This blog post, written by members of the Library's Information Integrity Team, is part of a series that covers disinformation and other related subjects. The goal is to help create a well-informed citizenry of active participants who shape our world.
Pink Slime Journalism is a phrase that describes low cost and poor-quality online local news. Mimicking responsible news by appearance, tone, and hyper-local content, these sites pretend they are the same as a legitimate local news source, but often target local audiences and areas with the promotion of commercial, political, and ideological content that do not follow accepted and reliable journalism standards—that is, unbiased, independent, and reliable local news with named and traceable sources.
Traditional local news is declining in this country, leaving huge informational gaps in communities—mostly in underserved communities. At this time, there is little to no reliable news source in more than half the U.S. counties (The Tufts Daily, Local News is Dying – And We Can’t Let It). Advertising dollars that once supported these publications are moving to Meta or Google.
As of April 2024, NewsGuard, an organization that finds and tracks disinformation in news sites, identified 1,197 pink slime news sources, and by June 2024, they found that pink slime sites outnumbered legitimate online local news sites.
Sponsors of pink slime sites exploit this opportunity, and while they seemingly fill a need, they often are promoting a point of view and spreading disinformation, further undermining public trust in journalism.
Pink slime journalism is usually generated by organizations or companies that are financed by partisan political sources promoting a particular point of view. Funding sources are usually hidden. Online networks provide local news that is about blurring the lines between journalism and advocacy due to things like transparency about their connections to partisan funders or dark-money groups, adopting the look and feel of local news outlets while disguising their partisanship, and heavy use of microtargeted digital advertising to reach persuadable voters with partisan messaging during election cycles... (‘Pink Slime’: Partisan journalism and the future of local news - Columbia Journalism Review).
Hallmarks of these sites are stories created by algorithms—increasingly by artificial intelligence—have little funding transparency, and display sloppy journalistic practices, such as not including bylines, or who wrote the article.
Examples:
Christmas Day Tragedy Strikes Bridgeton, New Jersey Amid Rising Gun Violence in Small Towns, published by Newsbreak—the most downloaded local news app in the US—was generated by Artificial Intelligence, and was acknowledged by many sources, including the Bridgeton, NJ police department, to be completely false. Newsbreak has ties to China, according to an investigation by Reuters (NewsBreak: Most downloaded US news app has Chinese roots and 'writes fiction' using AI | Reuters).
Metric Media Network, which according to Newsguard, Columbia Journalism Review, and Mediabiasfactcheck.com, is a questionable source that provides 1000+ local news websites with generic titles. Its funding sources are convoluted and difficult to identify. Here are some titles that Metric Media sponsors in Arizona:
- Arizona Business Daily
- Grand Canyon Times
- PHX Reporter
- North Pima News
- Tucson Standard
Why do they do it?
Just like any disinformation, this content is created to:
- make money (NewsGuard tallied $3.94 million of Meta ads by four networks during the 2022 midterm cycle).
- increase the divide among the American people.
- undermine trust in journalism and all kinds of information, resulting in certain people obtaining or retaining power.
How to identify reliable local media sites:
- Look for balance in the stories.
- Check ownership and funding: If a site is vague or secretive about who runs it or where its funding comes from, be wary.
- Investigate the bylines.
- Be skeptical of overly sensational headlines.
- Read laterally—that is, find several different sources about the same topic.
Read more about pink slime journalism:
- ‘Pink Slime’: Partisan journalism and the future of local news - Columbia Journalism Review (cjr.org)
- A Bugatti, a first lady and the fake stories aimed at Americans (bbc.com)
- “Pink slime” local news outlets erupt all over US as election nears | Ars Technica
- News Literacy Project: to learn about journalism and what makes reliable journalism. Quizzes, instructional videos, and examples for children, teens, and adults to become more news literate and better critical thinkers.
- Be MediaWise lesson 9: Identifying news sites that aren't actually legit | PBS NewsHour Classroom A free, one-hour lesson plan for teachers about pink slime journalism
- An Illustrated Guide to ‘Pink Slime’ journalism, from the Poynter Institute, a nonpartisan and nonprofit journalism organization.
