Politically funded websites that advance a partisan agenda under the guise of publishing local news are sprouting up across California.

The majority of them are operated by a shadowy entity called Metric Media, which operates 74 distinct websites across the state that masquerade as legitimate local newspapers.

These disturbing findings are contained in the “California News Integrity Report,” a document released recently by NewsGuard, an entity that rates news sites with the goal of separating reliable sources of journalism from purveyors of false or misleading information.

NewsGuard rated 202 local news sites across California along nine criteria. To assess credibility, NewsGuard reviewers assessed whether the sites refrained from repeatedly publishing false content, gathered and presented information responsibly, regularly corrected errors, differentiated between opinion pieces and news stories, and avoided deceptive headlines.

To measure transparency, the reviewers assessed whether the sites disclosed their ownership and financing; clearly labeled advertising; revealed who’s in charge, including any possible conflicts of interest; and provided names of content creators, including contact or biographical information.

Of the 202 sites, 62% were rated credible and trustworthy and 38% failed the test: the vast majority of them right-wing sites that purport to be credible news sources.

The damage is cumulative: By pretending to be legitimate news, these websites cast doubt on the veracity and trustworthiness of all sources of information, leading to greater mistrust and apathy.

American journalism is ultimately self-regulating; it’s not for the government to say what is or isn’t a legitimate source of news.

The internet has inundated users with a tsunami of information, some of it false and pernicious.

Schools should teach basic news literacy, helping students assess the credibility of news sources.

Fake news is cropping up in part because real news is expensive to gather and produce.

Ultimately, it’s up to consumers to decide whether they value real news over fake news. The best response to bogus outlets is to support the real ones.