Floodlight, NPR honored for story on media manipulation

Floodlight and NPR took first place for reporting about mis- and disinformation in the Los Angeles Press Club’s Southern California Journalism Awards. 

The winning entry, Chevron owns this city’s news site. Many stories aren’t told., was written by former Floodlight reporter Miranda Green and NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik with reporting assistance from journalism students at the University of California Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program. 

“This story stood out because it wasn't just about disinformation. It was about the structures that enable it,” wrote the judges for the A-Mark Prize for Reporting on Misinformation and Disinformation. “By exposing a fake local news site created by a powerful corporation, it offered something original and revelatory. Rather than chasing falsehoods, it focused on the system that produces and sustains them.”

The story explored how the Chevron-owned Richmond Standard website was masquerading as a community news outlet for Richmond, Calif., while serving as a powerful corporate mouthpiece for the oil giant. 

The reporting team found the Standard was striking for what it covered — always positive news about Chevron and the oil industry — and what it ignored, notably a massive oil spill and repeat environmental law violations at its Richmond refinery.

The award seeks to “facilitate stories that expose the larger problem of fake news, explore specific instances of misinformation and disinformation in social and news media and hold perpetrators of misleading news accountable.”

Green accepted the award at a June 22 ceremony in Los Angeles. 

Read more Floodlight stories about media manipulation in our series, Fueling Disinformation.