 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2020) |
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| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | News aggregation,blogging,journalism |
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 2012; 13 years ago (2012) |
| Headquarters | Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.[1][2] |
| Owner | Media Group of America |
| Founder(s) | Alex Skatell |
| Key people | Alex Skatell |
| Industry | News |
| URL | ijr |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Launched | 2012 |
| Current status | Active |
TheIndependent Journal Review (IJR, stylized asIJR.) is aconservative[3][4][5][6][7] American news and opinion website based inAlexandria,Virginia.[1][2] The publication was founded in 2012 by Alex Skatell.[8] Skatell serves as its CEO, with Camden Stuebe as President and Shushanna Walshe, former political director at ABC News as the Editor-At-Large.[9] The site covers general interest topics including politics, culture, entertainment, and viral news content.
In 2012, Alex Skatell, a former digital director of theNational Republican Senatorial Committee, launched theIndependent Journal Review, using $40,000 that Skatell had earned via a software application that he developed at college and $20,000 borrowed from his parents. He believed that there was a gap in the market for a publication that would appeal to "a more mainstream center-right audience" and began aggregating news stories on aFacebook page calledConservative Daily. Skatell promoted the page and later launched theIndependent Journal Review.[1]
Skatell then teamed up with Phil Musser, a former executive director of theRepublican Governors Association, to launch IMGE and Media Group of America. Atkinson then hired a staff of writers and editors to contribute to and grow the journal.[1] In 2012, Skatell hired Bert Atkinson as chief editor.[10] By November 2014, the organization employed over 62 staff across Media Group of America.[11]
The site attracted an audience that largely lived outsideWashington D.C. political circles that had broader interests than average consumers of political news.[12]
In March 2015, the site was named "Best New Publisher of the Year" by Digiday.[13]
In June 2015, IJR hiredBenny Johnson as a "creative director" fromNational Review.[14] Johnson had previously worked atBuzzFeed, being fired after plagiarizing content from other websites.[15][16]
During the 2015 campaign season, a number ofIndependent Journal Review political videos acquired national attention, such asLindsey Graham destroying his cell phone[17] andTed Cruz making "machine gun bacon."[18]
Then,Independent Journal Review partnered withABC News to host theRepublican Presidential Debate on February 6, 2016.[19][20]
During the 2016 election,Independent Journal Review was listed in the top 10 websites engaged per news story on Facebook.[21] In November 2016,Independent Journal Review became one of the first two digital media companies accepted into the News Media Alliance, formerly the Newspaper Association of America.[22][23]
In January 2017, the website was noted for being the first major U.S. news outlet to confirm that JudgeNeil Gorsuch would be nominated by presidentDonald Trump for theSupreme Court, news which failed to spread quickly due to other media outlets' distrust of theReview.[24]
DuringUnited States Secretary of StateRex Tillerson's diplomatic trip to Asia in March 2017, theIndependent Journal Review was the only news publication invited to send a reporter to accompany the trip.[25]
Several key members of theIndependent Journal Review's editorial staff, including Benny Johnson and Kyle Becker, were suspended in March 2017 over an opinion piece on former President Barack Obama's visit to Hawaii prior to a judge's ruling on the travel ban.[26] Becker later resigned from IJR, and Johnson was fired fromIndependent Journal Review in October 2017.[27]
In May 2017, Haley Byrd, a congressional reporter for theIndependent Journal Review, said she was kicked out of the Speaker's Lobby in theU.S. Capitol because she was wearing a sleeveless dress; Byrd says she was told that she was violating the rules.[28]
In July 2017, IMGE CEO Phil Musser purchased IMGE and formally split the agency out of Media Group of America.[29] A few months later, in September 2017, Musser was named Senior Vice President of Communications atBoeing and left IMGE to a new leadership group.[30] In mid-2017, IJR launched conservative and liberal verticals, IJR Red and IJR Blue[9] to transparently present a variety of perspectives around conversations across the United States.[31]
In November 2017, IJR was one of a handful of media publications, includingThe Washington Post,The Economist,Mic,The Globe and Mail, and others, to participate in the launch of "Trust Indicators" by The Trust Project.[32] According to theTrust Project, 'Trust Indicators' are markings within published news articles that denote to readers the news websites' commitment to increased journalistic and ethical standards in reporting. The Trust Project is described as a consortium of top news companies working collectively to transparency standards and increase accountability in journalism, and is headed by Sally Lehrman.[33]
