Find the Metro East Sun in your mailbox this week? This is who sent it and why
Metro-east residents are accustomed to receiving mailboxes full of campaign literature during election season, but a publication that arrived this week is raising eyebrows.
The Metro East Sun looks like a traditional newspaper with headlines, stories, photos, local event listings and an “Athletes in Action” page with 25 photos of college football players from East St. Louis, Belleville, Cahokia and Edwardsville.
Stories focus on sensationally worded allegations that Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who’s now running for reelection, and other Democrats are indoctrinating children on LGBTQ issues and preparing to release dangerous criminals into the streets with the new SAFE-T Act.
“No more boys and girls? Pritzker family leads push to replace ‘myth’ of biology,” one headline reads. “Naperville 3rd-grade teacher instructs boys how to act like girls,” reads another.
Edwardsville resident Peggy Mueller said she opened the eight-page newspaper, thinking it was a new source for local information, but quickly realized that it was partisan and designed to scare people into voting Republican in the Nov. 8 general election.
Mueller said she was glad no children were around to see the “rude and lewd” content, including references to anal intercourse and a cartoon that showed two people engaging in oral sex.
“It’s so inflammatory,” she said.
Other metro-east residents took to social media to voice their concerns, describing the publication as “trashy” and full of “propaganda.” Still others called it “informative” and “interesting.”
Who is the publisher?
The Metro East Sun’s publisher is identified as Local Government Information Services. The publication makes no mention of campaign sponsors, contributors or political action committees.
A publisher’s note states that its goal is to provide “news about state and local policy matters and politics to help you assess whether the policy decisions made by your elected officials are aligned with your values and to explain how those decisions impact your quality of life.”
The publication doesn’t identify reporters, editors or other staff, and the only byline tops an opinion piece by Erica Harriss, a Glen Carbon resident, Madison County Board member and Republican candidate for the Illinois Senate, District 56.
The publisher’s note gives a phone number, which takes callers to a recorded message offering a free medical alert system then transfers them to a live “medical alert specialist” in Norfolk, Virginia.
“Sometimes phone numbers change or the wrong button gets pushed,” said a representative named “Max” when asked why a call to an Illinois newspaper would reach him.
No one responded to a request for comment sent Thursday to an email address listed for the Metro East Sun. The email messaging service on the LGIS website is inoperable, yielding only an error box.
What is LGIS?
Local Government Information Services is a network of 34 online and/or print publications in Illinois, according to its website. The Columbia Journalism Review reported that it was co-founded in 2016 by Chicago-based Dan Proft and Brian Timpone.
Proft is political activist and radio commentator affiliated with the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. Timpone is a former TV reporter and businessman who operates more than 1,000 conservative local news websites across the country.
A 2020 investigation by the New York Times found that such politically biased networks are replacing longstanding community newspapers and other mainstream publications that have closed in recent years, and that some stories are ordered directly by political operatives.
“While Mr. Timpone’s sites generally do not post information that is outright false, the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency,” the Times found.
“Only a few dozen of the sites disclose funding from advocacy groups. Traditional news organizations do not accept payment for articles; the Federal Trade Commission requires that advertising that looks like articles be clearly labeled as ads.”
In 2016, a Federal Election Commission filing alleged that the DuPage Policy Journal, another LGIS publication, and a Republican congressional candidate violated the law because the former wasn’t a real newspaper and its coverage should have been classified as a campaign contribution.
Three years later, the FEC dismissed the complaint on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
Where else is this happening?
The LGIS website lists publications throughout the state. Political content is often the same, but event listings and photos of local athletes are customized.
Publications geared toward southern Illinois counties include the Carbondale Reporter, North Egypt News, SE Illinois News, South Central Reporter, Southern Illinois News and SW Illinois News.
The News-Gazette, a newspaper that traces its history back to 1852, reported Thursday that Champaign and Urbana residents had received copies of the Chambana Sun, also published by LGIS, in the mail this week.
“It’s going to be literally the end of days,” the top front-page headline read. “Lightfoot’s ‘Summer of Joy’ is one of murder and mayhem,” read another, referring to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
The News-Gazette reported the reaction of Joan Dixon, former president of the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois.
“It’s a very far-right-leaning, very anti-Democratic Party publication,” she was quoted as saying. “The masthead says, ‘Real data. Real value. Real news.’ But gosh, not so much.”
Why is it allowed?
The Chicago Sun Times reported on Wednesday that Illinois households have been hit with an “avalanche” of LGIS publications that are made to look like traditional newspapers but contain partisan Republican rhetoric without revealing financial backing.
“The Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act requires that a political committee put its name on any political communications it is paying for, whether TV spots, texts, mailers, leaflets or print or digital ads,” the Sun Times reported.
“It’s different for a newspaper.”
Illinois Democrats have faulted LGIS publications for spreading misinformation leading up to the November election. On Tuesday, the Pritzker campaign emailed the following statement to the BND:
“Dan Proft’s desperate mailers are specifically designed to mislead readers into thinking they are legitimate journalism, when in reality they are unlabeled ads attacking political candidates.
“These pathetic, last-ditch attempts to deceive voters tells you everything you need to know about Darren Bailey and his Republican allies: They have no ideas and no policy positions to stand on, so they’ll spend the last five days of the election lying instead.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
