'Pink slime' network of partisan news sites gets $1.6 million boost from PACs of energy and shipping magnates

"Nonprofits and political action committees are using Metric Media’s extended network of local news sites to provide a range of campaign services to conservative candidates in the run-up to the November midterm elections, " Priyanjana Bengani reports on new research from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University.

"Pink slime" has become the common term for partisan material that masquerades as journalism. It is being used by both sides in the midterm elections and can be presented as online articles, ads or physical newspapers that are mailed to targeted area homes. "Newspapers with mastheads belonging to this network have been mailed to citizens in at least three states," Bengani writes. "These newspapers promote the public positions of advocacy groups, PACs, and candidates associated with this network."  

"While it’s not necessarily 'fake news,' it does fracture the information ecosystem. However, tracing the 'Astroturf' activities of the Metric Media news network over the past year demonstrates that it is being used not just to place favorable stories, but to provide additional services that might influence the voting public," Bengani explains.

Metric Media's "services provided include advertising (to the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, largely funded by West Texas oil-and-gas billionaire Timothy Dunn); SMS messages, robocalls, and websites (to the Illinois-centric People Who Play by the Rules PAC, largely funded by Republican mega-donor and shipping magnate Richard Uihlein [Uline products] and run by conservative activist Dan Proft); and consulting and “production costs” (to Restoration PAC, also largely funded by Uihlein)."

To put the $1.6 million into perspective, Bengani acknowledges that it is not a large amount in overall election spending, but "Our research demonstrates the extent of the services provided by this network to numerous conservative PACs tied to big conservative funders and groups. . . . our investigation found websites targeting certain politicians or policies paid for by a PAC hosted on the network’s infrastructure, articles boosting candidates supported by the PACs published on the local news network, and an interactive web application devoted to a single hot-button issue."

Bengani adds, "News sites can easily be mistaken for independent local outlets and—as previous investigations by the Tow Center have shown—are part of a larger network that received funding from multiple dark-money groups and PACs. The funding is not disclosed; neither are the network’s collaborations with special-interest groups. . . .While trust in news is declining and partisan antipathy is on the rise, both the left and the right are attempting to use any and all tactics to get their desired electoral outcomes. . . independent local news [is] left with the challenging task of navigating the new reality of political campaigning."