 | |
Type of site | News andpolitical blogs |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Dissolved | 2019 |
| Owner | Center for American Progress Action Fund |
| Editor | Judd Legum,Faiz Shakir |
| URL | thinkprogress |
| Current status | Defunct |
ThinkProgress was an Americanprogressive news website that was active from 2005 to 2019. It was a project of theCenter for American Progress Action Fund (CAP Action), a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Founded byJudd Legum in 2005, the site's reports were regularly discussed by mainstream news outlets and peer-reviewed academic journals.ThinkProgress also hosted a climate section calledClimate Progress, which was founded byJoe Romm.
In 2019, after financial losses, CAP Action unsuccessfully sought a new publisher for the site.[1] No new content has been added since September 2019, renderingThinkProgress effectively defunct.
ThinkProgress was founded in 2005 byJudd Legum, a lawyer, who ran the site until he left in 2007.[2]Faiz Shakir edited the site from 2007 until 2012,[3] when Legum returned as editor-in-chief.[2] Legum left the site again in 2018.[4]ThinkProgress described itself as "editorially independent" of theCenter for American Progress (CAP) and CAP Action.[2][5] In its early years,ThinkProgress included a daily newsletter that contained a recap and analysis of major political news and the blogWonk Room, which was published until 2011. In that year, the site was redesigned to offer sections organized by subject matter,[6] and otherCAP Action blogs were consolidated into the site. The site was then divided into sections covering climate, economy, health, justice,LGBT, world, culture, sports, politics and features.[7] In 2017, the site's organization returned to a less segmented presentation.[8]
ThinkProgress had a staff of five in 2006[9] and 42 in 2017.[8] In 2015, the staff ofThinkProgress unionized with theWriters Guild of America, East.[10] Previous staffers who went on to write for other media outlets include Alyssa Rosenberg and Andrea Peterson, who joinedThe Washington Post;Matthew Yglesias, who moved toSlate andVox; Zaid Jilani, who writes forThe Intercept;[11] andNico Pitney and Amanda Terkel, who joinedThe Huffington Post.[2] Shakir, who led the 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, now heads (together with Pitney)More Perfect Union, alabor-focused news outlet that he describes as "ThinkProgress for a digital age."[12][13]
ThinkProgress's climate section,Climate Progress, was founded by climate scientistJoseph J. Romm.[14] The section discussedclimate and energy, political news related toclimate change, and responses to climate change by the media.[15] In November 2016ThinkProgress launched a "Trump Investigation Fund"crowdfunding effort.[16][17] In 2017,Michael Goldfarb, founder of the conservative newspaperThe Washington Free Beacon and its parent company, the Center for American Freedom, said he modeled them onThinkProgress and CAP.[18]
In mid-2019, after the site had experienced declining revenue, traffic and donations, CAP putThinkProgress up for sale.[1] No buyer was found. A plan to makeThinkProgress the institutional blog of the Center for American Progress was abandoned, and publication on the site ended on September 5, 2019.[19][20]
ThinkProgress reports drew comment from news outlets such asThe New York Times,The Guardian,The Washington Post,The Wall Street Journal,Time magazine andCNN.[a] For example,Times reporterIan Urbina, in his coverage of hostility in the health care reform debate, cited a 2009ThinkProgress report byLee Fang on aTea Party Patriots strategy memo advocating disrupting town hall meetings of Democratic members of Congress.[21]
After theUpper Big Branch Mine disaster in 2010,ThinkProgress reported on the safety record of mine ownerMassey Energy, finding over $2.2 million in fines levied by theMine Safety and Health Administration against Massey for more than 3,000 safety violations;Times reporterTom Zeller Jr. cited the figures in theTimes's coverage of Massey's safety record.[22] In 2013,ThinkProgress posted a video of Pam Simon, a staffer for RepresentativeGabby Giffords, who was shot alongside Giffords in 2011, confronting SenatorKelly Ayotte regarding Ayotte's opposition to closing thegun show loophole; theTimes cited the video in a report ongun control activism among gun violence victims.[23] In a 2015 op-ed in theTimes,Charles M. Blow excerptedThinkProgress research on gender inchief executive officer hiring.[24] The same year, Blow excerptedThinkProgress research on the effectiveness of drug screening ofTemporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients in an analysis of the political rhetoric of poverty.[25]
In 2006,The Guardian highlighted a series of reports inThinkProgress that exposed inaccuracies in theABC television mini-seriesThe Path to 9/11. The network re-edited several disputed scenes.[9] In 2011 a report inThe Guardian byEwen MacAskill,Julian Borger, Jon Boone andNicholas Watt on U.S. policy toward Afghanistan excerpted aThinkProgress interview with SenatorBarney Frank.[26] In 2016 aGuardian investigation byJonathan Freedland of the basis ofDonald Trump's claims ofvoter fraud in theIowa Caucuses excerpted aThinkProgress report that a two-year investigation by the Iowa Secretary of State found novoter impersonation.[27]
Similarly, a 2012Washington Post article citedThinkProgress research showing thatCrossroads GPS failed to register as a nonprofit organization inVirginia.[28]ThinkProgress reported an average of oneschool shooting every other day in the first days of 2014;Post columnistDana Milbank cited the research in a 2014 column on the lack of progress on gun control.[29] In 2017Fareed Zakaria, in aPost opinion piece, cited aThinkProgress compilation of policies that candidate Trump pledged to implement on his first day as President.[30] In 2017Wall Street Journal columnistWilliam Galston cited aThinkProgress report of 52% unemployment among 16- to 64-year-olds in theSandtown-Winchester neighborhood ofBaltimore, twice the unemployment rate of the city as a whole.[31] In 2014,Time magazine, CNN andNPR picked upThinkProgress reports onChipotle Mexican Grill's including in their annual report a warning to investors regarding the risk ofclimate change on operations.[2][32]
