![]() | |
Founded | 2019 |
---|---|
Founder | Tara McGowan |
Headquarters | |
Owner | Good Information Inc. |
Website | couriernewsroom |
Courier Newsroom is a digital media company that operates news outlets and sponsors political content intended to support Democratic candidates. [1] [lower-alpha 1] [3] [4] [5] The goal of Courier Newsroom publications, according to an internal memo obtained by Vice News, "is to create shareable viral pseudo 'news content' to boost its preferred candidates." [1] Courier's founder is Tara McGowan, who used to work for the Obama campaign and for the SuperPAC Priorities USA Action. [6] [7] Courier is run primarily by former Democratic operatives. Courier is owned by Good Information Inc. [8] [9] It has received funding from Planned Parenthood to cover abortion related issues. [10]
NOTUS wrote that "Courier grew out of a series of explicitly political experiments that hinged on using paid online advertising to turn out voters. It then pivoted to being a privately owned media company" that is "testing the limits of what a newsroom can be." [10]
NewsGuard, a misinformation tracking company that rates the reliability of news sources, has warned that "Courier's undisclosed funders and glowing coverage of Democratic candidates should raise questions about its reliability." [10] A 2024 study by NewsGuard found that "the number of partisan-backed outlets designed to look like impartial news outlets has officially surpassed the number of real, local daily newspapers in the U.S." NewsGuard identified at least 1,265 such websites "backed by dark money or intentionally masquerading as local news sites for political purposes." According to Axios, almost half of these websites are targeted to swing states, "a clear sign that they're designed to influence politics." Courier Newsroom was described by Axios as having "some of the more strategic sites." [11]
Courier Newsroom was founded in 2019 by Tara McGowan. As of May 2020, Courier Newsroom websites had a budget of $11 million, a staff of 60 reporters and 12 editors, and aimed to publish approximately 300 articles and videos a week. [5] Courier Newsroom raised $15 million in the first half of 2022 from donors including Reid Hoffman and George Soros. The outlet spent over $5 million on Facebook and Instagram advertising designed to promote Democratic candidates and members of Congress. [12] Mark Zuckerberg's concern that the Courier Newsroom was not a real news outlet sparked a 2020 change in policy at Facebook. Facebook now limits the reach of partisan sites by restricting their access and curtailing their advertising. [13] The Courier Newsroom was originally owned by liberal dark money group ACRONYM, but ACRONYM later divested its stake in the company in April 2021. [14] [4] [15]
The Courier Newsroom owns local digital newspapers in eight battleground states. [16]
In June 2021, the company acquired a progressive political news site, Iowa Starting Line, which the New York Times called "the best political journalism you've never heard of." [17] [18]
The Courier Newsroom's local digital news outlets are not traditional town newspapers. Instead, they are websites designed to encourage people in key swing states to vote Democratic, while looking like local newspapers. [19] [lower-alpha 2] The articles are promoted on social media such as Facebook, which does not prohibit the practice because the newspapers are for-profit. [6]
Funders include George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and movie producers. [5] [20] Courier Newsroom received $250,000 from Planned Parenthood between June 2021 and June 2022. It received $715,000 in 2022 from "a dark money group with close ties to the Democratic Attorneys General Association" for "content creation and promotion." [10] According to NOTUS, that same year "Courier wrote frequently and favorably of a Democratic attorney general candidate in Nevada named Aaron Ford." Ford won his election. [10]
In 2020, the Hopewell Fund financed Courier Newsroom. The New York Times reported that Courier "published articles favoring Democrats and received millions of dollars from dark money groups. It was paid $2.6 million by a nonprofit linked to House Democratic leadership to promote articles." [21]
As of 2024, Courier Newsroom had spent more than $12 million on Facebook and Instagram ads. This number does not include spending on TikTok, which does not disclose advertising spending. [10]
Courier Newsroom was originally owned by ACRONYM; [3] [25] [26] the creation and operation of Courier Newsroom initially raised outrage and ethics questions about ACRONYM and about its financiers, who include billionaires Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs. [27]
Carrie Brown, director of social journalism at the journalism school at City University of New York, found the targeting of news to swing voters "problematic." [lower-alpha 4] Vox reported that "the Courier Newsroom launch did raise some eyebrows. If this were a Republican operative declaring its strategy like this, a lot of Democrats probably would have criticized it." [28] According to OpenSecrets, "websites affiliated with Courier Newsroom that appear to be free-standing local news outlets are actually part of a coordinated effort with deep ties to Democratic political operatives." [4]
NewsGuard, which rates news sources, warns readers that Courier Newsroom websites are "insufficiently transparent" and "cherry-pick facts to advance a Democratic narrative." Gabby Deutch, writing on behalf of NewsGuard, called Courier News a "faux news site" and said while "[u]nlike some sources of partisan disinformation, Courier stories are generally fact-based" its strategy is nevertheless "pumping up moderate Democrats elected to Congress in 2018 in Republican-leaning districts." [25] In 2020, NewsGuard rated the Courier websites as "generally unreliable." [lower-alpha 5] In 2024, NewGuard's editor said that "Courier Newsroom sites do not disclose ownership and financing, they do not disclose possible conflicts of interest, nor do they gather and present information responsibility." [10]
According to The Wall Street Journal , outlets like Courier try to capitalize on readers' trust in local news sources "while playing down their partisan interests and often obscuring their donors." [5]
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) described Courier's business model as "money from interested parties who seek a particular political outcome." [29] CJR also reported that Courier engages in political microtargeting wherein "employees at Courier's headquarters are responsible for testing whether content produced by its local newsrooms is successful in moving voters in a desired progressive direction." [30]
Courier Newsroom has been accused of producing pink-slime journalism. [31] [32]
Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms "red state" and "blue state" have referred to U.S. states whose voters vote predominantly for one party — the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in blue states — in presidential and other statewide elections. By contrast, states where the vote fluctuates between the Democratic and Republican candidates are known as "swing states" or "purple states". Examining patterns within states reveals that the reversal of the two parties' geographic bases has happened at the state level, but it is more complicated locally, with urban-rural divides associated with many of the largest changes.
