BreakThrough News (BT News or BTN) is an alternative online media and news outlet based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In association with Watermelon Pictures, BTN produced the 2025 documentary film ''The Encampments'' about the 2024 Palestine solidarity encampments at Columbia University and other pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses. BTN leadership are almost all leaders in the

Party for Socialism and Liberation The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a communist party, communist political party in the United States, political party in the United States. PSL formed in 2004, when its members split from the Workers World Party. PSL describes it ...

(PSL). In 2023, BTN's anchors were PSL co-founders Brian Becker and Eugene Puryear, and

Rania Khalek Rania Khalek () is an American journalist, video host, and presenter. She hosts the program Dispatches on '' BreakThrough News'' and has contributed to ''The Nation'', ''The Grayzone'', ''The Intercept'', ''Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting'', ''T ...

; its editor-in-chief was PSL central committee member Ben Becker; and its secretary was Claudia De la Cruz. BTN works closely with Tricontinental Institute for Social Research and has often hosted Tricontinental founder

Vijay Prashad Vijay Prashad (born 1967) is an Indian-born American, author, journalist, political commentator, and Marxism, Marxist intellectual."I came to Marxism against my self-interest. Born into affluence, I was raised in an revolutionary city (Calcutta, ...

. Other frequent contributors include Abby Martin, Kei Pritsker, and

Katie Halper Katherine Rose Halper (born July 11, 1980/1981) is an American comedian, writer, filmmaker, podcaster, and political commentator. She is the host of the podcast ''The Katie Halper Show'' and co-host of the podcast ''Useful Idiots'' with Aaron Ma ...

History

In early 2020, BTN began posting to

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. In June 2020, BTN's founders registered BreakThrough Media (BT Media) as a non-profit organization. According to the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), BreakThrough News "focused on a number of pro- CCP, far-left, and after the

2022 invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, pro-Kremlin causes" until late 2023, and it started to focus on Gaza after October 7, 2023. In 2025, BTN and Watermelon Pictures together produced the documentary film ''The Encampments'' about the 2024 Palestine solidarity encampments at Columbia University and other pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.

Criticism

In 2022, the Newlines Institute described BreakThrough News as denying the

persecution of Uyghurs in China Since 2014, the government of the People's Republic of China has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang which has often been characterized as persecution or as ...

and BTN contributor

as an "apologist" for former Syrian dictator

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

with links to Russian State-funded media. In 2023, ''The Daily Beast'' contributor William Bredderman argued that BreakThrough News is part of a "pro-Russia, pro-China news network" funded by the American businessman Neville Roy Singham. The NCRI published a report May 2024 citing Bredderman entitled "Contagious Disruption: How CCP Influence and Radical Ideologies Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Campuses Across the United States," stating that BreakThrough News is part of what it calls the 'Singham network,' which it describes as "a wide range of nonprofits, alternative media outlets, and donor organizations that have been funneling undisclosed funds and disseminating CCP-supported agendas and narratives into the United States since at least 2017."

References

External links

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American news websites Internet properties established in 2020 Far-left politics in the United States Anti-Zionism in the United States {{Website-stub

History

Criticism

See also

References

External links