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Welcome to Popular Information, a newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism.
On August 6, Popular Information exposed a network of fake news websites surreptitiously controlled by Senate Republicans. One of these sites is now being used to legitimize a specious attack against former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
The North Carolinian bills itself as “Independent Journalism for North Carolina.” But the website is not independent. It is fully controlled by the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC of Senate Republicans.
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The North Carolinian published an unbylined article on August 21: “Families Demand Accountability for Repeat Offenders as North Carolina Prison Releases Face New Scrutiny.” The article focuses on the “murder of 22-year-old North Carolina resident Logan Federico.” It emphasizes that the man who was accused of murdering Federico, Alexander Dickey, had previously been charged with “at least 48 crimes across 14 separate occasions, including 31 felony charges.”
The article then links Federico’s murder to “the decision by former governor Roy Cooper’s administration to release thousands of inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Federico’s murder, however, has nothing to do with Cooper or North Carolina.
The crime was committed in 2025 in South Carolina by Dickey, a South Carolina man who was previously incarcerated in South Carolina. All of Dickey’s crimes occurred in South Carolina. Dickey was released from Lexington County Detention Center, a South Carolina jail, by a South Carolina judge.
The purported news article about Federico’s murder in the North Carolinian does not mention South Carolina. The fake news website is being used to legitimize the smear with an article no legitimate outlet would publish.
The SLF is promoting the fake news article to North Carolina residents through paid ads on Meta platforms.
The online campaign also reinforces a television ad by the SLF. The ad features an image of a report about the murder by WCNC, a North Carolina TV station, with a “Charlotte, N.C.” dateline. But, conveniently, it obscures the text of the piece stating the crime took place in South Carolina.
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Federico’s father has appeared with Cooper’s opponent, Republican Michael Whatley, on the campaign trail.
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— Judd
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