Democrats are reportedly running dozens of “quasi-local” news sites across multiple swing states, producing pro-Democrat and anti-Republican content under a veneer of non-partisanship.
At least 51 of these “local” news sites across 10 swing states are being run by Local Report Inc., founded last year in Florida, Axios reported. Six writers from “progressive” Washington-based The American Independent have also contributed to most or even all of the websites, according to Axios. Many of their articles appear exclusively on the news sites, although the sites aggregate content from other sources as well.
The outlets have non-partisan-sounding names, such as Milwaukee Metro Times, The Mecklenburg Herald, Wisconsin Lake Times, The Wayne Herald, The Valley Gazette, and Tri-City Record. These six websites and two others have a similar layout, with “Local News,” “National News,” “Opinion,” and perhaps “Sports,” and they all list a variation of the email “[email protected]” as contact information.
The swing states with these “local” news sites are Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Michigan, New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, according to Axios. The sites’ local news and non-political content is mixed with “with heavily slanted political news aimed at boosting Democratic midterm candidates and attacking Republican opponents.”
The outlets ran stories bashing Republican candidates including Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Nevada senatorial candidate Adam Laxalt.
The Epoch Times said that several states’ Democratic campaigns have cited stories from Local Report news sites. Despite its obvious bias, Local Report claims its goal is “sharing local news and providing readers with fact-based coverage of their communities.”
”Our portfolio includes a number of digital news sites across the country that are focused on sharing local news and providing readers with fact-based coverage of their communities,” Local Report told Axios. “We are proud to collaborate with partners like the American Independent that are also committed to bringing the public reliable information that they can trust.”
The American Independent (TAI) was launched by leftist Media Matters founder and Democratic operative David Brock. TAI president Matt Fuehrmeyer is a former Democrat aide and TAI is partly funded by Democrat SuperPAC American Bridge‘s non-profit arm.
One article by an American Independent reporter about Michigan Republican secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo was shared by Karamo’s Democratic opponent, Jocelyn Benson. “It is very likely that this November Michigan voters will be choosing between Benson, who oversaw an election with the highest voter participation rate in 60 years, or Karamo, who tried to help another state overturn it,” the article pontificated.
Very “fact-based” and nonpartisan indeed. . .
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