If you publish seemingly AI-driven gambling slop, you're not a newspaper

 Judd Legum doesn't directly say that, but, at least with the stable of Advance "products," I am ready to make that call myself, based off his story. Gambling slop, prediction markets slop and more.

That's only the tip of the iceberg. A "product affiliate" disclosure, like the ones for, say, outdoor gear websites, that say, "if you buy this product via this link, we may receive a commission," show what's up:

Advance Local’s Executive Director for Communications, Christine deWit, said that the company considered everyone who produced this gambling-related content a journalist. 

DeWit also said that Advance Local disclosed how it was compensated for promoting the promo codes. At the very bottom of these articles, in small print, is a disclosure: “If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.” 

The history of the program reveals more details of how the scheme works. Initially, Advance Local outsourced the production of this content to third parties. A March 2024 news release by Catena Media discloses that the company “published content in collaboration with media partners including Advance Local, owner of NJ.com and other news websites.” Catena Media describes itself as an “affiliate marketing specialist.”

Oy. 

Even worse than the AP partnering with Taboola. 

Judd says that Catena is basically buying Advance newspapers', or ex-newspapers', past history:

Crucially, Catena Media says it attracts players to gambling sites by “leveraging the visibility we gain from… high rankings on popular search engines.” This is why Advance Local is such an attractive partner for this kind of operation. Publications like The Oregonian and The Cleveland Plain Dealer rank very highly in search results because of the authority they have established through decades of producing high-quality journalism. These articles leverage that authority, and high placement in search engines, to attract new bettors.

Sounds about right. 

That said, is Advance the tip of the iceberg in other ways? It was early to "pivot to digital," and to use that to union-bust. USA Yesterday/Craphouse and its ilk surely are eyeballing something like this.