''Circa News'', also known as ''Circa'', was an American

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

and entertainment service. The site was founded in 2012 by Matt Galligan, Ben Huh and Arsenio Santos. The service had news stories and features consisting of individual bits of information. The service went offline for financial reasons on June 24, 2015, and was then relaunched in spring 2016 under the ownership of the Sinclair Broadcast Group media company.Jonathan Kuperberg
"Set to Launch Digital News Site Circa, Sinclair Taps John Solomon as COO"
''Broadcasting & Cable'', 12 July 2015 Under Sinclair, the website's coverage was described by some media outlets as

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

although the site claimed to report from a neutral point of view. The site was discontinued abruptly on March 26, 2019, with Sinclair stating that industry changes did not justify the continuation of ''Circa News'' as a website (and three days before sister property '' KidsClick'' was also closed with little notice). The former domain for the site now redirects to Sinclair's streaming portal, '' Stirr''. Circa's

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

accounts remained active but dormant, with their handles changed to the initials "TND"; Sinclair would later repurpose the accounts for its headline news service '' The National Desk'', removing all traces of Circa from the accounts, but also retaining the existing subscribers of those feeds.

History

Early years

On October 16, 2012, ''Circa'' launched its application for iOS. The app featured news and information from different sources and viewpoints that were stitched together into a story designed to be shifted around and changed easily as stories developed. The founders' aim for ''Circa'' was "to pursue a more pure definition of news with truths divorced from conjecture, opinion or biased analysis". On September 24, 2014, ''Circa'' announced version 3.0 of its mobile applications. The update added a daily briefing service called "Wire", which aggregates top stories over a 24-hour period. Circa would expand from the app world to the internet in February 2015, with the announcement of a web version, CircaNews.com. On April 30, 2015, ''Circa'' announced that it was looking for a buyer after failing to obtain a new

funding round A securities offering (or funding round or investment round) is a discrete round of investment, by which a business or other enterprise raises money to fund operations, expansion, a capital (economics), capital project, an acquisition, or some oth ...

of venture capital financing. On June 21, 2015, ''Circa'' halted its news reporting operations for financial reasons. Three days later, on June 24, ''Circa'' announced that it would shut down and go on an "indefinite hiatus" following its inability to secure an buyer. CEO and co-founder Matt Galligan bade farewell to ''Circa'' in a blog post titled "Farewell to Circa News" in which, he admired the successes of ''Circa'', but lamented the company's failure to become a sustainable business.

Acquisition and relaunch

On November 22, 2015, a few former ''Circa'' employees reported that the ''CircaNews.com'' website was again active, stating a simple message that "Circa will be back soon...". A report by the Nieman Journalism Lab said that the site's

domain name In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. ...

was registered a month earlier to Sinclair Broadcast Group."Is Circa back? The mobile app might be returning via local TV stations"
''Nieman Lab'', 23 November 2015 Sinclair confirmed on 7 December 2015, that it had acquired Circa News, its

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

and assets earlier in 2015, and aimed to relaunch ''Circa'' in spring 2016. The acquisition of ''Circa'' was to be funded by a Sinclair subsidiary (Sinclair Digital Ventures) and potentially other investors. ''Circa'' CEO Matt Galligan mentioned at its closure the previous June that the company could sell or " white-label" its technology to a news-producing company for use in its own apps. The revived ''Circa'' formally went live on 18 July 2016, with a redesigned app and a website using a new URL, Circa.com."CIRCA LAUNCHES EAGERLY-AWAITED ADVANCED WEBSITE..."
press release from SBGI, 18 July 2016 From December 2016, ''Circa was'' led by the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

John Solomon, the former vice-president of content and business development for ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...

''. Solomon was hired by Sinclair as ''Circas chief creative officer in December 2015. Solomon left ''Circa'' to join '' The Hill'' in July 2017. The app announced in March 2017, that it would be shutting down.

Ideology

Sinclair says that it aims to "let the content drive irca and not let the site adhere to any set political or cultural viewpoint, describing '' Vice News'' and '' Breitbart'' as "partisan-driven" news sites that the new ''Circa'' would not intentionally emulate. Though Sinclair has aired

political content on its stations, its stated intention with ''Circa'' was to present information with "no spin, just facts and transparency" and in "an irreverent tone" that will allow the site's target audience (young adults 18 to 35 years old) to form its own opinions. Circa's reporting has been characterized by other media outlets as

. ''Circa'' attracted attention for its reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which broke many stories seen to be favorable to the Trump administration. According to ''The Hill'', Circa's reporting on Russian interference has "only a peripheral focus on whether anyone in Trump’s inner circle had contact with Russian officials during the campaign". It has been reported that Sinclair had made an agreement with the Trump campaign to be given greater access in exchange for favorable coverage. Solomon said that reporting in many mainstream outlets was "reckless, false, unfair and imbalanced".

Features

Since its original iteration, the ''Circa''

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

and website have offered "atomization" of news rather than "summarization". "Atomization", as originally expressed by ''Circa'', means "to break down a story into its core elements: facts, stats, quotes and media", as opposed to a summary where content is reduced for quicker reading or users are linked elsewhere for the full story. Circa initially pushed multiple updates, also known as "points", over the days, weeks and months as stories continued to develop. The ''Circa'' app also allowed users to "follow" particular stories in order to receive future developments. As relaunched in 2016, the ''Circa'' app and the ''Circa.com'' website retained the original "atomization" approach to delivering the news. The redesigned ''Circa'' emphasized "short- and long-form video, optimized for mobile and social media engagement". ''Circa'' utilizes original reporting from its own 80-person staff,

user-generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), emerged from the rise of web services which allow a system's User (computing), users to create Content (media), content, such as images, videos, audio, text, testi ...

and access to video feeds and reportage from Sinclair's 172 owned-or-operated TV stations."Sinclair Acquired and Will Relaunch Mobile News Site Circa"

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

, 12 July 2015 Circa features several portals and micro-sites accessible through its website, app and social media platforms. These include: *''Circa Now'', a portal for top stories and breaking developments *''60 Seconds'', a one-minute twice-daily summary of the day's news emphasizing text prompts and images optimized for mobile viewing and social media sharing *''The Great American Pop Report'', a fast-moving summary of pop culture and social media buzz *''Circa Documentaries'', long- and short-form documentaries exploring serious issues and topics *''Circa Moments'', daily news segments produced to air on Sinclair's owned-and-operated TV stations *''Circa 360'', news, entertainment, and branded advertisements shot entirely in a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

format"Circa launches VR 360 content and ad platform"
press release from SBGI, 28 September 2016 *''Circa Humor'', topical parodies, satirical content, and humorous videos produced under the supervision of David Zucker."A New Comedy Brand for Millennials"
a press release from SBGI, 26 September 2016 *''It's Complicated'', a series of videos discussing all aspects of dating life for millennials, including "ghosting", "cuffing" and "when to meet the parents". First shown 18 October 2017.

History

Early years

Acquisition and relaunch

Ideology

Features

See also

References

Further reading