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ST. LOUIS — For the past 30 days, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ police department has barred an online news outlet from press briefings at police headquarters. The group wasn’t provided mugshots or crime updates. Police wouldn’t take phone calls from its reporters or reply to their emails.

Police said the outlet, The New Real STL News, had posted false information too many times. The reporting had caused “unnecessary confusion and concern� within the community, police spokesman Mitch McCoy told the outlet in a letter. Officers were forced to spend hours debunking posts.

One day in March, for example, the outlet had reported someone had been shot dead, McCoy said.

“Nobody was even shot,� he said. “Most of the time they’re right, but there have been recent high-profile incidents where they were inaccurate.�

Real STL News is what’s known as a “citizen-journalist� outlet. It began in response to the unrest in Ferguson after Michael Brown’s death, uses volunteer reporters, and has a niche for live-streaming protests and the scenes of crashes and crimes. It often gets the news first, sometimes arriving before officers do. Its founder boasts that some of its followers send tips right after calling 911.

And it’s gotten big here, with more than a quarter-million followers on Facebook.

But, in recent months, police have complained that the outlet has gotten some facts wrong. There was the false shooting in March. Later that month, it went live on Facebook claiming it found a murder “hit listâ€� inside a vacant home in south ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. This month, its reporters aired speculation that police had found bodies buried in the yard of a Dutchtown house.

Police suspended the outlet’s media credentials on March 21.

It’s a touchy subject in journalism. Sometimes government institutions bar specific media organizations, or refuse to answer their questions. Former Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, for instance, , a nonprofit newsroom in Jefferson City, saying he didn’t trust it. In Washington, the Trump administration from covering White House events because the AP refuses to use the name Gulf of America in its Stylebook and reporting. Such official actions are often by the organization, or the public.

Elizabeth Stephens, an associate journalism professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia, said she doesn’t know the Real STL News, and can’t judge the outlet. But, she said, bad journalists erode trust in journalism, and there certainly is a discussion happening about “what is a legitimate media outlet that deserves a place at the table.�

Real STL News’ co-founder, Amir Brandy, said the suspension was “totally unfair.� Police have had it in for Real STL ever since 2019, he said, when the outlet reported on the death of police Officer Katlyn Alix, 24, shot and killed by a fellow officer during a game of Russian roulette. “It’s been an uphill climb dealing with police,� Brandy said.

Still, Brandy concedes his outlet has made mistakes.

A hit list? Buried bodies?

The “hit list� in the vacant home was actually a prop, police said, from the homeowner’s former “escape room� venue — a game in which customers typically pay to get locked in a room with friends, where they have to solve puzzles or a staged mystery to get out.

McCoy said the Police Department spent a couple hours debunking Real STL’s video.

“That video garnered so much attention that we had to publicly tell our community there was no serial killer,� McCoy said. “That was the last straw.�

It wasn’t as time-consuming as it could have been, McCoy said: The Intelligence Division had already investigated the home a year earlier, after a gas meter inspector saw a concerning board with a hit list of names and addresses and gave a photo of it to police.

McCoy’s latest concern with Real STL came April 10 as police and FBI agents dug up a yard on Dewey Avenue in the Dutchtown neighborhood.

With camera in hand, the outlet — still suspended — scanned a crowd watching the police search.

“Community says deceased baby found in apartment pond,� it posted on Instagram in all-caps. The post got 399 likes and was shared 325 times.

On Facebook Live, a woman who volunteers for the outlet and goes by “Queen,� showed the backyard and said, “The community is talking. They’re speculating they have found bodies, but it has not been confirmed. It has not been confirmed, but the community is talking.�

That had 89,000 views.

Police weren’t saying much at all at the scene, Brandy explained in an interview. “When we can’t rely on law enforcement,� he said, “we rely on the community’s input.�

Another reporter posting for the outlet said police were about to start digging in the yard. “Again, everything is alleged...� he stressed. “We don’t know how long the bodies or body has been buried underneath the ground, so just bear with us as we gather more information.�

Some people who commented on the post praised the outlet for providing details in the early stages, when police weren’t confirming what the search was about. A few knocked the speculation, countering that a TV station said police reported only narcotics were found.

In the end, police divulged that they were searching for remains of a missing woman but came up empty.

McCoy called the outlet’s early coverage “deplorable.�

‘Back to our roots’

Real STL News has about 10 active volunteers who use their own cellphones to cover news. They have other jobs. Brandy is a violence interrupter for Show Me Peace and a paralegal who manages a law firm in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

Before the suspension, the outlet was on the police department’s list of about 60 verified media members, including reporters for local TV, radio and newspapers such as the Post-Dispatch.

McCoy said his office has adapted in recent years, providing media credentials to those outlets “that have a mass influence and with a large number of followers.� McCoy commended two other citizen journalists, Voice of the People and Derk Brown, for checking with police to verify information before publishing.

Brandy said, when Real STL News gets it wrong, “we take it down. We make mistakes, and we have no problem taking it down immediately.�

“We do a lot of our reporting based on the community being engaged with us,� Brandy said. “We try to provide a balance. We try not to be pro-police. It’s as if they want to control our narrative. We’re just not going to allow them to do that.�

McCoy is giving the outlet another chance. The 30-day suspension lifts today. He has urged Real STL to review “reporting practices and ensure that all future content is based on factual, verified information.�

“We won’t tolerate misinformation,� McCoy said.

Brandy brushed off the suspension. “We could care less,� he said. “It pushed us to go back to our roots of how we started out: relying on the public.�

“We can operate,� Brandy said, “without the police department.