In 2017ThinkProgress published the disciplinary records of the New York City police officer who putEric Garner in afatal choke hold.[33]ThinkProgress also trackedanti-Muslim andantisemitic incidents.[34][35]
After his 2011Climate Progress report identifyingfood insecurity as "the biggest impact that climate change is likely to have on most people for most of this century", the journalNature invited Romm to write a commentary ondesertification.[36][37] In a 2016 article inThe New York Times,Andrew Revkin recommended Romm's assessment inClimate Progress of the prospects for the climate and the environment under newly elected President Trump.[38]Andrew Leonard inSalon,John Rennie of thePublic Library of Science andJim Naureckas ofFairness and Accuracy in Reporting cited a 2010Climate Progress report in their critiques of an online poll regarding attitudes toward climate change conducted byScientific American magazine.[39]
ThinkProgress had about 100,000 visitors per day in 2006,[9] 6 millionunique visitors and 14 millionpage views in March 2014,[2] and 8 to 10 million unique page views per month in 2017.[16] In 2017,Lifewire rankedThinkProgress among the ten most popular news blogs on the Internet.[40] According to CAP, the site received "more than 12 million pageviews and 7.5 million unique visitors in June 2019".[1]
In 2008,Time magazine namedClimate Progress one of the "Top 15 Green Websites," saying thatClimate Progress "counters bad science and inane rhetoric with original analysis."[15] In 2009,Thomas Friedman, in his column inThe New York Times, calledClimate Progress "indispensable."[41][42] In 2010Time includedClimate Progress in a list of the 25 "Best Blogs of 2010", sayingClimate Progress was one of "the blogs we can't live without."[43] In 2010, UK'sThe Guardian includedClimate Progress on its list of "Top 50 Twitter climate accounts to follow", sayingClimate Progress was one of "the key people and organisations you should be following on Twitter if you're interested in climate change."[44] In 2015 Tim Ward wrote inHuffPost thatClimate Progress "has been the best available source of climate-change news for several years."[14]
ThinkProgress reports were sometimes criticized. For example, in 2010, Lee Fang wrote inThinkProgress that theUnited States Chamber of Commerce funded political advertising campaigns from its general fund, which solicits funds from foreign sources.[45]FactCheck.org said that the claim that "foreign corporations are 'stealing our democracy' with secret, illegal contributions funneled through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce" had "little basis in fact. ... At least 84 foreign companies pay at least $885,000 in dues to the [Chamber of Commerce], according to ThinkProgress. Still lacking, though, is any proof that the money is being used in the chamber’s ad campaign."[46]Eric Lichtblau ofThe New York Times said that the article "provided no evidence that the money generated overseas had been used in United States campaigns."[47]
In 2015,Glenn Greenwald wrote inThe Intercept that CAP officials pressuredThinkProgress staff into placating the Israeli government and theAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in their Middle East reporting, while noting that CAP had cited strategic interests for its stance: "The clear and overwhelming record of the literally hundreds of articles and policy papers from the Center for American Progress andThinkProgress demonstrates our longstanding support both for Israel and the two-state solution to the Middle East peace process as being in the moral and national security interests of the United States."[48]
But the site, which is editorially independent from CAP, has struggled in recent years as advertising revenues have dried up and traffic has dipped. … [T]he site was facing a $3 million gulf between revenues and expenses in 2019, with $350,000 of it made up by a shortfall in ad revenue and nearly $180,000 of it coming from a drop in expected online contributions.
More Perfect Union, a nonprofit news outlet ... quietly started in February. It is led, in part, by Faiz Shakir, the former manager of Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, and Nico Pitney, a former top editor at The Huffington Post and NowThisNews.
'This is ThinkProgress for a digital age', he said, with an emphasis on video and graphics that would be central 'if we were relaunching ThinkProgress in this modern environment.'
Highlights for Mr. Legum include a piece on the Kuwait embassy's decision to move its scheduled annual celebration to the Trump Hotel after the 2016 election and a 2017 investigation into the connection between white nationalism and wealthy institutions.
"Pack the hall", said a strategy memo circulated by the Web site Tea Party Patriots that instructed, "Yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early. Get him off his prepared script and agenda", the memo continued. "Stand up and shout and sit right back down." Robert MacGuffie, a founder of the conservative Web site Right Principles, confirmed toThe New York Times that the memo was legitimate.
ThinkProgress, expanding on the report, explained ... 'Women hold few of the top jobs at major companies. ... Top executives are also not racially diverse. ... But even when they reach the highest rungs, women are still paid less than their peers'
The documents related to Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo were sent to ThinkProgress.com by an anonymous Civilian Complaint Review Board employee, according to the website.;Baker, Al; Mueller, Benjamin (March 22, 2017)."Records Leak in Eric Garner Case Renews Debate on Police Discipline".The New York Times. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2017.; andPaybarah, Azi (March 22, 2017)."NYPD hunting for source of leaked records, in latest twist in Garner case".Politico. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2017.
Online polls are notoriously amenable to manipulation, and it seems pretty clear that climate skeptics organized in force to skew the results.;Rennie, John (October 28, 2010)."A Pitiful Poll and an Abused Article at Scientific American".Public Library of Science. RetrievedOctober 12, 2017.; andNaureckas, Jim (October 27, 2010)."Is Scientific American Running Away From Science on Climate Change?".Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
