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Experts share how to spot partisan websites masquerading as local news

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Experts share how to spot partisan websites masquerading as local news

In Waukesha County, a newspaper called the Waukesha Times has arrived in residents’ mailboxes.

With the slogan “Real Facts. Real Value. Real News” and stories with quotes from local officials, the Waukesha Times appears to be a nonpartisan local news publication.

But upon closer inspection, the site has no named authors or staff. The stories are thinly reported, often repeating a politician’s post or press release on social media. And several convey misleading or false information aimed at Democrats.

For example, one headline claims that Vice President Kamala Harris “wants to take money from WI whites, Hispanics and Asians for reparations” for blacks, citing a former Trump spokesman.

But Harris has never sought reparations in the form of taking citizens’ money, according to multiple interviews. Most recently, he told a popular radio host that the issue of financial reparations “needs to be looked into.”

Another Waukesha Times headline cites an X post by state Rep. Scott Fitzgerald claiming the number of “illegal aliens” with criminal records is a “staggering number.” However, studies show that undocumented immigrants have lower felony arrest rates than legal immigrants or Native Americans.

“Is this a real newspaper that leans right or is it just a glorified ad for the GOP masquerading as a newspaper?” a Waukesha resident asked on Reddit.

More: No, immigrants are no more likely to commit crimes than the US-born, despite Trump’s border speech

The Waukesha Times is actually operated by Metric Media, a network that operates more than 1,200 politically-backed news sites in the U.S., including 25 in Wisconsin with names like the Milwaukee City Wire, the Madison Reporter and the Racine Sun, all of which purport to be local news points of sale

According to an investigation by Columbia University’s Tow Center, Metric Media is funded by millions of dollars in donations from conservative organizations.

The Waukesha Times and Metric Media did not respond to multiple emails from the Public Investigator seeking more information about the reporters and the organizations’ publication process.

Eugene Kiely is the director of the non-profit organization FactCheck.org, a non-partisan website that verifies the claims of politicians. A journalist for more than 20 years, Kiely said he’s seeing more partisan and politically funded outlets masquerading as newspapers, generally described as “pink slime” journalism.

As local news organizations disappear across the country, Kiely said, more partisan news organizations are moving in to advance their own agendas.

A Tow Center study found that over the course of 2020, the number of “local news sites” designed to endorse political talking points and collect user data rose from 450 to 1,200.

For example, Kiely’s FactCheck.org article published in August debunks a misleading Democratic ad. The ad cites its sole source as an article in the American Journal News, run by True Blue Media, which is funded by Democratic donors.

The consequences of spreading false information can be seen in recent major events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Kiely said. Social media allows false information to spread faster than ever before, he added.

“Disinformation is going very quickly to millions and millions of people, billions of accounts, all over the world, very quickly,” Kiely said.

What is Metric Media?

Metric Media is overseen by former television announcer and Chicago businessman Brian Timpone. Timpone told the Deseret News in 2020 that Metric Media’s goal “is to rebuild and democratize community news across the country.”

Timpone is connected to several media networks, including local government information services.

Last year, the Washington Post found that Local Government Information Services stories were provided by Lumen, an online portal that allowed Republican campaigns in Illinois to request stories. The portal also allowed Republicans to shape how stories were covered and, in some cases, choose to add a “fact-checking step.”

Timpone was also the CEO of the company Journatic, which was exposed by This American Life in 2012 for using false bylines in its local news content.

Metric Media now operates “local news organizations” in all 50 states, according to the researchers. The Tow Center’s 2019 study of 189 Metric Media sites found that the vast majority of their articles are not attributed to human journalists.

Metric Media’s website displays an online form called the “Community Newsmaker Tool” for submitting stories to local publications. The form allows people to recommend specific people to interview for stories, as well as the option to write a comment.

A Towing Center analysis of campaign finance records and nonprofit filings from 2021 to 2022 found that Metric Media is funded by conservative mega-donors. These include two PACs and one nonprofit, Restoring America, all backed by Richard Uihlein, the founder of Wisconsin-based shipping company Uline and a major Republican donor.

Other donors included the Defend Texas Liberty PAC funded by oil and gas billionaire Tim Dunn and the Saving Arizona PAC funded by Republican donor Peter Thiel.

Experts recommend how to spot reliable news sites

Experts said there are ways to spot red flags that point to a news website with ulterior motives.

Kiely said readers should look for articles missing titles from specific reporters.

“If you don’t know the source of the information, you shouldn’t trust it,” he said. “They have to prove to you that they are worthy of your trust.”

Kiely said readers should always check where information is coming from, and a reputable publication wouldn’t make it hard to find.

Kiely said readers can also use Google’s Fact Check tool when checking articles. The search engine results contain articles from fact-checking organizations that participate in ClaimReview, a system created by the Duke Reporters’ Lab at Duke University.

“If your car breaks down, you go to a mechanic, not a social media influencer, a podcaster or a politician,” Kiely said.

Lindsay Grace, a communications professor at the University of Miami, said readers should use the VIA method, which means checking an article for verification, independence and accountability.

For example, Grace said, a story about Hurricane Milton can be verified if the reporter cites a firsthand account from someone in Florida who experienced the hurricane.

Independence refers to a publication’s freedom from influence by other parties, Grace said.

“That’s why we have conflict of interest disclosures, and that’s why we don’t let someone who’s the CEO of an organization report how well they’re doing,” Grace said.

Finally, accountability refers to the editor being responsible and accountable for their work, such as making corrections.

Grace said one of the main questions readers should ask themselves is: Who benefits and why?

“In another context, if someone told you that Hondas are the best car, your first question would be, ‘Well, who said that?’ ” Grace said. “When it’s something that’s passed off as news, we start to forget that initial defense about information.”

To combat fake information, society must learn to spot tricks in fake news

The more people are able to spot errors such as uncredited or outdated photos and missing names, the easier it will be for them to spot fake news articles, Grace said.

That’s not much different than people used to identify special effects in movies, he added, like green screens.

“As we evolve as a society, we detect these things more and more,” Grace said, “just as we learn not to trust the person on the corner who calls out to us, ‘The sky is falling.'”

For the past three to five years, Grace has combined her skills in interactive media design and video games to create news games aimed at training her players to spot fake news.

For example, Grace released the online game Factitious in 2020. A case study of its 45,000 players indicated that the older the person, the better at identifying fake news, up to the age of 70. The data also showed that higher education was correlated. to more accurately identify real news from fake news.

More games focused on media literacy can be found on Grace’s site, journalismgames.org.

To check if a publication has political support, the Towing Center maintains a list of partisan news sites and newspapers here.

Quinn Clark is a public investigative reporter. You can send an email to [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @Quinn_A_Clark.

Contact the public investigator

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