Partisans masquerading as news outlets now outnumber U. S. newspaper sites, a research organization that tracks misinformation said Tuesday, signaling a local news crisis in a high-stakes election year.
Hundreds of media-mimicking sites have sprung up in recent months, many of them powered by synthetic intelligence, fueling an explosion of polarized or false narratives that stoke fear as the race for the White House intensifies.
At least 1,265 politically motivated “pink slime” media outlets have been identified as offering themselves as independent local media outlets, the U. S. think tank NewsGuard said in a report.
By comparison, 1,213 local newspapers were active in the U. S. last year, according to Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative project.
“The chances now are greater than 50-50 that if you see a news story that claims to cover local news, it’s fake,” the NewsGuard report says.
According to an investigation by news site Axios, nearly a portion of the partisan sites were targeting swing states, in what appears to be an attempt to influence political ideals in the run-up to the November election that is expected to take a stand between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
These sites come with a network of 167 Russian disinformation sites that NewsGuard said were connected to John Mark Dougan, a former U. S. law enforcement officer who fled to Moscow.
The other sites are supported by conservative and influential left-wing outfits, such as Metric Media, Courier Newsroom and States Newsroom, according to the report.
The rise in pink slime comes amid an immediate decline in local newspapers, many of which have closed their doors or suffered layoffs due to economic hardship.
Last year, Northwestern University called 204 counties out of about 3,000 in the U. S. “information deserts,” with “no newspapers, no local websites, no public radio newsrooms, and no ethnic publications. “
According to the study, newspapers continue to disappear at an average of more than two per week.
He adds that the U. S. has lost about two-thirds of its sleuths since 2005.
“With the disappearance of the classic newspapers. . . pink slime sites are going to fill the void,” the NewsGuard report said.
“As a result, millions of Americans have valid local coverage. “
Internet sites that spout partisan propaganda usually rely on armies of writers, but generative AI teams now offer a particularly less expensive and faster way to create hard-to-decipher content from original information.
These internet sites highlight the potential for AI-powered equipment — chatbots, photo turbines, and voice cloners — to power incorrect information while also further eroding acceptance of classical media, the researchers say.
“The chances now are greater than 50-50 that if you see a news story that claims to cover local news, it’s fake,” the NewsGuard report says.
And this makes up the bulk of the corporate-funded far-right media regime.
And the classic media are doing themselves a disservice by putting up paywalls for their content. However, they have real bloodhounds to pay.
Well, yes, Facebook and TikTok outperform American newspaper sites.
Well, yes, Facebook and TikTok outperform American newspaper sites.
This is not unexpected as they offer an open option to the selectively edited data and biased narratives provided in HSH. If it’s not on X and Tik Tok, it hasn’t happened, lol.
This is unexpected as they offer an open option to selectively edited data and biased narratives provided about MSM.
MSM have their problems, but reading reviews from media observers, my confidence that MSM are preferable is much stronger.
Ramsey’s KitchenToday 3:51 p. m. JST
Well, yes, Facebook and TikTok outperform American newspaper sites.
This is not unexpected as they offer an open option to the selectively edited data and biased narratives provided in HSH. If it’s not on X and Tik Tok, it hasn’t happened, lol.
Sometimes it’s in X and Tik Tok doesn’t happen, hahaha.
MSM is for this. . . Harvest what you sew
Newsguard: Is it true that there is a red flag? Take a look at who budgeted for NewsGuard and how it came into existence. In the meantime, you, the ones who attack the right, closely.
Rachel Maddow recently said she fears Trump will throw her into a field. Not long ago, Clinton and others were saying that conservatives needed fields of deprogramming and re-education. The mainstream media is scared and is massively wasting their audience. Mass propaganda doesn’t work as well as they’d like it to. So, the next thing you know, “Newsguard” is an unbiased party whose goal is to tell us what data resources we deserve to trust. As usual, keep the cash to find out who is news guard.
Rachel Maddow recently said she fears Trump will throw her into a field. Not long ago, Clinton and others were saying that conservatives are deprogramming and re-educating fields. The mainstream media is scared and is massively wasting their audience.
What resources would you recommend?
Jimizo
Preferably, someone who leans to the left or who is to the left but now leans to the right is a smart start.
It’s that old right-wing trope where they think they have secret information, and then when they tell you where they were given it, you realize how incredibly stupid those other people are.
So, what media do you consider fair and balanced?
Good question. Far away and infrequent among them. I can’t think of any objective news site.
It’s pretty obvious. I have noticed that some of the “sources” here cite their wild Israeli conspiracies.
Nowadays, it is very reasonable and simple to create a “news” site. I wonder, however, whether those of this recent proliferation take into account our most productive interests.
spokesman
So, what media do you consider fair and balanced?
Good question. Far away and infrequent among them. I can’t think of any objective news site.
A few come to mind: The Economist, ProPublica, The Washington Post, and The Guardian are all good.
This is not unexpected as they offer an open option to the selectively edited data and biased narratives provided in HSH. If it’s not on X and Tik Tok, it hasn’t happened, lol.
You are a victim of what is described in the article.
Bone. . . The “crazy conspiracies of Israel” are financed by AIPAC, so unreliable?
One need only pay attention to Israeli politicians, army leaders, and Israeli public figures to gauge their intentions and feelings.
It’s not beautiful.
The case of South Africa at the UN lists them all.
These sites have a network of 167 Russian disinformation sites.
News sites that promote Russian disinformation are bad enough, but it’s even worse when those sites allow comments that aren’t moderated, so a lot of comments on those and other sites are made through Americans who willingly settle for considering true what other moderate people would consider propaganda. I use the term “moderating other people,” in the same way that a Fox News lawyer used it to protect blatant lies told through one of Murdoch’s artists, T. Carlson.
Apologies for dating myself, but during my studies in college, I was warned not to use or restrict the media as sources. An adviser indexed some media outlets that he could appropriate and, if I don’t forget correctly, they included the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, St. John’s Palace, and the United States. John’s. Louis Post-Dispatch and perhaps others that I have not forgotten, after all, many years ago. That was before cable news. I don’t forget a poster in the news that uses a site called “Impeach Obama. org”. To protect his anti-Obama position, at the time there were no sites like this that could simply serve as sources. The “democratization of information” has been a combined blessing, rarely a curse, clever for propaganda promoters who know that much of the audience they intend to reach are not “reasonable” people.
I have a concept for our nation’s adversaries, such as China or Russia: they create fake news sites to generate fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the American public. They can even spread fake news and polls.
@ericjapan: Guys that attack the right compress it.
Can I imagine that the right-wingers are demanding what they call “freedom of speech”?
Or. . . books.
Just a few days ago, researchers found that X is the most misinformation-filled site compared to all the major social media sites. https://apnews. com/article/disinformation-musk-x-twitter-european-union-9f7823726f812bb357ee4225b884354f
Moscow’s disinformation operation “is a multibillion-dollar weapon of mass manipulation aimed at Russians internally, Europeans and the rest of the world,” he told a news conference in Brussels.
Anyone who uses social media to get data is a fool. This has been proven time and time again, but some still say that there is no other way to receive information about “the truth” from people who are not journalists and who have no reputation at stake for what they do. To write.