The Daily Signal

The Daily Signal
The Daily Signal logo
Type Online news site
Format Website
Owner(s) The Heritage Foundation
Editor-in-chief Robert Bluey
Founded 2014
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Website dailysignal.com

The Daily Signal is an American news website founded in June 2014. The publication focuses on politics, culture, under-reported stories and is owned by The Heritage Foundation.

Overview

The Daily Signal is a digital-only news publication created by American conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation based in Washington D.C.[1][2][3] The publication reports on American politics and public policy issues, both foreign and domestic, with a focus on unreported or under-reported news stories.[1][4][5] The site relies on original investigative reporting and aims to be an unbiased news source.[2][6] It was created as an attempt to remedy what the organization saw as a lack of original reporting on public policy issues from understaffed publications.[1]

The Daily Signal also includes an opinion section geared toward Millennial readers that features conservative commentary, but that is kept separate from the news section.[1][2] Entertainment and sports stories that relate to politics are also published by the site.[6]

The publication has a staff of 12 and uses freelance investigative reporters.[2][3][7] Geoffrey Lysaught, group vice president of strategic communications at The Heritage Foundation, serves as publisher.[1][7] The editor-in-chief is Robert Bluey, former editor at Human Events and reporter for Cybercast News Service.[2][3][6]

Other key staff include Katrina Trinko, former National Review political reporter, who is the managing editor,[1][2][8] and Sharyl Attkisson, former CBS News reporter, who is a senior independent contributor.[5]

The Daily Signal is funded entirely by The Heritage Foundation.[2][8] The publication's initial annual budget was US$1 million.[3][5]

History

Prior to starting The Daily Signal, The Heritage Foundation ran two other digital publications: The Foundry, a blog, and Townhall.com, a news and opinion site. Townhall.com was acquired by Salem Communications in 2005, while The Foundry was phased out following the advent of The Daily Signal.[5][9]

The Daily Signal was announced by The Heritage Foundation in May 2014.[1] Atlantic Media Strategies was hired to design the site specifically for mobile phones and tablets.[1]

In its initial reception, the site's design and mission drew comparisons to Vox and FiveThirtyEight.[1] The announcement was also met with skepticism that the publication could be unbiased.[10] It was also criticized for not having advertisers.[11]

The Heritage Foundation responded to these criticisms with understanding that The Daily Signal would have to prove its ability to produce fair journalism. Kelly McBride, Poynter's media ethicist, commented that The Daily Signal could never be credible for liberal readers, but could reach an undecided audience, so long as the publication removed political agenda and published quality work from trained journalists.[8]

The site was officially launched in June 2014.[3] Debut stories included an exclusive report from Sharyl Attkisson about medical research on premature babies funded by the government,[5] an interview with Kansas Governor Sam Brownback about federal health care law's effects on his state,[3] and an account of a recent trip to the DMZ from Jim DeMint, the president of The Heritage Foundation.[3]

In September 2014, Sharyl Attkisson's interview with former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Raymond Maxwell was picked up by multiple outlets, including Fox,[12] CBS,[13] Slate,[14] and Daily News.[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Joshua Green (May 8, 2014). "The Tea Party Gets Into the News Biz". Businessweek. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Rebecca Ballhaus (May 8, 2014). "Heritage Foundation Plans News Site". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Paul Farhi (June 2, 2014). "Heritage Foundation starts online site to cover news it says is unreported or under-reported". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Catherine Thompson (May 8, 2014). "Heritage Foundation To Launch 'Straight-Down-The-Middle' News Site". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Jessica Chasmar (June 3, 2014). "Sharyl Attkisson joins new Heritage website The Daily Signal". The Washington Times. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Roger Yu (May 8, 2014). "Heritage Foundation to launch online news site in June". USA Today. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Johana Bhuiyan (May 8, 2014). "Heritage Foundation to launch ‘straight-down-the-middle’ news site". Capital New York. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Kristen Hare (May 8, 2014). "Heritage Foundation’s news site doesn’t have ad or traffic constraints". Poynter. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Dylan Byers (May 7, 2014). "Heritage Foundation to launch news service". Politico. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Tess VandenDolder (May 8, 2014). "Move Over, FOX: The Tea Party Launches Its Own News Site". InTheCapital. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Tom Scocca (May 8, 2014). "The Heritage Foundation Admits It's Afraid of Capitalism". Gawker. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  12. ↑ Judson Berger (September 14, 2014). "Ex-official claims Clinton allies scrubbed Benghazi documents in secret session". Fox. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  13. ↑ Stephanie Condon (September 17, 2014). "Will politics doom the Benghazi committee's investigation?". CBS. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  14. ↑ David Weigel (September 15, 2014). "The Benghazi Whistleblower Who Might Have Revealed a Massive Scandal on His Poetry Blog". Slate. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Dan Friedman (September 16, 2014). "Staffers loyal to Hillary Clinton covered up potentially damaging Benghazi documents: former official". The New York Daily News. Retrieved 1 December 2014.

External links