ICE activity is pushing readers to nonprofit news sites that cover immigrant communities

"In our recent rankings of web traffic at the top local newspapers and public media outlets, there's been a consistent trend: Wherever ICE unleashes its controversial deportation tactics, the audience's attention follows. Operation Midway Blitz sent readers to Chicago's WBEZ, Operation Charlotte's Web did the same for Charlotte's WFAE, and the chaos in Minneapolis led Minnesota Public Radio to the top of the traffic rankings."

"In October, the biggest percentage increase in traffic any site saw was at NepYork, a site that covers the Nepali community in New York City, where visits skyrocketed from around 20,000 to 289,000. (ICE deportations of Nepali citizens have been on the rise.) Other big gainers included The Maine Monitor (up 153%), California's Fresnoland (up 152%), Fort Worth Report (up 51%), and The TRiiBE, a site about Black Chicago (up 107%)."

"In December, visits to Massachusetts' Brookline.News were up 380% from November's total - going from 67,000 to 322,000 - pushing the site all the way to No. 36 on our rankings. That's the result of the December 15 murder of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, who was killed by the same man who had opened fire on a group of Brown University students a few days earlier. (Last week, we noted that those shootings had caused The Providence Journal's traffic to spike similarly in December.)"

Local newspapers, public media outlets, and nonprofit publishers experience pronounced traffic spikes in areas where ICE conducts deportation operations, with audiences concentrating on targeted communities. NepYork's visits rose from about 20,000 to 289,000 in October amid rising deportations of Nepali citizens. Other October gainers included The Maine Monitor (153%), Fresnoland (152%), Fort Worth Report (51%), and The TRiiBE (107%). November saw Sahan Journal grow an estimated 190%, alongside Mississippi Today (80%), Wausau Pilot & Review (44%), Oklahoma Watch (99%), and The Current (105%). December traffic surged at Brookline.News (up 380% to 322,000) after the December 15 murder of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro.

Read at Nieman Lab