Many posts have dealt with misinformation, disinformation, and ipartisan pseudo-news sites.
A secretive local media network with ties to high-profile national Democratic operatives wants to convince regulators in Arizona that despite the political tilt of its stories, it is not a political entity and should not be subject to campaign finance disclosures.
Star Spangled Media operates a series of left-leaning websites including the Morning Mirror, a difficult-to-find, barebones blog that for the last few months has periodically published a few unbylined stories about seemingly random topics. Its “About Us” page simply reads: “Welcome to the Morning Mirror—where reliability meets fresh insight. Stay informed with us as we deliver on the matters that impact your life.”
Over the last few weeks, Star Spangled Media has started spending a modest amount to boost Morning Mirror stories on Facebook that tout the pro-abortion rights records of local Democratic candidates running for Michigan House seats.
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It’s part of a multi-pronged push by Democrats to counter conservative media across the country through increasingly creative and sometimes opaque digital strategies — ones that blur the line between even the most activist political journalism and paid campaigning for the Democratic Party.
Last year, I reported that Democratic consultants and progressive media activists were pushing wealthy Democrats to invest in for-profit media companies and social media influencers in the wake of the collapse of a generation of youth-oriented digital news outlets like Vice and BuzzFeed News. Part of the diagnosis of a widely-circulated 85-page report by longtime Democratic operative and communicator Arkadi Gerney was that center- and left-leaning philanthropists and investors should invest in local television and radio in places where local media has disintegrated.
Left-leaning groups have gotten more involved in the digital landscape, as well.
As Semafor previously reported, Courier Newsroom, a network of local news sites with close ties to the Democratic Party, ramped up its ad spending to target progressive voters ahead of the 2024 election. While the sites have a fairly transparent point of view, it’s not always easy to tell who is behind the stories.
