Courier Newsroom

Courier Newsroom is a digital media company which operates pseudo-news outlets and sponsors political advertising intended to support Democratic candidates.[1][lower-alpha 1][3][4][5] The goal of Courier Newsroom publications, according to an internal memo obtained by Vice News, "is to create shareable viral pseudo 'news content' to boost its preferred candidates."[1] The Courier Newsroom is owned by ACRONYM, which is "a liberal dark money group with an affiliated super PAC called PACRONYM."[4] The Courier Newsroom owns local digital newspapers in eight battleground states. It was founded in 2019 by Tara McGowan. As of May 2020, Courier Newsroom websites had a budget of $11 million, a staff of 60 reporters and 12 editors, and aimed to publish approximately 300 articles and videos a week.

Courier Newsroom has spent over $300,000 on Facebook advertising designed to promote Democratic members of Congress.[5] Mark Zuckerberg's concern that the Courier Newsroom was not a real news outlet sparked a 2020 change in policy at Facebook. Facebook now limits the reach of partisan sites by restricting their access and curtailing their advertising.[6]

According to The Wall Street Journal, outlets like Courier try to capitalize on readers' trust in local news sources "while playing down their partisan interests and often obscuring their donors."[5] NewsGuard, which rates news sources, warns readers that Courier Newsroom websites are "insufficiently transparent" and "cherry-pick facts to advance a Democratic narrative." According to the Center for Responsive Politics, "websites affiliated with Courier Newsroom that appear to be free-standing local news outlets are actually part of a coordinated effort with deep ties to Democratic political operatives."[4]

Strategy

The Courier Newsroom local digital papers are not traditional town newspapers. Instead, these are designed to encourage people in key swing states to vote Democratic, while looking like local newspapers.[7][lower-alpha 2] The articles are promoted on social media such as Facebook, which does not prohibit the practice because the newspapers are for-profit. Its articles trended on Election Day.[9]

Courier Newsroom is structured as an LLC, so it does not have to make public finance disclosures.[10] Funders include George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and movie producers.[5]

Newspapers
  • Copper Courier, Arizona, launched October 2019.[9] Managing Editor: Brandy Rae Ramirez.[11]
  • The Dogwood, launched mid-2019. Motto: "Your source for Virginia news".[9] Managing Editor: Meghan McCarthy.[12] At launch, The Dogwood was owned by an ACRONYM subsidiary, For What Is Worth Media, Inc.[13][14]
  • Up North News, Wisconsin. It defines itself as "a for-profit media company with progressive non-profit ownership." Managing Editor: Pat Kreitlow.[15][16]
  • The Gander, Michigan. It defines itself as "a new local news site for Michigan." Managing Editor: Jessica Strachan.[17]
  • Cardinal & Pine, North Carolina.[lower-alpha 3] It defines itself as "a new local news site for North Carolina." [18]
  • The Keystone, Pennsylvania. Its launch had been announced in 2019,[9] though it only debuted in 2020.[19]
  • The Americano, nationwide, for Latin Americans. Published in English, it has collaborators in Puerto Rico, Miami, and New York City. Cristy Marrero is the Editor-in-Chief[20]

Staff and ownership

The Chief Editor is Lindsay Schrupp.[9][21] The founder is Tara McGowan, who used to work for the Obama campaign and for the SuperPAC Priorities USA.[9][8]

Courier Newsroom is owned by ACRONYM;[3][22][23] the creation and operation of Courier Newsroom has raised outrage and ethics questions about ACRONYM and about its financiers, who include billionaires Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs.[24] Courier Newsroom staff are hired through Lockwood Strategy, another ACRONYM subsidiary.[lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6]

Criticism

Carrie Brown, director of social journalism at the journalism school at City University of New York, found the targeting of news to swing voters "problematic."[lower-alpha 7] Debby Deutch, writing on behalf of NewsGuard,[25] called Courier News a "faux news site" and said while "[u]nlike some sources of partisan disinformation, Courier stories are generally fact-based" its strategy is nevertheless "pumping up moderate Democrats elected to Congress in 2018 in Republican-leaning districts."[22] NewsGuard rated the Courier websites as "generally unreliable."[lower-alpha 8] Vox reported that "the Courier Newsroom launch did raise some eyebrows. If this were a Republican operative declaring its strategy like this, a lot of Democrats probably would have criticized it."[26]

