Michael Tubbs on the politics of disinformation, racism, and news deserts

Last year, Michael Tubbs was the focus of an HBO documentary, "Stockton On My Mind," that followed his experience trying to reinvent Stockton, California as the city’s first African-American mayor. Within a few months, however, with his campaign for re-election coming up, Tubbs was subjected to a targeted disinformation campaign, by a fake news website called the 209 Times. Named for the area code of Stockton, the 209 Times claims to be "an independent community driven grassroots news source." In reality, it functions as a misinformation machine, trading on the relatively high levels of trust in local press outlets to spread lies about Tubbs and play on voters' racist biases. Come November, Tubbs was unseated. He joins us today on The Kicker, speaking with CJR contributor Akintunde Ahmad about disinformation, news deserts, racism, and what he's up to now.