Another partisan mailer lands in Richmond, this time from liberals
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A copy of The Virginia Independent that was sent to a Henrico home. Photo: Mike Szvetitz/Axios
Another round of partisan newspapers designed to look like an impartial news source is hitting Richmond-area mailboxes, only this time it's coming from a left-leaning group.
Why it matters: It's the second instance of "pink slime" publications targeting Richmond households this election year.
State of play: Some households in Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico were recently mailed a publication called The Virginia Independent, readers tell Axios.
- Much like the Richmond Leader and the Henrico Times — the conservative-bent papers that recently started showing up in locals' mailboxes — The Virginia Independent is arriving unsolicited in the mail with no clear information about who's behind it or how one can opt out.
- Also like the right-leaning papers, The Virginia Independent's stories are largely political messaging that presents one side positively and the other negatively, per an Axios review of its website and September edition.
The Virginia Independent didn't respond to Axios' request for comment.
Between the lines: The publication is "a project of American Independent Media," per its website. It's more commonly known as The American Independent, a D.C.-based progressive news outfit launched by Democratic operative David Brock, per NewsGuard, a misinformation tracking company.
- The American Independent's papers, which publish under various banners in key swing states, have a history of running "articles supporting Democrats and criticizing Republicans," NewsGuard found.
- They also usually show up on "voters' doorsteps ... in battleground states in the final days before" an election.
And if they seem familiar to locals, it's because they are. Virginia households got them in October 2021, just before the last gubernatorial election.
- Four years ago, the tie to The American Independent was far clearer. In 2021, the newspaper was called the American Independent: Virginia Edition, per NewsGuard.