NPR probe: Alabama Power and other big utilities in the South pay media sites, often through Matrix LLC, to attack clean energy backers and other critics

Alabama Power (Power Magazine)

Part One

At least a half dozen digital news sites in the Southeast have financial ties to a Montgomery, AL-based consulting firm that pays them in various ways to be part of an "orchestrated effort" to help big utilities fight clean-energy initiatives, according to an investigative report today from NPR and Florida-based Floodlight. Matrix LLC is at the heart of the effort, and one of its primary clients is Alabama Power.

Two Alabama news sites -- Alabama Political Reporter and Yellowhammer News play a prominent role in the report. Under the headline "In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics," reporters David Folkenflik, Mario Ariza, and Miranda Green write:

Yellowhammer News and Alabama Political Reporter offer clashing ideologies - one hardline conservative, the other centrist - and appear simply to be competitors. Owners of the two sites separately defend their coverage, saying they are independent news outlets.

In reality, they are among six news outlets across Alabama and Florida with financial connections to the consulting firm Matrix LLC, a joint investigation by Floodlight and NPR finds. The firm, based in Montgomery, Alabama, has boasted clients, including Alabama Power and another major U.S. utility, Florida Power & Light.

In addition to Yellowhammer and Alabama Political Reporter, the sites include Alabama Today, The Capitolist, Florida Politics and the now-defunct Sunshine State News.

A tally of the five still-functioning sites show they have a collective audience of 1.3 million unique monthly visitors. Many of their consumers are political professionals, business leaders, and journalists — people who help set the agenda for lawmakers and talk-radio shows in both states.

These readers have been unknowingly immersing themselves in an echo chamber of questionable coverage for years.

In other words, you are not likely to read critical reports of Big Power at any of these news sites. In fact, the NPR/Floodlight reports portrays them largely as purveyors of propaganda. How did such sites come to find a prominent place in Southern journalism?

Matrix shrewdly took advantage of the near collapse of the local newspaper industry and a concurrent plunge in trust in media in propelling its clients' interests.

"The reduction in just the size of the press corps covering state government has created a vacuum that I think tends to be filled by people who have agendas beyond serving the public interest," says former Miami Herald executive editor Tom Fiedler.

A core tenet of U.S. journalism holds that reporting should be fair and transparent, unaffected by financial backers who may have their own hidden interests. News outlets are supposed to hold the powerful to account and give people the knowledge to make choices as informed citizens.

The public bears the brunt of deep cuts in conventional newsroom staffs, Fiedler says, as those driving the news agenda at some newer outlets are often "the special interests - in many cases, the monied interests."

Secrecy plays a central role in the Matrix enterprise, according to NPR/Floodlight: 

In Alabama and Florida, Matrix sought to ensure much coverage was secretly driven by the priorities of its clients. Payments flowed as the utilities in Florida and Alabama fought efforts to incorporate more clean energy in electric grids — a fight they are still waging.

For this investigation, Floodlight and NPR drew upon hundreds of internal Matrix documents and public records, more than three dozen interviews, a review of social media postings, and an original analysis of coverage.

Those accounts reflect a complex web of financial links, in which the six outlets collectively received, at minimum, $900,000 from Matrix, its clients, and associated entities between 2013 and 2020.

All of the media organizations deny their coverage was shaped by those payments and deny they acted unethically.

Longtime Alabama power broker Joe Perkins appears again and again in the investigative report -- and big money clearly is involved in his enterprise:

The founder of Matrix, Joe Perkins, says the firm paid news sites only for advertising and other run-of-the-mill services for its clients. He also denies Matrix paid anything at all to two of the sites. Beyond that, Perkins has consistently called the firm's former CEO, Jeff Pitts, a "rogue employee" and, in a lawsuit, alleges Matrix is not responsible because the former executive acted without his knowledge or his firm's consent. Pitts did not respond to several detailed requests for comment. In court filings, Pitts says Perkins knew everything–and he accused Perkins of wrongdoing.

They also cast blame on one another over a series of recent scandals. Matrix recently made headlines for surveillance of a power company CEO and a journalist who wrote critically about Florida Power & Light's business plans. Matrix has also been accused of seeking to influence ballot initiatives on clean energy and offering a lucrative job to a public official in Jacksonville to induce him to resign. Florida Power & Light did not respond to a detailed list of questions, and an executive for the company declined to address them in a phone call.

Coverage of Matrix's power company clients at the six news sites ebbed and surged around election seasons and other key inflection points. For example, Sunshine State News emerged when Sen. Rick Scott, a consistent ally of Florida Power & Light, was governor of Florida and maintained warm ties with him. Matrix records show the firm paid the site at least $180,000. It shuttered a year after he won election to the U.S. Senate. A former Scott aide also founded The Capitolist, based in Tallahassee.