Notes
  1. Courier Newsroom, which Bloomberg called "a liberal, digital spin on local news."[2]
  2. the effort is also designed to help elect Democrats, by delivering partisan news stories to swing-state voters on Facebook[8]
  3. A Facebook ad about Trump and the pandemic from “Cardinal & Pine,” a North Carolina-focused Courier outlet, was seen disproportionately by people who were young and female, a group that turns out at a relatively low rate, but tends to support Democrats[8]
  4. job links on the Courier News website redirect to Lockwood Strategy[3]
  5. The left-leaning consulting firm Lockwood Strategy, in turn, has helped staff up the outlets[3]
  6. Lockwood Strategy, which is owned by Acronym, helped with staffing the Courier outlets while also being paid by the Virginia Democratic Party[8]
  7. Carrie Brown, director of social journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. But the notion of targeting it directly at specific voters in swing states, “that is interesting and more problematic.”[8]
  8. assessed the Courier websites as “generally unreliable.”[8]

References
  1. Hasen, Richard (February 23, 2020). "If Democrats fight right-wing "fake news" fire with fire, we all lose". Salon. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  2. Marantz, Andrew (February 6, 2020). "Inside Acronym, the Tech Consultancy Behind the Disastrous Iowa-Caucus App". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  3. Emily Stewart (6 February 2020). "Acronym, the dark money group behind the Iowa caucuses app meltdown, explained". MSN. Retrieved 7 February 2020. the Courier Newsroom, a for-profit media company under Acronym’s umbrella that runs multiplelocal sites that deliver left-slanted news
  4. Massoglia, Anna (May 22, 2020). "'Dark money' networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites". Open Secrets. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  5. Hagey, Emily Glazer and Keach (19 October 2020). "Partisan Sites Posing as Local News Expand Ahead of Election". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  6. Glazer, Deepa Seetharaman and Emily (16 October 2020). "How Mark Zuckerberg Learned Politics". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  7. Tobias Hoonhout (11 February 2020). "YouTube Sponsors Progressive Outlet to Create Nonpartisan 'Academy' for Local News". Yahoo News. Retrieved 14 February 2020. started a for-profit news organization called Courier last year to roll out pro-Democrat coverage under the guise of “local news” in key swing states
  8. Jeremy B. Merrill; Hanna Kozlowska (15 April 2020). "A well-heeled liberal group is filling the local news void with Trump-bashing coronavirus ads". Quartz (publication). Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  9. Joshua Green (25 November 2019). "The Left's Plan to Slip Vote-Swaying News Into Facebook Feeds". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  10. https://freebeacon.com/media/why-is-laurene-powell-jobs-funding-fake-news/
  11. https://couriernewsroom.com/about-us/
  12. https://vadogwood.com/about/
  13. " Current Properties: The Dogwood" https://www.fwiwmedia.com
  14. Sara Fischer (9 July 2019). "Progressive non-profit ACRONYM to invest $1M in local media effort". Axios. Retrieved 7 February 2020. The Dogwood is owned by the for-profit FWIW Media. While it's non-partisan, ACRONYM says it's investing
  15. https://upnorthnewswi.com/about-us/
  16. Chris Rickert (4 January 2020). "With 2020 in sight, dark-money sites look to distribute their versions of the news". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved 7 February 2020. UpNorthNews' managing editor, Pat Kreitlow
  17. https://gandernewsroom.com/about-us/
  18. https://gandernewsroom.com/about-us/
  19. https://keystonenewsroom.com/about-us/
  20. https://theamericanonews.com/about-us/
  21. https://couriernewsroom.com/about-us/
  22. Deutch, Gabby (6 February 2020). "Is it local journalism, or just local propaganda?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 February 2020. Courier’s main backer is Acronym, a liberal dark-money group
  23. https://www.anotheracronym.org/about/
  24. ALEX THOMPSON (14 July 2020). "Newsroom or PAC? Liberal group muddies online information wars". Politico. Retrieved 5 September 2020. Acronym — a sprawling digital organization whose programs include millions of dollars in traditional political advertising and voter engagement efforts, with financing from some of the deepest pockets in progressive politics, such as liberal billionaires Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the majority owner of The Atlantic — has stirred outrage and provoked debate about the ethics of such political tactics
  25. https://www.newsguardtech.com/about/team/gabby-deutch/
  26. "Acronym, the dark money group behind the Iowa caucuses app meltdown, explained". Vox. Retrieved 7 February 2020. the Courier Newsroom launch did raise some eyebrows. If this were a Republican operative declaring its strategy like this, a lot of Democrats probably would have criticized it.
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