We have frequently used the terms ‘journolism,’ or ‘journolist’, the spelling of which comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. And we have also mockingly referred to The Philadelphia Enquirer: RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but, reminiscent of the National Enquirer as it is, I thought it very apt.

Now here they go again!

‘Pink slime’ sites masquerade as real news. There are 65 in Pennsylvania alone.

These sites distort news and spew misinformation, much of it computer-generated, experts say. The goal is to muddy the waters of discourse.

by Alfred Lubrano | Friday, April 5, 2024 | 5:00 AM EDT

Screen capture of West Montgomery Times, April 5, 2024, by D R Pico.

At first glance, it seems that State Sen. Tracy Pennycuick is the most indispensable person in Montgomery County.

That’s because there’s nearly an entire newspaper dedicated to the Republican, who represents parts of Montgomery and Berks Counties.

To explain: The April 3 online edition of the West Montgomery Times presents 18 stories on its home page.

Inquirer reporter Alfred Lubrano has just told readers that there is an online edition of the West Montgomery Times, but you know what he omitted? He omitted a hyperlink to the newspaper, so if you wanted to see his research, you had to google the name to find it.

Fourteen of them — essentially one-sided news releases, many of them repeated — focus exclusively on the accomplishments of Pennycuick. The stories are accompanied by 11 headshots of the senator, all of them the same. Then, if you click on the Local Government page, you’ll find 25 stories about Pennycuick, many of the same as the home page, all with the identical photo. A Pennycuick spokesperson said the office was unaware of the site.

Wait, what? Mr Lubrano, a reporter for The Philadelphia Enquirer Inquirer, is telling us that another newspaper is “one-sided”? It is to laugh!

The West Montgomery Times’ Local Government page, by the way, also includes 35 stories that contain lists of county inmates and their ages. Twenty of the stories, each with a different date, begin with the same sentence: “Black is the most common ethnicity among inmates in Montgomery County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.”

Mr Lubrano left it at that, without telling his readers whether that sentence is true or not.

All of it, experts say, is so much “pink slime.”

How can you spot a pink slime website?

The West Montgomery Times, which is made to look like the online edition of a newspaper, is a so-called pink slime news site, one of an estimated 65 in Pennsylvania, according to experts.

These publications distort news and spew misinformation, much of it computer-generated, experts say. The goal is to muddy the waters of journalism and discourse so a consensus of thought is not achievable, according to a comprehensive 2020 report, “‘Pink Slime’: Partisan Journalism and the Future of Local News,” written by the the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

What’s the origin of pink slime journalism? Why is it called that?

Pink slime refers to unlabeled bits of cartilage and other chemically treated scrap meat going into some U.S. ground beef, according to Reuters.

It’s come to mean unreliable information sites masquerading as local news often containing algorithmically generated content. There are few if no reporters and no transparency of ownership. Most are run by “dark money” organizations that support conservative causes, experts say. Their purpose is to fill vacancies created by continually folding local newspapers.

There are several more paragraphs, in which Mr Lubrano tells us that we should not trust the conservative sites he refers to as “pink slime”. That, of course, is perfectly within the newspaper’s freedom of speech and of the press, just as it is within my freedom of speech and of the press to point out the journolism of the Inky.

But let’s drop down to the end:

What is the difference between pink slime and partisanship?

So-called partisan news sites have also been springing up in news deserts. Most are conservative, but Courier Newsroom owns a handful of liberal partisan sites.

Courier’s representatives say the distinction between its sites and pink slime is that they employ real reporters, and openly declare their bias and mission.

“We cover reproductive rights, the implementation of President Biden’s science and infrastructure bills,” said Sean Kitchen, 34, the Harrisburg-based political correspondent for the Keystone, owned by Courier.

“We’re progressive, pro-democracy. Those are our core values.”

Unlike legacy newspapers that strive for objectivity, values-driven publications “are the future of journalism,” said Danielle Strasburger, a Courier spokesperson.

“Partisan, not pink slime.”

Did you notice? The same article, which declined to give hyperlinks for the conservatively-oriented newspaper, provided a hyperlink for the “progressive” one. Perhaps Mr Lubrano and his editors want readers to see The Keystone, but not the West Montgomery Times.

It’s also interesting that Mr Lubrano chose the West Montgomery Times as his example, because the same organization also published the Philly Leader. But that wouldn’t have fit his claim that these smaller, local websites have arisen because they are able “to fill vacancies created by continually folding local newspapers.” After all, there are plenty of Philadelphia-based media sources and publications.

An actual journalist would have treated the conservative sites the same way he did the “progressive” ones, but Mr Lubrano didn’t do that, and his editor didn’t fix it, though it is at least possible that it was the editor, and not the article writer himself who orchestrated the disparate treatment.