BRACK: Pay-for-play fake news sites popping up in USA, Gwinnett

By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum

OCT. 23, 2020  |  Fake news websites are now riding on the credibility that standard newspapers have built over the years to get their false messages out. Insidiously, they are creating what looks like everyday newspapers and web sites, making the reader think their sites are from old, established media. These sites are really newly-created propaganda machines, wanting to convince you that their stories are real. 

Not only that, but these “pay-to-play” sites often contain spurious information virtually ordered up by companies or individuals seeking to implant their own agenda into stories. In effect, it is paid propaganda for that individual or company, disguised as news, and either false or tremendously misleading. Yet they put some simple news in to throw you off more.

A firm orders something like this: “Give me a story making our candidate (or company) look strong, and making his opponent (or competitor) look weak.”  And some freelance  and hungry writers, unethical as they may be, create false news with whatever the slant the client wants, and put it out to make it look like real news.

This is not something distant and far away. There are 30 of these sites in Georgia, according to The New York Times. One is in Gwinnett: North Gwinnett News. We had run across this site before, and wondered about it. There is a little news about Gwinnett, but more stories in general, much of no value. Now we suspect and virtually know that this site is purely full of fake news. The site does not have much depth.

There are hundreds of these sites nationwide, many owned by a few players, who  no doubt, are happily cashing in as people hungry to make themselves or their companies or clients appear wonderful, order up the fake news. 

Some of the news items in these fake places are not only bogus, but are not anywhere close to real news at all.  We quote from one recent story: 

“There were 166 businesses in Georgia zip code 30092 that had between 20 and 49 employees in 2017, according to County Business Patterns (CBP) statistics provided by the United States Census Bureau. CBP data indicates that there were 1,659 total businesses in 30092.”

That’s news?  Seems mighty weak.  You wonder will their next story be how many businesses in zip code 30092 have between 10-20 employees.  That’s nothing but useless, trying-to-look-like-news that is meaningless.

What these sites do is to make it look like they are presenting real news. But then they’ll slip in an item promoting some candidate, firm or individual, who no doubt shelled out money to get their story in print for some unsuspecting soul to read.  

You wonder how long readers will put up with such pap. Yet there are enough simple-minded, unsuspecting individuals out there who will eat this up, thinking they have become educated on something, when in reality, they have become duped.

In the long run, the credibility of these sites is questionable. They probably won’t last very long. Yet those putting out this propaganda will be around enough to make some fat dollars, and simply fade away, maybe renewing themselves in another life.

The way standard news sources have built credibility is through solid reporting of facts on significant news stories, verifiable by others. It takes lots of investigation and fact checking, with the stories often going through three-four-five editors before it reaches print. 

For these unfactual sites, all it takes is someone with the dollars to buy a story the way they want it, and put it out as fact. Some won’t suspect. 

• To see these fake news sites nationwide, click here.
• Have a comment?  Send to: elliott@brack.net