Newspaper investigated for pushing misinformation tied to controversial university hire

A media executive with apparent ties to an alleged network of “pink slime,” pay-for-play local news outlets sparked controversy when he was hired to teach journalism at a Tennessee public university in December. Now, one of the publications the executive apparently led is under scrutiny for promoting misinformation in an Ohio community.

Raw Story broke the news in December that Tennessee Tech University hired Kyle Barnett to teach journalism despite his apparent ties to Advantage Informatics and publications owned by Metric Media — companies founded by journalist-turned-conservative businessman Brian Timpone, whose media entities have been scrutinized for plagiarizing, using foreign-based writers to cover local news and mimicking traditional news sites with content backed by political organizations without transparency about funding.

The Mount Vernon News, which has listed Barnett as a general manager, publisher and sports editor since Metric Media purchased it for $1 million August 2020, was tied to a group of anti-solar organizations and politicians in Knox County, Ohio, according to an investigation published Tuesday by Floodlight, ProPublica and the Columbia Journalism Review.

The investigation found that nearly all stories published by the Mount Vernon News about Frasier Solar—a project to replace hundreds of acres of farmland with solar panels—were negative and that the newspaper was financially tied to anti-solar opposition groups, politicians and companies, including one of the biggest methane gas compressor manufacturers in the world, Ariel Corporation.

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Barnett has maintained an active author page on the Mount Vernon News website, with a new byline published as recently as Tuesday. Barnett himself wrote at least seven stories about the Frasier Solar project. A Nov. 7, 2023, article he authored about a local couple, Jim and Connie Boeshart, called their land "next best thing to Heaven, except for the planned solar project.”

Barnett's author page shows at least 20 stories written for the Mount Vernon News since November 2023, many of which are about local businesses and include sales pitches.

A copy of Barnett’s resume obtained by Raw Story though a Tennessee Public Records Act request showed that he was a president at Advantage Informatics and an “executive-in-charge” for the Mount Vernon News and another Metric Media publication, the Kern Valley Sun since July 2023.

Still, Barnett denied his leadership at Media Media in response to a Nieman Lab investigation into the Advantage Informatics and Metric Media’s ties to the country's largest newspaper chain, Gannett.

“I am not and have never been employed as general manager or any other role with Metric Media,” Barnett told Nieman Lab. “Editorial production for that company and its affiliated publications has been under the oversight of other executives and editorial professionals since its inception, not me.”

“I did no work with the Mount Vernon News from shortly after its takeover in August 2020 until mid-2023 when I returned as a consultant for a short time and then afterward only as an occasional contributor,” Barnett continued. “I served as a consultant in the role of interim publisher only during a two-week period in August 2020 after the publication’s previous owner went out of business and Knox County Media, LLC purchased its assets.”

Barnett did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s questions about the Mount Vernon News and never replied to any of Raw Story’s previous requests for comment since December.

Barnett is still teaching at Tennessee Tech University, a public university in Cookeville, Tenn., with a student body of just over 10,000. An online course catalog shows he is teaching four classes during the current fall semester: "Media and Social Institutions," two sections of "Mass Comm/Changing Society" and "Fundamentals: Photojournalism.”

He is scheduled to teach "Media and Social Institutions," two sections of "Mass Comm/Changing Society" and "Advertising Copy and Layout" for the spring 2025 semester, according to the online course catalog.

“Mr. Barnett remains employed at Tennessee Tech University. The university has no further comment at this time,” said Jonathan Frank, director of news and public relations for Tennessee Tech, in an emailed response to multiple questions submitted by Raw Story.

Timpone did not immediately respond to Raw Story's request for comment.

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