IMPOSTER LOCAL NEWS

It is unlikely that local news will make a comeback; rather, it is almost guaranteed that the closings will continue. Unfortunately, the dearth of coverage is not the only problem facing local news—the latest trend in fake news is fake local news. Lamentably, the rise of imposter local news sites seems to be in lockstep with Americans’ trust in local news. In a May 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Russell Heimlich reported that 72% of Americans follow local news somewhat or very closely (“Most Americans Follow Local News Closely”; pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2012/05/14/most-americans- follow-local- news-closely). More recently, Brendan Nyhan, Dartmouth professor of government, exposed numerous instances of imposter news sites (“Americans Trust Local News. That Belief Is Being Exploited,” The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2019; nytimes.com/2019/10/31/upshot/fake-local-news.html). Nyhan notes that, in the 2019 Poynter Media Trust Survey which he co-wrote, Americans are “11 percentage points more likely to choose articles from local news sources. …”

Given these statistics, it is extremely disturbing that an investigation by The Lansing State Journal found more than 35 sites (with traditional news-sounding names such as Battle Creek Times and Grand Rapids Reporter) that mix press releases and town announcements with pieces from conservative think tanks. Other states are experiencing similar phenomena, writes Nyhan. The Tennessee Star is actually “a conservative site run by commentators and activists. …[with] companion sites called The Minnesota Sun, and The Ohio Star. …” These sites feature similar content along with opinion pieces from conservative sites such as The Daily Caller. While ac cording to its Facebook page, The California Republican purported offered “the best of U.S., California and Central Valley news, sports and analysis,” it was actually funded by the campaign committee of Republican congressman Devin Nunes.

RELIABLE SOURCES

In our roles as librarians and information professionals, we can’t rely on Facebook or word-of-mouth. Yet, local and regional news play a huge role in our mission to deliver the most factual, timely, and credible information from high-quality, respected sources. In this new local news landscape, which resources can we use in order to provide best-in-class service to our constituents? What follows is a discussion of sources and search techniques.

Twitter is often described as “the new newswire,” but increasingly, it is also the new face of local news, especially in emerging situations. However, fake tweets abound, and Twitter’s policy to label and/or remove “synthetic or manipulated media that is likely to cause harm” does not include basic fake news. For example, Twitter considers harmful tweets to be those that might jeopardize public safety or lead to mass violence (Twitter Synthetic and Manipulated Media Policy; help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/manipulated-media).

Local news handles tweeting information that distorts the truth are allowed to grow and flourish. Therefore, it is imperative that we implement best practices for tweeted news that can be used in our daily work as well as shared with our clients. First, it important to consider each tweet and look for red flags that it might be fake. First, does the handle have the “verified” blue check mark? If so, Twitter has determined that the account is authentic and in the public interest. Even if the account is verified, particularly if it is not a public interest account but still seems to tweet relevant news, consider the following checklist:

• Is the information in the tweet corroborated, or is only one handle tweeting the information? Look for other sources for confirmation.
• Does the tweet follow standard grammatical protocols, or are there misspellings or other errors such as title informality?
• Is there source attribution? Breaking news such as police activity should include a source (i.e., “Chicago police report…”).
• How many followers does the source account have? Few or none is a red flag.
• Does the source account have any previous tweets? If not, it may have been set up to send one fake news tweet.
• Is the handle name followed by a series of random numbers, or is it a variation on the information that it is tweeting? Both of these types of handles are often computer-generated.
• If you are unsure about the reliability of the source account, conduct further research regarding the source.

Once you understand how to identify fake tweets, it is important to follow handles that will help you to find breaking local news. Obviously, any accounts for real local news outlets are go-to’s; Remember to look for radio and television stations along with print newspapers. Another possibility are local sites owned by Patch Media (patch.com), a news and information platform with more than 1,200 hyperlocal sites. While community members can contribute directly to the sites, postings are subject to content rules, and each outlet employs full-time editors and reporters. In order to find a Patch outlet for a specific location, look under state name on the map (patch.com/map).

After following general news handles, look for those specific to the types of news that you need to cover. For example, if you are researching education issues, you will want to follow the local school district as well as individual schools and administrators. Follow the municipal site and mayor and elected officials when looking for city news. If specific community issues are being researched, it is possible that grassroots organizations are tweeting about developments; when following these handles, be sure to keep in mind that these may be agenda-driven.

