Brian Timpone

Brian Timpone is an American conservative businessman and former journalist who operates a network of "pseudo-local" news websites.[1] By October 2020, nearly 1,300 websites linked to Timpone, most of which presented themselves as local news outlets.[2][3] According to the New York Times, Timpone's "operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency."[2] His sites publish articles for pay from outside groups, and do not disclose it.[2]

Education and early career

Timpone graduated from Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights. He received a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia; while attending, he covered sports and news for the University-owned KOMU-TV. After school, he took a job at KDLH in Duluth, Minnesota, which he worked for less than a year before taking another TV job in Champaign, Illinois.[4]

Timpone was hired as the personal spokesman to Illinois House Minority Leader Lee A. Daniels in 1997.[4]

News publishing

Timpone is involved with a number of interconnected media companies, including Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which he co-founded,[5] as well as Metric Media, Franklin Archer, Locality Labs (formerly known as Journatic and LocalLabs), and Record Inc.[3]

It's sort of a tattered product that's being written overseas and halfheartedly edited and just kinda slopped on the page[...]

—Ryan Smith, Journatic employee[6]

Journatic (a portmanteau of "journalism" and "automatic")[6] was founded by Timpone in 2006.[7] According to Timpone, Journatic used news data processed by workers in the Philippines, but the writers of the articles were all domestic.[8] Journatic managed TribLocal, a hyperlocal news branch of the Chicago Tribune that targeted suburban neighborhoods around Chicago, in the spring of 2012.[6]

In a June 2012 episode of This American Life, Timpone disclosed that Journatic was outsourcing its writing to over 300 freelancers using fake bylines in several geographic areas outside of the United States, including the Philippines, Eastern Europe, Brazil, and Africa.[6] Following the release of the episode and the discovery of plagiarism in Journatic's articles, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and Gatehouse Media suspended their relationships with the company.[9] Journatic would rebrand as "Locality Labs" in 2013.[3]

According to a 2020 New York Times report, Timpone's network controlled 1,211 sites that presented themselves as local or state news. His companies also delivered unsolicited free newspapers in some towns.[2] In 2019, Locality Labs delivered the Hinsdale School News, using the logo of the local school district to residents of Hinsdale, Illinois. The paper had a heavy focus on articles opposing the upcoming referendum, which would have raised the school's budget. Officials from the district sent cease and desist letters to several companies in the Timpone network, stating that the use of its logos were deceptive and an instance of trademark infringement.[1][10]

See also

References
  1. Gabbatt, Adam (19 November 2019). "How local 'fake news' websites spread 'conservative propaganda' in the US". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  2. Alba, Davey; Nicas, Jack (2020-10-18). "As Local News Dies, a Pay-for-Play Network Rises in Its Place". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  3. Bengani, Priyanjana. "Hundreds of 'pink slime' local news outlets are distributing algorithmic stories and conservative talking points". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  4. Ross, Diane (April 6, 1997). "Marian grad aide to House leader". Southtown Star. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  5. Sourine, Katherina; Sokotoff, Dominick (November 1, 2019). "Pseudo local news sites in Michigan reveal nationally expanding network". The Michigan Daily.
  6. "Switcheroo". This American Life. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  7. Farnham, Brian (May 29, 2012). "On Journatic, and making it in Hyperlocalville". Columbia Journalism Review. Columbia University. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  8. Miner, Michael (April 27, 2017). "The burbs' first look at Journatic". Chicago Reader. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  9. Sheffield, Hazel (July 16, 2017). "Plagiarism and a resignation at Journatic". Columbia Journalism Review. Columbia University. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  10. Lannom, Pamela (March 28, 2019). "'Hinsdale School News' is no such thing". The Hinsdalean. Retrieved December 18, 2019 – via Newz Group.


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