The Sift: ‘Pink slime’ oozing into chatbots

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‘Pink slime’ oozing into chatbots | RumorGuard slides

Daily Do Now slides

A week’s worth of do-nows, just for you.

Top picks

Here are the latest news literacy topics and tips on how to integrate them into your classroom.

Pink slime sites masquerade as local news but are partisan and increasingly AI-generated.

1. ‘Pink slime’ oozing into chatbots

With names like One Nation and American Independent, “pink slime” sites almost sound like legitimate news outlets. They’re not, but AI chatbots think they are.

• Defining “pink slime”: Pink slime sites are partisan websites that pose as local news websites, attempting to subtly persuade people under the guise of informing them.
• AI chatbots fooled: Using prompts about political candidates and issues covered by pink slime sites, NewsGuard tested seven popular AI tools and found that the bots’ responses cited pink slime and other sources nearly half the time (48.2%). ChatGPT responses cited more pink slime sources (70.8%) than any other tool tested. 
• More pink slime: Pink slime sites now outnumber real local newspapers. NewsGuard has identified 1,179 pink slime sites, including 21 outlets that launched this year. There are only 937 daily local newspapers left in the U.S., according to Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative.

💬 Discuss:

• What distinguishes a genuine news website from one with partisan funding and motivations? How can you tell?
• How could pink slime sites impact democracy and elections?
• Why do you think AI chatbots mistake pink slime sites for real news? How does this impact how you view AI-generated responses?

💡Idea: Share the “Pink slime” slide in Week 6 in the Daily Do Now resource for a video about this topic and additional discussion questions.

⭐ NLP Resources:

• Think sheet: “Dig Deeper: What are ‘pink slime’ sites and how are they different from credible local news sources?”
• “Sift quiz: Pink slime” 
• Infographic: “Is it legit? Five steps for vetting a news source”

🔗 Related:

• “This AI agent had written thousands of Alaska news articles. We interviewed it.” (Anchorage Press)

2. Cornell student journalists play watchdog role

Content warning: The summary below mentions sexual assault and the pieces linked discuss this topic in detail.

A 2024 sexual assault case at Cornell University recently made national news when a lawsuit was filed, but it likely wouldn’t have been a story without the relentless student journalists who spent the last two years investigating.

• Watchdog role: A student journalist at The Cornell Daily Sun, Cereese Qusba, earned the trust of the alleged victim, identified as Jane Doe, and her lawyer. The newspaper staff also interviewed university officials and set up a tip line.
• Bold reporting: The newspaper published an investigative report on Sept. 18. A few days later, they published a front-page editorial, “Cornell Won’t, We Will,” which called for transparency from the university and listed the names of the seven defendants in the lawsuit accused of sexually assaulting Jane Doe. 
• Editorial independence: The Cornell Daily Sun editor-in-chief, Sophia Dasser, told The New York Times that the newsroom takes editorial independence seriously. It is financially independent from the university and located off campus. “Our main obligation is accountability,” she said.

💬 Discuss:

• What role do student journalists play in holding school officials and others in power accountable?
• Why does editorial independence matter for student journalists? 
• What’s the difference between an editorial and a news story? 
• Do you think the editors were right to allow the editorial to list the names of the accused?

⭐ NLP Resource:

• Interactive lesson: “Democracy’s Watchdog”

🔗 Related:

• Opinion: “Cornell's student journalists show how vital campus newsrooms are” (USA Today)
• “How Schools and Universities Try to Censor Student Journalists” (404 Media)

3. Detained journalist reported from Russian jail

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich didn’t have a laptop or a smartphone when he was imprisoned in a Russian jail for 16 months. But he continued reporting anyway.

• Journalism from jail: Gershkovich was the first American journalist arrested on espionage charges by Russia since the Cold War. He recently told the Journal that he wrote down his observations of the people and systems inside prison and made handwritten copies to mail to his lawyers. He was freed in 2024 through a prisoner swap and has a memoir coming out.
• On the risks: Imprisonment changed his views on journalism. Gershkovich said he’s thought more about the risks journalists take, not just abroad but also at home in the United States, where sources are less forthcoming and reporters are often attacked. “The atmosphere is chilled and cool here for journalists,” he said. 
• Press freedom views: Americans’ perceptions of the strength of press freedom in the U.S. have hit a record low, according to a recent Gallup poll.

