discussion about conspiracy theories surrounding the Bilderberg Group meetings with presenter Andrew Neil and journalist David Aaronovitch, a critic of such theories, Aaronovitch implied that they either don't exist or Jones is a part of them himself. This was then followed by Jones's shouting and regular interruptions, to which Andrew Neil ended the interview, describing Jones as "an idiot"[58] and "the worst person I've ever interviewed".[59][60] According to Neil on Twitter, Jones was still shouting until he knew he was off-air.[58][59]

Films

Alex Jones and fans at the Première of A Scanner Darkly, a film by Richard Linklater, in which Jones has a cameo.[26]
Year Film Notes
1998 America: Destroyed by Design
1999 Police State 2000
1999 Are You Practicing Communism? Produced by Mike Hanson
2000 America Wake Up or Waco
2000 The Best of Alex Jones
2000 Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove
2000 Police State II: The Takeover
2001 Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports: Exposed
2001 911 The Road to Tyranny: Special Emergency Release
2002 911 The Road to Tyranny
2002 The Masters of Terror: Exposed
2003 Matrix of Evil
2003 Police State 3: Total Enslavement
2004 American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004
2005 Martial Law 9-11: Rise of the Police State
2005 The Order of Death
2006 TerrorStorm: A History of Government-Sponsored Terrorism
2007 Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement
2007 Endgame 1.5
2007 TerrorStorm: A History of Government-Sponsored Terrorism - Second Edition
2007 Loose Change: Final Cut by Dylan Avery Executive producer
2008 The 9/11 Chronicles: Part 1, Truth Rising
2008 Fabled Enemies by Jason Bermas Producer
2009 DVD Arsenal: The Alex Jones Show Vols. 1–3
2009 The Obama Deception: The Mask Comes Off
2009 Fall of the Republic: Vol. 1, The Presidency of Barack H. Obama
2009 Reflections and Warnings: An Interview with Aaron Russo
2010 Police State IV: The Rise Of FEMA
2010 Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined by Jason Bermas Producer
2012 New World Order: Blueprint of Madmen
2012 Strategic Relocation Producer and director

Author

Year Book Publisher
2002 9-11: Descent Into Tyranny Progressive Press
2008 The Answer to 1984 Is 1776 The Disinformation Company

Film subject

Year Film Notes
2003 Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9/11 by Stephen Marshall
2009 New World Order by Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel
2010 The Fall of America and the Western World by Brian Kraft

Acting

Year Film Role
2001 Waking Life Man in Car with P.A. (cameo)
2006 A Scanner Darkly Street Prophet (cameo)

