• by Ray Schultz , October 9, 2022

Robust new print newspapers are hitting mailboxes in Illinois. But they are not what they seem to be.  

Titles like Chicago City Wire and Kane County Reporter are, in fact, political campaign papers published by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), a firm founded by conservative activists Brian Timpone and Dan Proft, reports say.   

The tagline on one says, “Real data. Real News.”  But they are part of a “wider trend of the blurring of journalism and campaigning,” writes the Columbia Journalism Review. 

The  faux newspapers, which have been roiling Chicago politics, are being printed by Gannett: LGIS is a commercial client of that firm, the Tow Center reports. And they are accompanied by multiple online one sites.  

The titles, which also include also include West Cook News, Dupage Policy Journal and numerous others,,accentuate the today’s  culture wars, and are largely aimed at Illinois Governor J.B Pritzker, a Democrat.

One headline reads, “No more boys and girls? Prizker family leads push to replace biology.”  

In addition, the papers take aim on the Safe-T Act, a criminal justice reform law passed in 2021,  in a way that has a racial tinge, according to Block Club Chicago. 

“A particularly striking centerfold includes 36 mugshots of alleged criminals that the publication claims will be released upon the institution of the law,” Block Club Chicago writes. “Most of the mugshots depict Black Americans, and all but three appear to be people of color.” 

“’It’s going to be literally the end of days,’” the headline reads.

Mimicking of newspapers by political parties and commercial entities is nothing new. In the 1800s, the Louisiana Lottery sent direct mail designed to look like newspapers and had the temerity to mail them at the second class postage rates for periodicals. But this round has “sparked fears that, ahead of the midterms, readers are consuming divisive messages without realizing the true source,” CJR writes.

 “This crosses the boundary into propaganda,” Peter Adams, senior vice president of education at the News Literacy Project, concludes, according to CJR.