We can’t let partisan ‘news’ sites exploit Californians’ trust in local journalism
Americans’ trust in the news media has fallen — but most still trust their local news outlets.
A 2019 Knight Foundation-Gallup study found that 79% of Americans trusted local news outlets to provide “information you can use in your daily life,” compared to 19% who trusted national outlets. Similarly, 66% had more trust in local outlets to “report the news without bias,” while 31% trusted national outlets to do the same.
In California, trust in local news is generally well placed. In the California News Trust Report — a study released recently by my organization, NewsGuard, with funding from The Lenfest Institute and The Ward Creek Foundation — we reviewed more than 200 California news websites to assess how well they adhere to nine basic journalistic standards, such as whether they distinguish news coverage from opinion content, gather information from credible sources and disclose conflicts of interest. On average, local news outlets in California received a 92.4% trust score — indicating that they adhere strongly to all or most of the journalistic practices we assessed.
We also found an alarming trend that threatens to exploit and undermine trust in local news. Along with many trustworthy publications, we found more than 75 examples of websites designed to look like local news outlets — with names like “The Marin Leader” and “209 Times” — which are actually run by partisan political actors with undisclosed agendas.
For example, a newsreader in Fresno County looking for quality news coverage from a local source might reasonably expect to find it on websites like FresnoLeader.com and FresnoBee.com. At first glance, both sites appear to be typical local newspaper sites with coverage of politics and local business.
But there’s a big difference between the two sites: FresnoBee.com is the website of The Fresno Bee, a local newspaper that has been covering news in the area since 1922. It gets a 100-point trust score from NewsGuard, adhering to all nine of the criteria we use to assess credibility and transparency. FresnoLeader.com is part of Metric Media, a network of nearly 1,300 websites nationwide that present themselves as generic local news outlets which are actually run by a conservative political consultant.
The Fresno Leader’s website says it offers “objective, data-driven information without political bias.” But like most Metric Media sites, its content consists mainly of articles attacking Democratic politicians and praising Republican ones. As the New York Times described, “many of the stories are directed by political groups and corporate P.R. firms to promote a Republican candidate or a company or to smear their rivals.”
In California, Metric Media operates more than 70 different websites of this kind. Our report found a number of other examples, unconnected to Metric Media, applying similar tactics.
In a way, it’s easy to understand why political actors would seek to mimic local news. Real journalism is expensive to produce, requiring a team of reporters, editors, and fact-checkers who undergo rigorous, time-consuming efforts to dig up information, confirm its accuracy and present it fairly. Many local news outlets have struggled to support the costs of operating a newsroom in recent years, leading them to cut staff or shut down entirely.
In that vacuum, political actors see the reputation for trustworthiness that local journalists have built up over decades of quality work as a resource ripe for the taking.
Voters in the Stockton area saw the impact of this trend firsthand. After their local newspaper laid off a third of its editorial staff due to budget cuts, a new website called the 209 Times began covering local news and politics. The website promised readers it would “be the voice of the community” and “tell the stories of the community that often go overlooked.” The problem? The site was owned and operated by a politician, Motecuzoma Sanchez, who was running in the Stockton mayoral race — a fact that wasn’t frequently disclosed to readers, even in reports about Sanchez and his opponents.
NewsGuard’s review of the site found that it fails to adhere to seven of the nine journalistic standards we assess, earning it a trust score of 17.5%. During the lead-up to the 2020 mayoral election, the site published numerous false and misleading claims about one of Sanchez’s opponents, then-mayor Michael Tubbs. He lost the election, crediting falsehoods published by 209 Times for torpedoing his campaign.
Moving forward, we must commit to news literacy. Every school should teach students how to assess the sources of news they encounter, understanding who is behind each source and what its agenda might be.
We can also combat fake news by supporting real journalism. If you rely on your local newspaper, consider signing up for a subscription or membership. It’s a small price to pay, considering the alternative.
This story was originally published July 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.