Well-Known Liberal Outlet ThinkProgress Crashes and Burns
The liberal outlet ThinkProgress, which this spring told readers, “The Mueller report is definitive: Russia meddled in the election to help Trump win,” despite former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to the contrary, has shut down.
The outlet, which just this past week ran a headline claiming, “Dan Crenshaw is worried that universal background checks might keep him from arming his friends,” did not mention its closure on its site.
The change took effect Friday and was first reported by The Daily Beast.
The report said the site, which had its origins in the Democratic Party-affiliated Center for American Progress, will become a place for CAP scholars to post.
ThinkProgress had lost money for some time, and no buyer could be found.
That was confirmed in a statement posted by CAP.
“We are very sad to announce that after more than two months of searching, we have been unable to identify a new publisher for ThinkProgress, and we are left with no choice but to close ThinkProgress as an independent enterprise focused on original reporting,” the statement said.
“Given the challenging trends in digital news media that have undermined so many iconic outlets, it has become unsustainable for CAP Action, as a non-profit, to continue supplementing the growing shortfall in ThinkProgress revenue,” CAP added.
“Despite conversations with more than 20 potential new publishers, including several extended dialogues, those broad trends proved insurmountable in finding ThinkProgress a new home.”
The statement continued:”Given that we could find no new publisher, we have no other real option but to fold the ThinkProgress website back into CAP’s broader online presence with a focus on analysis of policy, politics, and news events through the lens of existing CAP and CAP Action staff experts. Conversations on how to do so are just beginning, but we will seek to reinvent it as a different platform for progressive change.”
The closure was bemoaned on Twitter by ThinkProgress founder Judd Legum, who had parted ways with the site last year.
2. I joined CAP in 2003 and was one of the first employees and I joined because I believed in the mission of creating permanent progressive infrastructure
It’s disheartening that CAP no longer believes that independent progressive journalism is worth supporting
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 6, 2019
5. It also underscores my belief that we need more progressive media that is not only independent, but self-sustaining.
Donors are great until they jump ship.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 6, 2019
Not everyone was weepy-eyed at the end of ThinkProgress.
Just as the Blaze partners with the @RubinReport 2 progressive ‘news’ sites go out of business. Hmmm. Daily beast you announced my demise and the end of the blaze for years, yet here we are going strong as CAP couldn’t find a buyer at any price. https://t.co/nx7DzDdFhe
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) September 7, 2019
From CNN to MSNBC to ThinkProgress, Liberal Media is dying. If 54% of voters really want Biden, why does no one want to watch their programming? https://t.co/CzGw6uTQBR
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) September 7, 2019
The demise of the site will cost about a dozen people their jobs, The Daily Beast report said.
At its peak, ThinkProgress employed roughly 40 people.
In its reporting on the demise of the site, The New York Times quoted Luke Barnes, a ThinkProgress reporter since 2017, as saying he knew the end was coming.
“Things have been kind of dragging on for quite some time,” he said.
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