HuffPost (The Huffington Post until 2017, itself often abbreviated asHPo) is an Americanprogressive[1][2][3]news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy eating, young women's interests, and local news featuring columnists.[4] It was created to provide a progressive alternative toconservative news websites such as theDrudge Report.[5][6] The site contains its own content anduser-generated content viavideo blogging, audio, and photo.[7] In 2012, the website became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win aPulitzer Prize.[8]
Founded byArianna Huffington,Andrew Breitbart,Kenneth Lerer, andJonah Peretti,[6][9] the site was launched on May 9, 2005, as a counterpart to the Drudge Report.[10] In March 2011, it was acquired byAOL for US$315 million, with Arianna Huffington appointed editor-in-chief.[11][12] In June 2015,Verizon Communications acquired AOL for US$4.4 billion, and the site became a part of Verizon Media.[13] In November 2020,BuzzFeed acquired the company.[14] Weeks after the acquisition, BuzzFeedlaid off 47HuffPost staff, mostly journalists, in the U.S.[15] and closed downHuffPost Canada, laying off 23 staff working for the Canadian and Quebec divisions of the company.[16]
The Huffington Post was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet, blog, and an alternative to news aggregators such as theDrudge Report.[17][18][3] It was founded byArianna Huffington,Andrew Breitbart,Kenneth Lerer, andJonah Peretti.[6] Prior to this, Arianna Huffington hosted the website Ariannaonline.com. Her first foray into the Internet was the website Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of PresidentBill Clinton and was a rallying place forconservatives opposing Clinton.[19]
In December 2008,The Huffington Post raised $25 million fromOak Investment Partners at a $100 million valuation andFred Harman of Oak Investment Partners joined its board of directors.[22][23][24] The money was to be used for technology, infrastructure,investigative journalism, and development of local versions.[25][26]
In January 2011,The Huffington Post received 35% of its traffic fromweb search engines (SEOs), compared to 20% atCNN.[28] This strategy appealed to AOL CEOTim Armstrong, who tried to implement similar SEO-driven journalism practices at AOL at the time of its acquisition ofThe Huffington Post.[29][30][28]
In March 2011,AOL acquiredThe Huffington Post forUS$315 million.[31][32] As part of the deal, Huffington became president and editor-in-chief ofThe Huffington Post and existing AOL propertiesEngadget,TechCrunch,Moviefone,MapQuest, Black Voices, PopEater (nowsubpage on the HuffPost Entertainment subpage),AOL Music, AOL Latino (nowHuffPost Voices), AutoBlog, Patch, and StyleList.[12]
In December 2011,The Huffington Post said it had 36.2 million unique visitors.[33]
The Huffington Post subsumed many of AOL'sVoices properties, includingAOL Black Voices, which was established in 1995 asBlackvoices.com, andAOL Latino,Impact (launched in 2010 as a partnership betweenHuffington Post andCausecast),Women,Teen,College,Religion, and the Spanish-languageVoces (en español). TheVoices brand was expanded in September 2011 with the launch ofGay Voices, dedicated toLGBT-relevant articles.[34][35]
By late 2013, the website operated as a "stand-alone business" within AOL, taking control of more of its own business and advertising operations, and directing more effort towards securing "premium advertising".[36]
In June 2015,Verizon Communications acquired AOL for US$4.4 billion and the site became a part of Verizon Media.[13]
Huffington resigned to pursue other ventures and was succeeded as editor-in-chief byLydia Polgreen in December 2016.[37]
In April 2017,[38] Polgreen announced the company would rebrand, changing its official full name toHuffPost,[39] with changes to the design of its website and logo, and content and reporting.[40][41]
On January 24, 2019, 20 employees were laid off as a part of Verizon Media laying off 7% of its staff.[42] The opinion and health sections were eliminated.Pulitzer Prize finalist Jason Cherkis lost his job.[43]
On March 6, 2020, Polgreen announced that she would step down as editor-in-chief to become the head of content atGimlet Media.[44]
In November 2020, HuffPost shut down its India operation after six years. According to some media reports, the acquisition did not include the India site due to regulations barring foreign ownership of Indian Digital Media.[45]
On February 16, 2021,BuzzFeed acquiredHuffPost from Verizon Media in a stock deal.[14][46] On March 9, 2021, BuzzFeed CEOJonah Peretti said that the company had lost "around $20 million" during the previous year, andHuffPost Canada was shut down and ceased publishing.[47]On April 12, 2021,Danielle Belton became editor-in-chief.[48]
Following the gradual shut-down ofBuzzFeed News announced in 2023, BuzzFeed, Inc. refocused its news efforts intoHuffPost, with plans to rehire pastBuzzFeed News employees atHuffPost or at BuzzFeed.[49][50]
HuffPost Hawaii was launched in collaboration with the online investigative reporting and public affairs news service Honolulu Civil Beat on September 4, 2013.[62][63]
On May 26, 2011,HuffPost Canada, the first international edition, was launched.[64] FollowingBuzzFeed's acquisition of HuffPost, it was announced on March 9, 2021, thatHuffPost Canada would stop publishing content and cease operations the following week as part of a broader restructuring plan for the company.[65][66]
On July 6, 2011,Huffington Post UK was launched.[67]
On January 23, 2012,The Huffington Post, in partnership withLe Monde and Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes, launchedLe Huffington Post, a French-language edition and the first in a non-English speaking country.[68]
On May 1, 2012, a U.S.-based Spanish-language edition was launched under the nameHuffPost Voces, replacing AOL Latino.[70]
In June 2012, the edition in Spain,El Huffington Post (laterElHuffPost), was launched.[71]
On May 6, 2013, an edition for Japan,ハフポスト (HuffPost Japan), was launched with the collaboration ofAsahi Shimbun, the first edition in an Asian country.[72]
