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The New York Times has called into question a publication in Illinois favorably mentioning a Republican senator in several of its stories.

Almost every story at the top of the homepage of online publication Illinois Valley Times in early September was about Republican state senator Sue Rezin, Times reported in its recent investigative piece.

Times had uncovered details about the supposed operation through interviews with more than 30 current and former employees and clients, as well as thousands of internal emails between reporters and editors spanning several years. Employees of the network shared emails and the editing history in the site’s publishing software that revealed who requested dozens of articles and how.

“Ms. Rezin said in an interview that she didn't know why the outlet focused on her so much, but that she didn’t mind all the positive coverage,” Times said in its report.

Illinois Valley Times is part of a pay-for-play network of local news sites

The Illinois Valley Times is part of a network which “is built not on traditional journalism but on propaganda ordered up by dozens of conservative think tanks, political operatives, corporate executives, and public relations professionals,” according to the report.

In the “About page” of its website, Illinois Valley times states it believes that “local government works best when voters have ready access to public data about the use of their tax dollars: how much money is being spent; where it is being spent; how it is being spent.”

"The Illinois Valley Times exists to provide this reporting to the people of the Illinois Valley. We continually review public data in the area and Illinois and turn this data into stories of importance to taxpayers in the Illinois Valley," it added.

Brian Timpone runs the network with the assistance of conservative personalities

The pay-for-play network of news sites is largely overseen by Brian Timpone, a TV reporter turned internet entrepreneur who has sought to capitalize on the decline of local news organizations for nearly two decades.

Times linked Mr. Timpone’s operation to Chicago radio personality Dan Proft and two sitting Republican officeholders who “paid Mr. Timpone’s companies $55,000 over the past three years, according to state and federal records. During that time, the Illinois sites have published overwhelmingly positive coverage of her, including running some of her news releases verbatim.”

Based on its analysis, the pay-for-play network of sites “looked like typical news outlets that covered their communities. But a political action committee controlled by Mr. Proft paid Mr. Timpone’s companies at least $646,000 from 2016 to 2018, according to state campaign finance records.”

Mr. Timpone did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him by phone or email, or through a note left at his home in the Chicago suburbs. Many of his executives also did not respond to or declined requests for comment, according to Times.