Partisan papers arrive in Richmond mailboxes
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
A conservative media network is peppering local households with newspapers designed to look like an impartial news source.
Why it matters: The papers and their accompanying websites are from Metric Media, a partisan, Missouri-based media company that has a history of targeting swing districts in election years, per the New York Times.
The big picture: Richmond Leader, Henrico Times and Gateway Reporter are among the 27 different banners Metric Media operates in Virginia, per an Axios review.
- Metric Media and most of the Richmond-focused publications have been around since 2020, but the print versions have just started hitting locals' mailboxes in recent weeks.
- The websites and papers look nearly identical and seemingly share content, with slight differences based on which part of metro Richmond they're covering — and who's running for election there.
Follow the money: Metric Media funding largely comes from a handful of political action committees and nonprofits funded by conservative megadonors, Columbia Journalism Review reports.
Zoom in: Last week, some Chesterfield residents got a copy of Gateway Reporter in the mail, while the Henrico Times went out to households there.
- Both publications sport the tagline "Real data. Real value. Real news."
- Both papers led with an unbylined story filled with political messaging from Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares' campaign, framing his Democratic opponent Jay Jones as soft on crime.
- And both papers had a story in which local Republican officials weighed in about Loudoun County's transgender bathroom policies, a key talking point in Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears' campaign.
- Print and online coverage also includes gas prices and high school sports.
The intrigue: The newspapers arrive with a Dallas prepaid USPS code and a return address in Chicago that, ironically, used to be associated with satirical website The Onion.
- No ownership information or local contact information is available in print or online.
- Axios was unable to reach a representative of the websites for comment.
Zoom out: Websites like the ones Metric Media runs are often referred to as "pink slime," a term that originated in the beef industry and has been used for more than a decade to describe politically motivated websites masquerading as independent local news outlets, Axios' Sara Fischer reports, pointing to a 2024 report from misinformation tracking company NewsGuard.
- And, per NewsGuard, there are left-leaning ones too, including the American Independent and Courier Newsroom.
- Nationwide, there were at least 1,265 websites identified last year as being backed by dark money or intentionally masquerading as local news for political purposes.
- Comparatively, there were only around 1,213 daily local newspapers left as of 2023.
Editor's note: This story was updated to cite a report from misinformation tracking company NewsGuard.