On October 10, 2013,Munich-basedHuffington Post Deutschland was launched in co-operation with theliberal-conservative magazineFocus, coveringGerman-speaking Europe.[76] On January 11, 2018, it was announced that the German language edition would shut down on March 31, 2018.[77]
On January 29, 2014, the Brazilian version was launched asBrasil Post, in partnership withGrupo Abril, the first in Latin America.[80] Brasil Post was later renamedHuffington Post Brasil in 2015,[81] thenHuffPost Brasil. In November 2020, the edition was closed down following BuzzFeed's acquisition.[82]
In February 2014, a Korean language edition was launched inSouth Korea in partnership with the local center-left newspaperThe Hankyoreh.[83]
In September 2014, planned launches were announced for sites for Greece, India, as wellHuffPost Arabi, an Arabic version of the website.[84][85]
On August 18, 2015,HuffPost Australia was launched.[86]
On November 21, 2016,HuffPost South Africa, the brand's first sub-Saharan edition, was launched in partnership withMedia24.[87] The South African edition stopped when the partnership with Media24 ended in 2018.[87]
The site originally published work from both paid reporters and unpaid bloggers through itscontributor network.[88]
In February 2011, Visual Art Source, which had been cross-posting material from its website, went on strike againstThe Huffington Post to protest against its writers not being paid.[89][90] In March 2011, the strike and the call to boycott was joined and endorsed by theNational Writers Union andNewsGuild-CWA; however, the boycott was dropped in October 2011.[91]
In April 2011,The Huffington Post was targeted with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit byJonathan Tasini on behalf of thousands of bloggers who had submitted material to the website.[33][92] On March 30, 2012, the suit was dismissed withprejudice by the court, holding that the bloggers had volunteered their services, their compensation being publication.[33]
The practice of publishing blog posts from unpaid contributors ended in January 2018. This transformed the site, which had become notable for featuring extensive sections in a broad range of subjects from a significant number of contributors.[93] Contributors had included:
HuffPost has been criticized for providing a platform foralternative medicine and supporters ofvaccine hesitancy, including in a detailed critique in 2009 by physician and author Rahul Parikh.[159] In 2020, biology professor and founder of the science blogPharyngula addressed hesitancy and other issues.[160]Steven Novella, president of theNew England Skeptical Society, criticizedThe Huffington Post for allowinghomeopathy proponent Dana Ullman to have a blog on the site.[161] In 2011, skepticBrian Dunning listed it at No. 10 on his "Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites" list.[162]
Anne Sinclair appointed editorial director in France
In January 2012,The Huffington Post was criticized for appointing as editorial director in France the well-known former TV journalistAnne Sinclair, because she stood by her husbandDominique Strauss-Kahn, formerIMF head, when several women accused him of sexual assault. Commentators atl'Express,Rue89, andLe Monde warned against potential conflict of interest in the French edition's news coverage.[163]
In April 2017,HuffPost South Africa was directed by the pressombudsman to apologize unreservedly for publishing and later defending a column calling for disenfranchisement of white men, which was declared malicious, inaccurate and discriminatory hate speech.[164][165]
In July 2019,HuffPost was criticized for publishing a story written by Rachel Wolfson, a publicist, that praised financierJeffrey Epstein, a sex offender. Editors later removed the article at the author's request.[166]
HuffPost has been seen as a mostlyprogressive,liberal or liberal-leaning outlet,[167] being described as such by theBBC,[1]CNN,[2] andPolitico.[3] Upon becoming the editor-in-chief in December 2016,Lydia Polgreen said that the "wave of intolerance and bigotry that seems to be sweeping the globe" after the election as US president ofDonald Trump was remarkable, and thatThe Huffington Post had an "absolutely indispensable role to play in this era in human history."[37]
Commenting in 2012 on increasedconservative engagement on the website despite its reputation as a liberal news source,The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington stated that her website was "increasingly seen" as an Internet newspaper that is "not positioned ideologically in terms of how we cover the news".[168] According to Michael Steel, press secretary forRepublican Speaker of the HouseJohn Boehner, Republican aides "engage with liberal websites likeThe Huffington Post [anyway, if for] no other reason than [because] they drive a lot of cable coverage".[168] Jon Bekken, journalism professor atSuffolk University, has cited it as an example of an "advocacy newspaper".[169]The Wall Street Journal editorJames Taranto has mockingly referred to it as the "Puffington Host", whileRush Limbaugh referred to it as the "Huffing and Puffington Post".[170]
During the2016 United States presidential election,HuffPost regularly appended an editor's note to the end of stories about candidate Donald Trump, reading: "Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims—1.6 billion members of an entire religion—from entering the U.S." After Trump was elected on November 8, 2016,HuffPost ended this practice to "give respect to the office of the presidency."[171][172]
Won aPulitzer Prize in 2012 in the category of national reporting for senior military correspondentDavid Wood'sBeyond the Battlefield, a 10-part series about wounded veterans.[173][174]
2010 "People's Voice" winner in the 14thWebby Awards.The Huffington Post lost the 2010 Webby Award jury prize for "Best Political Blog" toTruthdig.[175]
Peabody Award in 2010 for "Trafficked: A Youth Radio Investigation".[176]
Named second among the "25 Best Blogs of 2009" byTime.[177]
Contributor Bennet Kelley was awarded the Los Angeles Press Club's 2007 Southern California Journalism Award for Online Commentary for political commentary published on the site.[179]
Co-founder Arianna Huffington ranked 12th in the 2009 list of the "Most Influential Women in Media" byForbes.[181] She was ranked 42nd in the 2009 Top 100 in Media List byThe Guardian.[182]