The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.
Claims of media bias generally focus on the idea of media outlets reporting news in a way that seems partisan. Other claims argue that outlets sometimes sacrifice objectivity in pursuit of growth or profits.
The Daily Caller is a right-wing news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C.
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.
The American Independent, formerly known as Blue Nation Review or Shareblue Media, is an American liberal news website. The American Independent's monthly reach is reported to be 140 million across platforms.
Axios is an American news website based in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded in 2016 and launched the following year by former Politico journalists Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz. The site's name is based on the Greek: ἄξιος, meaning "worthy".
Occupy Democrats is an American left-wing media outlet built around a Facebook page and corresponding website. Established in 2012, it publishes hyperpartisan content, clickbait, and false information. Posts originating from the Occupy Democrats Facebook page are among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.
Tara McGowan is an American political strategist and journalist. She was the co-founder and CEO of multiple organizations which have been noted for large expenditures on digital advertising in preparation for the 2020 United States presidential election, including the political organization Acronym, the company Lockwood Strategy, and the media company Courier Newsroom. She was the director of the advertising branch of Priorities USA Action, which was the primary super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, and was a digital producer for the re-election campaign of Barack Obama. Previously, she was the press secretary for United States Senator Jack Reed. In 2021, she stepped down from Acronym to build media full-time as head of a new company, Good Information Inc.
Brian Timpone is an American conservative businessman and former journalist who operates a network of nearly 1,300 conservative local news websites. In 2012, Timpone stated that articles on his websites are partially written by freelancers outside of the United States, although he described the writing as "domestic" in a separate interview. According to The New York Times, Timpone's "operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency." His sites publish articles for pay from outside groups, and do not disclose it.
BlueLink is a suite of campaign management mobile apps designed to register, organize, and mobilize liberal voters. The suite was formerly known as Shadow, operated by Shadow Inc., before the latter sold it to Acronym, who in turn sold BlueLink to Civitech PBC. The company gained attention after their IowaReporterApp software failed during the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.
Acronym is a Washington, D.C.-based American 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation, co-founded by Tara McGowan and Michael Dubin in 2017. The organization is one of the major coordinators and producers of digital media campaigns aligned with the Democratic Party, and has been hired by or has provided support to various other organizations including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Emily's List, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Planned Parenthood. It was the majority owner of Shadow, Inc., a technology company that made the mobile application software that malfunctioned during vote tallying at the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, but later divested its stake in the company.
Arabella Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network. It was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler. The Arabella network spent nearly $1.2 billion in 2020 and raised $1.6 billion that same year. In 2022, Arabella raised $1.3 billion and spent $900 million.
States Newsroom is a left-leaning non-profit news organization with outlets or partner outlets in all 50 U.S. states. It began as a sponsored project of the Hopewell Fund, a left-leaning nonprofit that does not disclose its donors. In 2019, it spun off to become its own non-profit. States Newsroom grew out of NC Policy Watch, a progressive think tank in North Carolina founded in 2004 by Chris Fitzsimon, who is now States Newsroom's director and publisher.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a hub of undisclosed political spending on the American Left. The group serves as a fiscal sponsor for other organizations, incubating and financing various progressive projects. According to The New York Times, "The Sixteen Thirty is part of a broader network of progressive nonprofits that donors use to fill specific spaces on the political chessboard." The Sixteen Thirty Fund is administered by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consulting firm.
The New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization managed by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network in the United States. The New Venture Fund serves as the fiscal sponsor for various left-leaning political projects. The New Venture Fund has annual revenue of nearly $1 billion.
The Hopewell Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization managed by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network in the United States. The Hopewell Fund serves as the fiscal sponsor for various left-leaning political projects. The Hopewell Fund spent over $127 million in 2020, and is one of the five largest nonprofits associated with the Democratic Party.
The Project for Good Information (PGI) is an American group founded by Democratic strategist Tara McGowan.
Pink-slime journalism is a practice in which American news outlets, or fake partisan operations masquerading as such, publish poor-quality news reports which appear to be local news. Researchers and media credibility raters have observed pink-slime journalism being used to support Republican Party and Democratic Party politicians or policies. The use of these websites to gather user data has also been observed. The reports are either computer-generated or written by poorly-paid outsourced writers, sometimes using pen names. One network consisting of at least 1,200 local news websites was created by American conservative news businessman Brian Timpone.
the Courier Newsroom, a for-profit media company under Acronym's umbrella that runs multiplelocal sites that deliver left-slanted news
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)started a for-profit news organization called Courier last year to roll out pro-Democrat coverage under the guise of "local news" in key swing states
The Dogwood is owned by the for-profit FWIW Media. While it's non-partisan, ACRONYM says it's investing
UpNorthNews' managing editor, Pat Kreitlow
Courier's main backer is Acronym, a liberal dark-money group
Acronym — a sprawling digital organization whose programs include millions of dollars in traditional political advertising and voter engagement efforts, with financing from some of the deepest pockets in progressive politics, such as liberal billionaires Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the majority owner of The Atlantic — has stirred outrage and provoked debate about the ethics of such political tactics
the Courier Newsroom launch did raise some eyebrows. If this were a Republican operative declaring its strategy like this, a lot of Democrats probably would have criticized it.