Pink-slime journalism is a practice in which dedicated
news outlets publish poor-quality news reports which appear to be
local news, often to push both
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
and
right-wing agendas and gather user data.
The reports are either computer-generated or written by poorly-paid outsourced writers, often using fake names.
Many such networks have been linked to American conservative news businessman
Brian Timpone
Brian Timpone is an American conservative businessman and former journalist who operates a network of nearly 1,300 conservative local news websites. In 2012, Timpone stated that articles on his websites are partially written by freelancers outsid ...
.
The term "pink-slime journalism" was coined by journalist Ryan Smith in 2012.
Overview
Pink-slime journalism involves outsourcing local news stories to low-wage employees, or using computer automation to generate news stories from various datasets.
The name is a reference to "
pink slime", a meat by-product that is used as filler in processed meats, which are sometimes passed off as higher-quality meat in fast food restaurants.
With
newspapers in decline over the past decade, dedicated pink-slime outlets have filled the voids left by shuttered local newspapers.
Although many claim to be unbiased, many such outlets create and spread conservative political propaganda or
disinformation
Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate.
The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...
, often during election cycles.
According to
Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, although many such outlets claim to be independent, they are financed by "government officials, political candidates,
PACs and political party operatives".
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' has reported that some of these outlets appear to be used to gather data from users for
political targeting purposes.
According to the ''
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, an ...
'', pink-slime outlets attempt to exploit people's faith in local news, as well as capitalize on the information deserts created by declining local news.
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' identified around 450 websites that appeared to be pink-slime outlets in a December 2019 report;
they reported in August 2020 that the number had almost tripled to more than 1,200 websites in the months preceding the
2020 United States presidential election.
In 2012, writers employed by a pink-slime network were being paid between $0.35 and $24 per article;
the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported in October 2020 that journalists were being paid between $3 and $36 per article.
Examples
Journatic, founded in 2006, produced hyperlocal news content and distributed it to other publishers. The company created its articles using a combination of computer generation and low-wage writers who were not local to the areas for which they were writing.
Some of these writers were poorly-paid workers from outside of the United States who were writing under fake names.
Newspapers throughout the United States including the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'', the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'', and the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...
'' had all published journalism from Journatic.
Journatic's practices were exposed in 2012 in a report by ''
This American Life
''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...
'', which interviewed a journalist named Ryan Smith who had been working for Journatic, and who coined the term "pink-slime journalism".
The exposé also revealed Journatic's use of false
byline
The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably ''Reader's ...
s, fabricated quotes, and
plagiarized
Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...
material.
Newspapers canceled their contracts with Journatic following this revelation, including the ''Chicago Tribune'', who had laid off employees and replaced their work with articles from Journatic.
Journatic rebranded to Locality Labs the following year.
Brian Timpone
Brian Timpone is an American conservative businessman and former journalist who operates a network of nearly 1,300 conservative local news websites. In 2012, Timpone stated that articles on his websites are partially written by freelancers outsid ...
, who was the chief executive of Journatic, is an American businessman who runs various pink-slime networks which contribute reports to over 1000 individual news websites.
Research by the ''
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, an ...
'' in December 2019 found that pink-slime networks operating hundreds of websites traced back to organizations connected to Timpone.
One such organization, Metric Media, had set up 189 local news networks in ten states within a year. Other organizations included Locality Labs, Franklin Archer, the Record Inc., and Local Government Information Services; all were connected to Timpone in some way.
Many of the articles distributed through these networks were
right-leaning,
and more than 90% of them were computer-generated or repurposed from other reports.
According to the ''New York Times'', the sites operated by Timpone's networks do not typically post false information, but "the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency".
The sites typically do not disclose that they are funded by advocacy groups or that they are paid to run articles.
Conservative journalist
Matthew Foldi has accused the left wing of producing pink-slime journalism, citing ''
The American Independent
The American Independent, formerly known as Blue Nation Review or Shareblue Media, is an American liberal news website. The American Independent's monthly reach is reported to be 140 million across platforms.
In December 2017, The American Indep ...
'' and ''
Courier Newsroom'', which are associated with political operatives
David Brock
David Brock (born July 23, 1962) is an American liberal political consultant, author, and commentator who founded the media watchdog group Media Matters for America. He has been described by ''Time'' as "one of the most influential operatives ...
and
Tara McGowan.
NewsGuard reported in October 2022 that "operations such as Courier Newsroom, the American Independent and the Main Street Sentinel on the left" were "run
ing
Ing, ING or ing may refer to:
Art and media
* '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film
* i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group
* The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''
* "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...
ads on Facebook and Instagram while veiling their ties to partisan donors on the services". The Newsguard report referred to the newsrooms as "pink slime newsrooms".
See also
*
Content farm
A content farm (or content mill) is a company that employs large numbers of freelance writers to generate a large amount of textual web content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithms for maximal retrieval by automated search engine ...
*
Hack writer
''Hack writer'' is a pejorative term for a writer who is paid to write low-quality, rushed articles or books "to order", often with a short deadline. In fiction writing, a hack writer is paid to quickly write sensational, "pulp" fiction such as " ...
References
Further reading
*
*
* {{Cite news , last=Lopez , first=Meghan , date=28 October 2020 , title=So-called pink slime journalism comes to Colorado , work=
KMGH-TV
KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-licensed translat ...
, url=https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/dozens-of-new-websites-claiming-to-be-newspapers-pop-up-in-colorado
2012 neologisms
Disinformation operations
Internet manipulation and propaganda
Journalism terminology
News media manipulation