Just over three weeks since the cryptic sale of the Riverfront Times, St. Louis' venerable alt-weekly, and there are still many outstanding questions with no answers about future plans for the former news organization.
The RFT's entire newsroom was fired as a result of the sale. The publication's website has been dormant since those reporters posted what would be their final stories in late May. That is, until a strange article appeared on June 12th.
The article summarizes arguments regarding Missouri Governor Parson's decision to deny clemency to a death row inmate. It was posted, however, after the death sentence had already been carried out and didn't acknowledge that newsworthy update.
For some readers, the language and structure was reminiscent of AI writing.
I just ran @RiverfrontTimes latest article (post-layoffs) through an AI detector. This is absolutely disgusting. pic.twitter.com/f2tZWOOLRG
— Kallie Cox (@KallieECox) June 14, 2024
CBS News Tech Contributor Ian Sherr tells KMOX it can be difficult to determine whether a piece of writing was created by human or machine.
"Sadly, there doesn't appear to be any 'reporting' in the story, in so far as seeking comment. So you can't backtrack and confirm this person did indeed reach out for comment and whatnot, but that's another thing I know people do when they're trying to deconstruct when something seems amiss."
The author, a "Ryan Smith," does not have any other posts tagged on the Riverfront Times website and potential previous work couldn't be found.
Sherr adds: "The reporter's name is very generic, and it's his first story. Additionally, there's no seeming way to contact him, which is another big red flag. I'd keep an eye on those indicators and see if things change."
Meanwhile, the identity of the newspaper's new owner is still unknown, which means their business plan and ethics are a mystery.
KMOX searched through several different types of public records which could shed light on the change in possession, but those for the most part only gave a trail for years of the paper's previous owners.
On the RFT website itself, the privacy policy, terms and conditions, and contact pages still refer to Big Lou Holdings, LLC, the most recent owner.
A WHOIS search to see who holds the registration for the riverfronttimes.com domain name shows the entity is masked by Domains By Proxy, LLC.
The Missouri Secretary of State's website continues to list the owner of the business known as "Riverfront Times" as Big Lou Holdings' Chris Keating of Cape Girardeau. There was one recent change in Big Lou's state registration, but it was only to change the address of the firm's registered agent.
Did the new owner transfer trademarks such as "RFT", "Riverfront Times," and "Best of St. Louis"? Not according to the U.S Patent and Trademark Office's database, which shows those brands registered with a "Riverfront Media LLC" entity in Ohio whose address also matches registrations for that city's alt-weekly "Cleveland Scene." A search of Ohio state business records for "Riverfront Media LLC" didn't yield any leads.
Both papers were previously part of Village Voice Media and later of Euclid Media Group, but are now separately owned. The Riverfront Times was sold to former Euclid executive Keating's Big Lou in 2023.
One more possible hint: @RiverfrontTimes went quiet on X after the lay-offs on May 22nd, but on Thursday, June 13th, the account came back to retweet a Sauce magazine piece about restaurants and Pride. Big Lou continues to own Sauce. It is unclear whether the retweet was by the new owner or a former RFT staffer who might still have a log-in. Big Lou did say it would try to employ former RFT staffers at its other publications, including Sauce.