References

  1. ↑ Byford, Jovan (2011-10-12). Conspiracy Theories: A Critical Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 11. ISBN 9780230349216. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
  2. ↑ Alex Seitz-Wald. "Alex Jones: Boston explosion a government conspiracy". Salon.
  3. ↑ "Glenn Beck's Shtick? Alex Jones Got There First". Rolling Stone.
  4. 1 2 List of Alex Jones Radio Show Affiliated Stations.
  5. ↑ "WWCR.com - Home - WWCR Shortwave, Nashville, Tennessee, USA". wwcr.com.
  6. ↑ "All Hell Breaks Loose on The View After 9/11 Truther Cuts Loose". FoxNation.com.
  7. ↑ "The Alex Jones Show". Tune In. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Alex Jones' pro-gun tirade at Piers Morgan on British presenter's own show". The Guardian (London). January 8, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Zaitchik, Alexander (2011-03-02). "Meet Alex Jones, the Talk Radio Host Behind Charlie Sheen's Crazy Rants". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 29, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-24.
  10. 1 2 Stahl, Jeremy (September 6, 2011). "Where Did 9/11 Conspiracies Come From?". Slate. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  11. ↑ Nuzzi, Olivia. "Dear Moon Landing Deniers: Sorry I Called You Moon Landing Deniers". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories". April 30, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  13. ↑ Zara, Christopher (June 9, 2013). "Alex Jones Blows Up On BBC Sunday Politics For Bilderberg Group Follow-Up: If My Enemies Murder Me, It Makes Me A Martyr". International Business Times. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  14. ↑ Alexander Zaitchik (March 2, 2011). "Meet Alex Jones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  15. 1 2 "The Alex Jones Show". Austin, TX: KLBJ. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2010.
  16. 1 2 Hammack, Laurence (June 6, 2009). "Roanoke man charged with making online threats". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on June 9, 2009.
  17. 1 2 Ciscarelli, Joe. "An Interview With Alex Jones, America’s Leading (and Proudest) Conspiracy Theorist". Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Alex Jones Profile". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  19. ↑ The Alex Jones Channel (April 29, 2015). "Baltimore City Councilman Pushes Racial Division". YouTube, Google. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  20. 1 2 Alex Jones Puts Anti-Semitic Caller in His Place!! (2011-03-04). Alex Jones Channel/Prisonplanet.tv/Genesis Communications Network. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Meet Alex Jones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  22. ↑ Howard Stern Radio Show, February 26, 2013.
  23. ↑ "About Alex Jones". Infowars.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Nichols, Lee (December 10, 1999). "Psst, It's a Conspiracy: KJFK Gives Alex Jones the Boot Media Clips". The Austin Chronicle.
  25. ↑ "How Radio Host Alex Jones Has Cornered the Bipartisan Paranoia Market". New York. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  26. 1 2 3 4 "Meet Alex Jones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  27. ↑ Kay, Jonathan (2011-05-17). Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground. HarperCollins. pp. 26–. ISBN 9780062004819. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  28. ↑ Connie Mabin (April 19, 2000). "Branch Davidians hope a new church can close wounds". The Independent (UK). Associated Press. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Best of Austin 1999 Readers Poll". 1999. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  30. ↑ Scott S. Greenberger (January 4, 2000). "Nine to seek Greenberg's House seat". Austin American-Statesman. p. B1. (subscription required (help)).
  31. ↑ Nichols, Lee (2000-07-14). "Alex Jones: Conspiracy Victim or Evil Mastermind?". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2012-01-02. Retrieved 2008-05-20. Alex Jones is no stranger to conspiracy theories.
  32. 1 2 Bunch, Will (2011-09-13). The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama. HarperCollins. pp. 73–. ISBN 9780061991721. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  33. ↑ Payton, Laura (2006-06-08). "Bilderberg-bound filmmaker held at airport". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  34. ↑ Grace, Melissa; Xana O'Neill (2007-09-09). "Filmmaker arrested during city protest". Daily News (New York). Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  35. ↑ Blakeslee, Nate (March 2010). "Alex Jones Is About To Explode". Texas Monthly. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  36. ↑ "Will Bunch". CommonDreams. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  37. ↑ "Will Bunch". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  38. 1 2 ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK (March 2, 2011). "Meet Alex Jones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  39. ↑ "BART Officer Threats". cbs5.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  40. ↑ An article in the San Jose Mercury News describes Alex Jones as a "conservative radio talk show host".
  41. ↑ Two articles in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from March and April 2009 describe Jones as a "conservative radio commentator"
  42. ↑ Norman, Tony (2009-08-14). "A nutty way of discussing health care". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  43. ↑ Gosa, Travis L. (2011). "Counterknowledge, racial paranoia, and the cultic milieu: Decoding hip hop conspiracy theory". Poetics 39 (3): 187. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2011.03.003. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  44. ↑ Black, Louis (2000-07-14). "Unknown Title". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-05-20. Jones is an articulate, sometimes hypnotic, often just annoying conspiracy theorist.
  45. ↑ Duggan, Paul (2001-10-26). "Austin Hears the Music And Another New Reality; In Texas Cultural Center, People Prepare to Fight Terror". The Washington Post. p. A22. Retrieved 2008-05-20. (subscription required (help)). [His cable show] has made the exuberant, 27-year-old conspiracy theorist a minor celebrity in Austin.
  46. ↑ "Conspiracy Files: 9/11 - Q&A: What really happened" (FAQ). BBC News. 2007-02-16. Retrieved 2008-05-19. Leading conspiracy theorist and broadcaster Alex Jones of infowars.com argues that ...
  47. ↑ "The Return of Alex Jones". ABC News.
  48. ↑ Roddy, Dennis B. (April 10, 2009). "An Accused Cop Killer's Politics". Slate. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  49. ↑ Rosell, Rich (November 27, 2006). "Dark days, the Alex Jones interview". digitallyobsessed.com.
  50. ↑ Rosell, Rich (November 27, 2006). "digitallyobsessed.com.". Dark days, the Alex Jones interview.
  51. ↑ "The religion and political views of Alex Jones". Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  52. ↑ "Alex Jones Tv 1/2: Alex Takes Your Calls on Religion". Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  53. ↑ "Alex Jones on organized religion and resistance". Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  54. ↑ "» Special Report: Pope Francis Is A Vatican Coup Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!". Infowars.
  55. 1 2 3 "Piers Morgan vs. Alex Jones feud: helping or hurting gun control? (+video)". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  56. ↑ Mirkinson, Jack (January 9, 2013). "Piers Morgan: Alex Jones 'Terrifying', A Perfect 'Advertisement For Gun Control'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  57. ↑ "Social media abuzz over Piers Morgan vs. Alex Jones". CNN. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  58. 1 2 Dixon, Hayley (June 9, 2013). "'Idiot' Bilderberg conspiracy theorist Alex Jones disrupts BBC politics show". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  59. 1 2 Topping, Alexandra (June 9, 2013). "Andrew Neil calls Alex Jones an idiot in Sunday Politics clash". The Guardian (London). Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  60. ↑ Taylor, Adam (June 9, 2013). "Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Goes Berserk During BBC Show". Business Insider. Retrieved June 9, 2013.

External links

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