What is 'pink-slime' journalism and has it infiltrated Australian media?

AI-generated online news outlets posing as local mastheads appeared in regional Western Australia, including multiple sites with names such as The Mandurah Reader, Esperance Enosis, and The Bunbury Guardian. The outlets claimed local staffing and published content that appeared to be scraped from ABC South West WA stories. The sites were owned by Scholastica and were taken offline after the ABC began enquiries. The phenomenon was described as “pink-slime” journalism, a low-quality model used to attract clicks and advertising revenue and sometimes influence politics. Concerns focused on targeting vulnerable regional communities that have often lost local newspapers, alongside reduced accountability from AI-generated reporting and fabricated reporter identities.

"Experts say a series of AI-generated online news outlets posing as local mastheads in regional Western Australia could be the first recorded example of "pink-slime" journalism in Australia. "Pink slime" is the colloquial term for AI-generated news sites masquerading as legitimate local journalism to attract clicks and advertising revenue and, in some cases, to influence politics. This form of low-quality, AI-generated news, widespread in the United States, is named after a by-product of cheap, highly processed meat products."

"In February, AI-generated news sites started appearing in WA regional hubs with numerous mastheads, including The Mandurah Reader, Esperance Enosis and The Bunbury Guardian. The ABC began investigating the sites, which claimed to be staffed by local journalists, after The Bunbury Guardian began publishing content that appeared to be directly scraped from ABC South West WA stories. The AI-generated mastheads, owned by a parent company called Scholastica, were all taken offline after the ABC began making enquiries."

""This would be one of the first sightings of pink-slime journalism in Australia," Ms O'Connell said pink-slime journalism targeting regional towns was a "big concern". "Regional communities are the most vulnerable ... they've often seen their local newspaper shut down," she said. The Bunbury Guardian's articles were published under the by-lines of reporters the site claimed had been reporting on news in Bunbury for more than a decade."

"It listed AI-generated biographies and profile photos for these reporters. Ms O'Connell said the lack of accountability in AI journalism had lowered"

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