Progressive news network Courier expands to nine more states
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Courier Newsroom, a local and national news group with a progressive perspective, is expanding to nine additional states this year, its publisher Tara McGowan told Axios.
Why it matters: The expansion brings Courier to 20 states total, making it one of the largest local progressive content networks in the country.
Zoom in: The network, which was founded by McGowan in 2019, will be expanding to California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York and Utah.
- "We wanted to do a mix of much bigger states where we could take a more local or regional approach, since we have to start small," McGowan said. "And then other states, are very much in the news cycle like Minnesota and Georgia,"
- Utah, McGowan said, was interesting because "it's the fastest growing and youngest growing population in the country."
Catch up quick: Courier is a public benefit corporation owned by Good Information Inc., which is backed by billionaires Reid Hoffman, George Soros and others.
- Good Information Inc. was created to fund new media efforts that tackle disinformation. The Courier network is supported by a variety of funding sources, including reader contributions, sponsors, and philanthropic and corporate underwriting.
- To date, it's launched local digital newsrooms across 11 states: Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, and Texas.
- In addition to its local branches, Courier also publishes several national news product. The entity has 104 employees total, many of which work for the local news outlets, per McGowan.
Between the lines: Last year, Semafor reported that McGowan sent an email to Democratic donors saying Courier was running low on the funds needed to expand its content investment.
- Asked about that report, McGowan said, "We routinely send fundraising notes to our underwriters, investors and donors with appeals for support."
- "Back in Q2 even though we knew as a company that we were in a more fortunate place financially than some others in the progressive media ecosystem, money was still moving far too slow across the ecosystem. We wanted to drive a sense of urgency — especially given the massive investment and revenue in the conservative media space."
Zoom out: Some critics have labeled Courier as "pink slime," or news that is backed by partisans but masquerades as politically independent. McGowan has long pushed back on that assertion, arguing that Courier has always been transparent about its funding and mission.
- "We have always been a transparent news organization that has been transparent about our investors, our revenue model," she said. "All of our content is fact checked, written, reported on and produced by our reporters — who you can see their bylines and watch their faces through their content."
The big picture: McGowan believes Courier faced outsized criticism when it first launched because it was early to leverage digital channels to create an outwardly progressive news network, but today, "the context has changed," she said.
- "I think we were a first mover, which meant that we took a lot of flak in the beginning, but now we're joined by a community of left-leaning media entities that are no different than us," she said, referring to groups such as MeidasTouch, Crooked Media and left-leaning digital creators.
What to watch: McGowan hopes to one day expand Courier to all 50 states.
