Pro-conspiracy-theory advocacy and media
Pro-conspiracy-theory advocacy and media is the activity of advancing, publicly defending, and publishing conspiracy theories — historically spanning topics from JFK assassination research and 9/11 alternative analysis to exopolitics and UFO disclosure. The individual who carries out this advocacy is termed a conspiracy proponent (also conspiracy theory proponent); some literatures distinguish a "conspiracy proponent" — one who alleges a real but contested conspiracy — from a "conspiracy theory proponent," whose emphasis falls on the theoretical-explanatory framework rather than on evidentiary claims alone, though the terms are widely used interchangeably. Proponents range across credentialed academics, whistleblowers, journalists, and independent investigators; in the exopolitics context they include Steven Greer, Richard Dolan, Linda Moulton Howe, and Michael Salla. The status carries reputational risk in mainstream institutions, leading to documented professional suppression, deplatforming, demonetization, and credentialism-based exclusion from mainstream venues.