If you are following breaking developments regarding a local disaster or emergency, the local police and fire departments and sheriff’s office might be your best source. For coverage of extreme weather, local substations of the National Weather Service (NWS) are key (the handles are usually @nws followed by location such as @nwslasvegas, @nwsamarillo), along with citizen-scientists who often serve as “weather watchers” to inform NWS about current local conditions. Other Twitter accounts with sound weather information include state departments of transportation (which often tweet road conditions), local transportation authorities, AccuWeather, and SailFlow (which tweets offshore wind conditions around the world).

LOCAL NPR AFFILILATES

Another headline that grabbed my attention was this Nov. 4, 2019, one from Poynter: “As Other Local News Outlets Struggle, NPR Affiliates Are Growing—And Quickly.” While National Public Radio (NPR) has long been a gold-standard source of national and international news, smaller cities and rural communities depend on local affiliate stations, which often offer wide-ranging content to large geographic areas and are growing at a record pace. Indeed, in the past 8 years, 264 local NPR affiliates have added a total of 1,000 full and part-time journalists, according to Rick Edmonds (poynter.org/business-work/2019/as-other-local-news-outlets-struggle-npr-affiliates-are-growing-and-quickly).

By collaborating with other news organizations, such as ProPublica and local independent startups, regional coverage can be pooled, with assignment editors shared. Additionally, it is possible for stations to combine resources into a multi-station network. In Texas, this approach is extremely effective during breaking news situations such as the mass-shootings in El Paso and Midland/Odessa in 2019. When news broke of the El Paso shootings, the senior editor at NPR-affiliate KERA in Dallas sent reporters to El Paso, while in San Antonio, a re porter at Texas Public Radio went on-air with the first news reports on the scene for NPR’s national audience. These reporters were then able to bring regional knowledge and contacts together to provide in-depth coverage directly from the scene (“Texas Public Radio Stations and NPR Launch Collaborative Statewide Newsroom,” NPR Press Release, Sept. 5, 2019; npr.org/about-npr/759028569/texas-public-radio-stations-and-npr-launch-collaborative-statewide-newsroom).

As a result, local and regional news became available not only to the residents in the affected communities, but also nationwide. When using local news via NPR in research, it is helpful to follow news from more than one affiliate. For example, in north central Illinois, comprehensive coverage can be pieced together by following WCBU (Peoria), WNIJ (Dekalb), and WUIS (Springfield), along with Illinois’ flagship NPR station, WBEZ (Chicago).

UNIVERSITY NEWSPAPERS

University newspapers are also a gold mine of local news. While it can be a little disconcerting to consider the fact that some medium-sized cities in the United States have a university student-run newspaper as their sole daily paper (as is the case in Ann Arbor, Mich., home to The Michigan Daily; go Blue!), it is heartening to read in a 2019 New York Times article by Dan Levin that student journalists have often stepped in to hold up the torch to cover local news. Because of The Daily’s $4.5M endowment, it is able to employ a large staff, giving it a huge advantage over struggling local papers. Neil Chase, chairman of the University of Michigan student publications board, believes this is key to comprehensive community news coverage. “‘In a city of 100,000 people, you have to decide if you’re going to cover a City Council meeting, a car crash, or some other local news because you only have a few people to go around,’ he said. But The Daily ‘has so many people, they don’t have to make those tough decisions.’” As a result, The Daily holds “the powerful accountable, five nights a week,” according to Finntan Storer, managing editor (“When the Student Newspaper Is the Only Daily Paper in Town,” The New York Times , Oct. 19, 2019; nytimes.com/2019/10/19/us/news-desert-ann-arbor-michigan.html).

As Levin’s New York Times article also notes, Arizona State University’s Cronkite News Service has offices in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., where 10 student journalists file stories for more than 30 professional news organizations in Arizona. As Steve Crane, director of Washington operations at Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, told Levin: “We’re the largest Arizona-based news-gathering operation in Washington because we’re the only Arizona-based news-gathering operation in Washington.” One downside to this, according to Crane, is that staff jobs are temporary positions. Eventually, these student reporters will graduate and move on, leaving a void in institutional memory.