The Consumption of Pink Slime Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

Pink slime journalism refers to organizations masquerading as local news, often serving special interests. Past research and reporting have illuminated pink slime journalism production (e.g., identifying outlets and documenting practices) but have not systematically analyzed consumption. We combine web browsing behavior of a national sample of American adults during the 2020 election (N = 1,238; 21 M website visits) with a database of pink slime outlets (1,627 outlets, 132,237 distinct articles) to illuminate the who, what, when, where, and why of pink slime consumption. Our analysis reveals 3.7% of American adults (∼9.5 M people) visited pink slime in the months surrounding the 2020 election. Pink slime consumption differed from both general misinformation and traditional local news consumption. We also find a mismatch between production and consumption, with the topics of produced and promoted pink slime articles differing greatly from the topics of pink slime consumed. Google and Facebook were prominent referrers to pink slime. Despite speculation, news desert residents were not more likely to consume pink slime.