We may be trapped in the midst of a massive economic recession, but at least one sector of the media is booming. Fake news sites like the Miami Gazette News, New York Finance News and WKTV News 13 in New York are springing up across the Internet, all of them half-concealed advertisements for things including work-from-home scams and anti-aging drugs.
The sites are often quite convincing, with head shots of what is purportedly a TV news team, comments from supposed readers and production and design values that put many legitimate outlets to shame.
Forbes‘ Dirk Smillie took a look at the army of such sites looking to convert the popularity of Oprah Winfrey favorite Dr. Mehmet Oz into cash, while Wired‘s Kevin Poulsen notes that ads for such sites have run on the Web pages of numerous mainstream media outlets.
Matt Grant of KRCG-Jefferson City, Mo., provides an example of how such stories can be adapted for regional outlets, warning local consumers of local variants and explaining the larger phenomenon.
