We are at the confluence of two disquieting events.
The first is that local news remains the only form of journalism voters still largely trust, a sharp contrast to the public’s very dim opinion of newspaper and television reporting. This is good for local journalism, especially amid its national gutting. But it is not particularly healthy that the national press — supposedly our most powerful watchdogs — are so widely distrusted.
The second is the little-noticed expansion, over the last two decades, of the pink slime economy.
Taken together, the two suggest we are heading for a genuine information crisis.
For the uninitiated, NewsGuard describes “pink slime” as “sites that present themselves as professional news outlets but are secretly backed by partisan groups with a clear though undisclosed agenda.” Along with imitation news articles and websites, the operators behind these schemes often pay Meta large sums to advertise their “reports” across users’ newsfeeds, generating millions upon millions of impressions.
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