Beware of the "Pink Slime"

What the heck is pink slime journalism?

The convergence of mass media has had a detrimental effect on the local news markets, which so many of us used to rely on to hold local power accountable. The fact that many local news outlets are closing and downsizing leaves many in what we call news deserts.

According to an article by Poynter written in August of 2022, “Today, this is a nation divided politically, economically, digitally and, increasingly, journalistically. Seventy million residents — or a fifth of the population — live in communities without easy and affordable access to the critical and credible local news and information that holds together our democracy and society at the grassroots level.” Unfortunately, since this article was written, things haven’t gotten that much better, and many of the local news markets have been infiltrated by pink slime as folks seek out a replacement.

“Pink slime” journalism is named after a meat byproduct and describes outlets that publish poor-quality reports that appear to be local news. Pink slime sites are frequently produced via automation and templates. Look for text that’s more generic than expected or articles that are pure information without context — that’s a giveaway you’re looking at on a pink slime website. Often, they’re funded by outside companies with a partisan source of financing.

I first became aware of Pink Slime as an advisor for our student newspaper when I found that we were getting many emails asking if we took paid submissions. Some folks were willing to sell us their content to put into our student newspaper. This was an IMMEDIATE red flag for me since we produce all of our content with student voices, so I went into search mode and found out that some local news sources outsource this type of opinion piece or faux news and slap their name on it as news. I even went as far as to confront one of them about it because the type of “news” they were adding to their local website sounded like right-wing propaganda. I found that article in local news outlets nationwide with a reverse search of the text. This was a disappointing thing to find out - but it opened my eyes to the way that propaganda can be disguised as news in a LOT of places.

Another thing that set my hackles up came when I was nonchalantly checking my mailbox and found a “newspaper” inside that looked like local news. The articles that were presented in this seemingly harmless gift newspaper were sensational to me and not grounded in reality, and again, very right-wing echo chambery. So, naturally, I did my homework and found them to be, you guessed it, pink slime. 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. Additionally, Pink-slime websites often step up their content production during election cycles.

Examples of pink slime

The Columbia Journalism Review identified around 450 websites that appeared to be pink-slime outlets in a December 2019 report. In August 2020, the number had almost tripled to more than 1,200 websites in the months preceding the 2020 United States presidential election. Of the 450 sites they discovered, at least 189 were set up as local news networks across ten states in the twelve months before the 2020 election by Metric Media.

More recently, for the 2024 election, NewsGuard, which rates the quality and trustworthiness of news sites, identified 1,197 pink slime sites operating in the US as of April 1 — about as many as the estimated 1,200 real news sites operated by daily local newspapers. As many are fake as are real!!!

In an April article in the Financial Times, Philip Napoli, a public policy professor at Duke University and director of its DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, said, “They’re all about laundering political influence as journalism.” The article says that generative AI technologies are making it easier than ever to create convincing articles, and they will quite easily be able to target these news deserts.

How do you avoid being pink-slimed? lin

Here are some strategies to help people identify and navigate biased news sources.

✅ Verify the source. Check for credibility. Look for information about the organization's ownership, funding, and editorial standards. Be cautious of news websites that lack transparency about ownership or funding sources.

✅ Evaluate tone and language. Biased or partisan news sources often use inflammatory language, sensational headlines, or loaded terminology to evoke strong emotional reader responses.

✅ Check for biased reporting. Biased news sources may selectively report facts, omit relevant information, and use misleading headlines to advance their agenda or narrative.

✅ Look for confirmation bias. Be aware of your own biases and avoid sources that simply confirm your pre-existing beliefs or opinions. Seek diverse perspectives and cross-reference information from multiple sources to comprehensively understand a topic.

✅ Fact-checking. Verify the accuracy of information by fact-checking claims and statements. Use reputable fact-checking websites and resources to assess the credibility of news stories and sources. Some good fact-checkers are Snopes, Verify, and Factcheck.org.

✅ Consider the motives. Consider the motives behind the publication of news content. Biased or partisan news sources may prioritize advancing a specific political or ideological agenda over objective reporting of facts and events.

✅ Monitor for sensationalism and clickbait. Be wary of news websites prioritizing sensationalism and clickbait tactics to attract readership. Sensational headlines and exaggerated claims may indicate a lack of journalistic integrity and credibility.

✅ Seek out diverse perspectives. Expand your news consumption habits to include diverse sources representing political viewpoints and ideological perspectives. Exposing yourself to many perspectives can help you develop a more nuanced understanding of complex issues. Use sites like https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/, https://www.allsides.com/media-bias, and https://adfontesmedia.com/media-bias-chart-jan-2024/ - to find a variety of viewpoints in the center.  

✅ Consult media literacy resources. Familiarize yourself with media literacy resources and tools for identifying misinformation, propaganda, and biased news sources. Some organizations offer valuable resources for improving media literacy skills. Examples are Media Wise in the video below or https://www.learningforjustice.org/understanding-media-literacy.

History and Background of Pink Slime

The article below from the Columbia Journalism Review is a deep dive into the history of propaganda and the exploitation of the press to promote personal and political interests. Enjoy; it’s a thorough history but an excellent read.

A type of pink slime - microtargeting from the 2024 election

On Friday, The Washington Post reported on a false flag misinformation campaign that targeted Harris voters. A multipronged dark money effort by advisers to Elon Musk targeted liberals, Jews, Muslims, and Black voters with ads that were not quite what they seemed. According to this report, “Muslims in Michigan began seeing pro-Israel ads this fall praising Vice President Kamala Harris for marrying a Jewish man and backing the Jewish state. Jews in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, saw ads from the same group with the opposite message: Harris wanted to stop U.S. arms shipments to Israel.”At the time, voters had no way of knowing that all of the ads were part of a single $45 million effort created by political advisers to Tesla founder Elon Musk. It's ethically dark if you ask me.

A Misinformation Victory - I will take them where I can get them right now

So, this is what we are up against in this new attention-based economy. Seemingly, some folks will do about anything to gain your attention these days, so guard yourself and your time wisely.