A Florida Democratic congressional candidate has created her own news website, featuring positive stories about herself and negative stories about opponents.
The Miami Herald first noticed the website, called QuePasa27.com. "Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez didn't like the news coverage of her campaign for Congress," the Herald reported Tuesday. "So she created her own."
Stories on Que Pasa 27 are written without bylines and have headlines like, "Clear winner at Young Democrats' debate: Kristen Rosen Gonzalez."
"Kristen Rosen Gonzalez is the only one of the five candidates who works a full time job and lives paycheck to paycheck. She is the only one who speaks Spanish fluently. And she is the only one who is not concerned with raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash," that story reads.
The Herald notes that by contrast, local media is actually quite critical of Rosen Gonzales' candidacy, especially of debate remarks where she said "the vast majority of people in this district are uneducated."
One has to scroll to the bottom of QuePasa27.com's website to see a disclaimer that the site is "Paid for by Kristen Rosen Gonzalez Campaign Committee." The disclaimer does not appear on its Facebook page, leaving the impression it is a legitimate news source.
Campaigns' use of websites mimicking news sites is a new phenomenon but one that appears to be on the rise. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.) likewise runs a website called "The California Republican," which is paid for by his campaign and features positive stories about Nunes.