💬 Discuss:

• If you were in Gershkovich’s situation, what kind of details would you report on from inside a foreign jail? What tools do reporters need to practice journalism?
• Do journalists face risks for doing their work in the U.S.? What about other countries? 
• What kind of conditions make a country safer for journalists to do their job? What makes it more unsafe? What impact does this have on people’s lives?

💡Idea: Use the “Press freedom” slide in Week 6 in the Daily Do Now resource to explore this topic in 5-10 minutes.

⭐ NLP Resources:

• Interactive lesson: “Press Freedoms Around the World”
• Daily Do Now slides: “Press freedom collection”

🗒️Note: See the May 4 Sift issue for additional press freedom teaching ideas using Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. The United States’ press freedom ranking was 64th in the world this year — a drop of seven places since 2025.

🔗 Related:

• “Mexico’s journalists have long faced bullets. Now lawsuits against them are rising” (The Associated Press)
• “News organizations ask court to bar White House enforcement of access ban” (NPR)

These interactive slide decks help students think carefully and critically about viral claims in the digital age.

No, Democrats didn’t pay Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish millions for endorsements

❌ NO: Democrats did not pay singer Taylor Swift $500 million in exchange for supporting them and gender transition for minors, and The New York Times never reported that they did.

❌ NO: Singer Billie Eilish was not paid $120 million to support Democrats, and The Washington Post did not report that she had been.

✅ YES: The Taylor Swift falsehood was created by removing the audio from a genuine video of Swift being interviewed by The New York Times in April 2026 and adding captions with an entirely fabricated claim.

✅ YES: The claim involving Eilish was also created by removing the audio from a video of the singer speaking with Vanity Fair magazine in December 2024, adding the Washington Post logo and fabricating captions.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

This viral falsehood uses two common tactics to spread misinformation online. First, it presents a false claim as if it originated with a standards-based news source. This can make a bogus report feel credible. Second, it uses well-known public figures. This can help a rumor gain traction online. View these Google Slides for tips to spot this type of deceptive impostor content.

No, vaccines don’t contain parasites

❌ NO: There is no evidence that parasite eggs are found in vaccines.

✅ YES: This claim originated with a self-described digital creator and retired flight attendant, and it is not backed by credible evidence or medical professionals.

✅ YES: Vaccines are manufactured under strict safety protocols including sterilization and rigorous testing to ensure they are not contaminated with biological material.

✅ YES: Similar false claims about vaccines containing parasites have previously circulated online.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

Misinformation about vaccines spread like a virus during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has subsided, anti-vaccine claims are still widespread online. Check out these Google Slides for tips to spot these dangerous falsehoods.

➕ College radio stations provide programming by and for young people, full of quirks and “experimental weirdness” — but some are being scooped up and controlled by media conglomerates. Many students aren’t happy about it.

➕ There’s a new law in California offering newsrooms tax credits to hire and retain journalists. The president of Rebuild Local News called it “the most ambitious effort to revive community news in the country, probably ever.”

➕ AI-generated animals are harmless, right? Not in Singapore, where a 30-year-old man faces three years of imprisonment for texting an AI-generated image of a saltwater crocodile, leading officials to shutting down its largest reservoir to search for the nonexistent reptile.

➕ Aboard the papal plane, Pope Leo XIV told reporters that concerns about the safety and regulation of AI technology should be taken seriously, but he’s “relatively optimistic” about solutions.

➕ Introducing “slopaganda,” a term used by critics to refer to AI-generated political ads. The Wesleyan Media Project has tracked nearly $80 million spent by candidates and outside groups to broadcast 164 AI-generated or AI-enhanced ads in this election cycle so far.

➕ Several organizations are preparing to help counter election disinformation targeting Black voters. One nonpartisan nonprofit just published a “propaganda playbook” with tips such as verifying sources before resharing posts online.

➕ Most people around the world think social media is harming democracy, according to a Pew Research Center survey of 42,151 people across 37 countries.

➕ Idea, research, report, write, edit, fact-check and publish. These are the seven steps of newsgathering, according to this handy news writing explainer by The New York Times.

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Your weekly issue of The Sift is created by Susan Minichiello, Dan Evon, Peter Adams, Hannah Covington and Pamela Brunskill. It is edited by Lourdes Venard and Mary Kane.

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