Brendan Nyhan

Power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics https://www.npr.org/2022/12/19/1143753129/power-companies-florida-alabama-media-investigation-consulting-firm

Especially dangerous because of the greater trust people have in local news - see my Upshot column https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/upshot/fake-local-news.html

In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics

Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light hired the consulting firm Matrix to help shape their fortunes. Matrix funded six sites that covered politics, filling a void left by the decline of local news.

NPR
Dec 20, 2022 at 1:54amWeb
Show threadTeeKayDec 20, 2022
@brendannyhan Sounds like Dominion here in #Virginia.
Show threadDan GillmorDec 20, 2022

re: ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

by @brendannyhan

The "pink slime" news orgs are becoming one of the most difficult issues for US news readers. They are designed to look legit when they are anything but, and this story is a case in point.

Show threadlitzDec 20, 2022

@brendannyhan

The same thing happens at every Southern Company utility (e.g. Georgia Power) in the region.

They are *desperate* for rate hikes (big ones) to pay for a way over budget nuclear plant.