Additionally, Matrix's clients took a strong interest in who wrote the laws and enforced the regulations. Last year, Florida Power & Light wrote a bill that was passed by the Florida Legislature and that would have gutted the ability of homeowners to make money off solar panels. Gov. Ron DeSantis ultimately vetoed it.

One state away, Alabama Power runs and owns a coal-fired power plant that is the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.

Does Alabama Power receive positive treatment from members of the Matrix network in its home state? Oh, yes

An analysis by Floodlight and NPR of the three Alabama news sites with links to Matrix finds overwhelmingly positive coverage of Alabama Power. The review looked at articles on each site that contained the phrase "Alabama Power" and found that the vast majority of pieces either were positive or appeared to mirror a news release by the utility.

In interviews, two former reporters at the Alabama Political Reporter recounted episodes in which articles about Alabama Power received intense and unusual scrutiny from editors. In one case, the story was never published. Its proprietor denies any such influence on the site.

Together, Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light keep the lights on for nearly 7.5 million businesses and households. Since consumers' payments contribute to much of the two utilities' profits, much of the money that the companies spend effectively derives from consumers' bills.

As for Perkins, he holds a deep fascination with, and knowledge of,  the media -- and how it can be influenced:

Matrix founder Joe Perkins has long held an interest in the power of the media. As a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, he wrote his thesis about a specific quandary: How can journalists' choice of sources and anecdotes affect public sentiment?

"When a minority opinion gains access to the news media repeatedly through various techniques to make its point, it may be perceived as more widespread and pervasive than it actually is," he wrote in his 73-page paper.

He then put his research to use, building up Matrix.

In the early days, Matrix quietly sought to influence decisions over matters like who was eligible to win contracts with the Alabama teachers pension fund. The firm eventually established a presence in 10 states.

Stealth was a hallmark of the operation. Matrix employees often created shell companies to conduct transactions for clients.

"Invisibility is more powerful than celebrity," reads a plaque hanging in Matrix's Montgomery office.

The feud between Perkins and Pitts opened a window to Matrix that the public generally had never seen:

In the early days, Matrix quietly sought to influence decisions over matters like who was eligible to win contracts with the Alabama teachers pension fund. The firm eventually established a presence in 10 states.

Stealth was a hallmark of the operation. Matrix employees often created shell companies to conduct transactions for clients.

"Invisibility is more powerful than celebrity," reads a plaque hanging in Matrix's Montgomery office.

Perkins and Pitts, the CEO, were characterized by some as akin to father and son; Perkins promised to one day pass on the company. Pitts benefited from an ability to instill loyalty and fear in those who carried out his commands, according to multiple people who have worked with him. (Most Matrix associates refused to be interviewed on the record for this story, citing the influence the two men maintain in their professional circles.)

It took the unraveling of Matrix to reveal the full extent of its influence.

At the end of 2020, Pitts left Matrix to start his own rival consulting firm called Canopy Partners. Perkins sued, accusing Pitts of secretly engaging in work for a utility based in Juno Beach, Florida while at Matrix. That is where Florida Power & Light is headquartered.

In litigation involving both men, Pitts alleged he quit Matrix over Perkins' "unethical practices," including "deploying phony groups and digital platforms to intimidate individuals as a method to influence public perception and litigation."

As for the two biggest Alabama players under the Matrix umbrella, they appear to approach the news in different ways, but they have much in common:

The Alabama Political Reporter and Yellowhammer News launched during the same week in 2011. They have consistently cheered Alabama Power through overwhelmingly positive news stories.

Starting at least as far back as April 2013, Matrix paid $8,000 a month to the Alabama Political Reporter, according to internal Matrix records. Matrix also drew up a proposed website design for the publication in June 2015, according to prototypes obtained by Floodlight and NPR.

Britt, Alabama Political Reporter's editor in chief, says he could not verify the specific Matrix payments. He mocks the authenticity of the prototype, while confirming that Matrix designed his website. Britt affirms he took money from the firm for advertising and acknowledges that Matrix also paid for reporters to do research for the firm, an atypical practice for newsrooms.

"We have to make money," Britt says.

When Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite announced his retirement last month, Alabama Political Reporter posted a story written by "STAFF." It reproduced the company's press release, verbatim.

Next: Alabamians can't say they weren't warned about the connections between Alabama Power's business practices and soaring power bills.

 

Note: The NPR/Floodlight collaboration attracted the attention of Muck Rack, a widely read online platform for professionals in journalism and public relations. From today's Muck Rack newsletter: 

Next is the latest investigation by David Folkenflik, Mario Ariza and Miranda Green, a collaboration between NPR and Floodlight News, In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics.

Emily Atkin urges, “If you let any story cut through all the Twitter noise today, please let it be this: At least six local news websites across Alabama and Florida have been secretly taking payments from power companies to run stories attacking clean energy + other policies.”

“Great story on how Alabama Power and other utilities manipulate ‘news’ sites to shape public opinion,” Rob Holbert says. “After APCO’s second rate increase in a month this should interest rate payers. See where your bill is going.”