Rocky Mountain PBS: The billboard is remarkably simple. Next to a photo of an unidentified man, on a canary yellow background, the tagline reads “#1 Trusted News.” Below, a url encourages people to visit the website for the Epoch Times.

Despite its claims, the Epoch Times is not the most-trusted news outlet by any official measure. The outlet has a mysterious ownership structure, has elevated conspiracy theories and employed suspicious marketing strategies that saw them banned from advertising on Facebook.

The outlet’s sophisticated appearance, both in print and online, obscures the partisan slant of its shadowy operation.

“I think that just makes it much harder for most people — not just journalists or academics — to distinguish fact from fiction. Or if not fiction, at least exaggeration,” said Priyanjana Bengani, a researcher at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. Bengani researches partisan news outlets with a focus on digital media.

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