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People who care about local news need to understand the role of faith-based sources. See this report on “Catholic Tribunes” in at least 4 states — WI, MN, MI and FL — all republishing real info, but acting like the “pink slime” we’ve seen secularly. 1/? https://catholicphilly.com/2020/06/news/national-news/website-pilfering-copyrighted-catholic-news-in-four-states/
“Wow, I didn’t realize there were religious publications, too, but I guess it makes sense.” 2/?
In an update that came after the above @thecompassnews article, @TowCenter notes it’s found “Catholic Tribunes” in *5* states (adding Arizona) and also one *national* site. 3/? https://www.cjr.org/analysis/as-election-looms-a-network-of-mysterious-pink-slime-local-news-outlets-nearly-triples-in-size.php
I admire @TowCenter’s work on this front of local fake news (or at least sites lacking transparency and seeming fishy?). Thank you @acookiecrumbles for looking into this further! 4/?
It should illustrate, too, that the faith-based news part of the local news ecosystem is important for everyone to follow. 5/?
Take just the Catholic local news ecosystem. Sources are limited; it’s mainly just diocesan news publications like @thecompassnews (who thank goodness spotted this). Like secular news, these sources are often contracting or disappearing. https://www.post-gazette.com/news/faith-religion/2020/03/20/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Pittsburgh-Catholic-newspaper-suspended/stories/202003200090 6/?
This means many things. There are fewer journalists serving info needs of this population. Limited resources add to the challenges of building an engaging product and loyal audience. And the voids leave room for less transparent and potentially bad faith actors. 7/?
One of the most shared “fake news” stories in the 2016 election was about the Pope endorsing Trump. We should pay even more attention now. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/the-strangest-fake-news-empire 8/?
Political misinformation or shenanigans aren’t always going to come in secular form. I have no proof, but I imagine it’s probably more effective when it doesn’t. 9/?
But more importantly, faith-based news is an important sector we can’t leave out of all the well-intentioned efforts to strengthen news and information, including local. Thank you @CatholicPress for highlighting this story. 10/10
