# What is the software that all local news websites use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-software-that-all-local-news-websites-use/821444 "2018-09-16T16:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-software-that-all-local-news-websites-use/821444/1 "2018-09-16T16:21:05Z")
It seems that every local news site looks basically the same. Just a different logo in the corner. Dead links. Links to videos. Image sliders. Basically a collection of everything NOT to do on a website. Anyone know who is responsible for this atrocity? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-software-that-all-local-news-websites-use/821444/2 "2018-09-16T16:31:17Z")
You could look at some of the sites and choose “view source” to see if the software is named in the HTML. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-software-that-all-local-news-websites-use/821444/3 "2018-09-17T11:53:45Z")
Are they truly “local news” sites, or are they Gannet-owned papers? It seems like all of the Gannet papers use the same content management system. There’s no “generator” meta tag with the name of the software.