Why we started the Plum

Trust in the media is near all time lows and getting lower. At the same time, local news agencies find themselves trying to provide the same coverage they used to with fewer and fewer resources. An impossible task. As a result, the quality and trustworthiness of local news has suffered.

And yet it’s never been more important to have trustworthy local news sources. In the age of social media, lies and misinformation spread much faster than the truth. AI can create videos indistinguishable from reality. And truth-agnostic social media algorithms promote whatever content gets the biggest reaction.

Utahns don’t have time to research every post and news story. They don’t have time to fact check every writer and assess their bias. They need someone they trust (or several someones) to give them both sides of the story, fact check responsibly, and fight their own biases.

That’s what the Plum aims to do.

What we hope the Plum does for you

We hope the Plum saves you time.
By reading a few articles a week, you’ll be more informed than 95% of Utahns on Utah’s current events.

We hope the Plum gives you hope.
Headlines are designed to make you feel angry and hysterical. But as you dive into what’s actually happening, you will often find that there are good people addressing the situation in appropriate and intelligent ways.

We hope the Plum helps you be a better citizen.
Most of the news you can ignore. Some of the news merits action. the Plum helps you figure out which is which.