''The Hill'', formed in 1994, is an American newspaper and digital media company based in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Focusing on politics, policy, business and international relations, ''The Hill''s coverage includes the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

, the presidency and

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

, and

election campaigns An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

. Its stated output is "nonpartisan reporting on the inner workings of Government and the nexus of politics and business". The company's primary outlet is ''TheHill.com''. ''The Hill'' is additionally distributed in print for free around Washington, D.C., and distributed to all congressional offices. It has been owned by

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

since 2021. In 2020, ''The Hill'' was ranked second for online politics readership across all news sites, behind only

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, remaining ahead of ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'',

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

, NBCNews.com, and

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

. ''The Hill'' had around 32 million monthly viewers in 2023.

History

Founding and early years

The company was formed as a newspaper in 1994 by Democratic power broker and New York businessman Jerry Finkelstein, and

Martin Tolchin Martin Tolchin (September 20, 1928 – February 17, 2022) was an American journalist and author. He was a longtime political correspondent for ''The New York Times'', and later co-founded '' The Hill'' and ''Politico''. Early life and education ...

, a former correspondent for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. New York Representative Gary L. Ackerman was also a major shareholder. The name of the publication alludes to "

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

" as a

synecdoche Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term is derived . Common English synecdoches include '' ...

for the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

and government generally. In 2012, James A. Finkelstein assumed control of the organization.

Digital distribution and print circulation

In 2016, ''

'' reported that ''The Hill'' was "proceeding with ambitious expansion plans" to become a national brand publication, and its website traffic increased 126% over the prior year, and was above

's traffic for the period. Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, '' The Street'' reported that ''The Hill'' saw the largest increase in online political readership among political news sites, with an increase of 780%. CNN and Politico saw smaller increases over the period, making ''The Hill'' "the fastest-growing political news site". In 2017, ''The Hill'' was also cited by Twitter as one of the top 10 "most-tweeted" news sources. A 2017 study by the

Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University that focuses on the study of cyberspace. Founded at Harvard Law School, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

found that ''The Hill'' was the second most-shared source among supporters of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

on Twitter during the election, behind ''

Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (; known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentar ...

''. In 2017, ''The Hill'' hired John Solomon as executive vice president of digital video. Solomon inserted material from advertisers into journalistic copy, leading to protests from ''The Hill''s publisher. In March 2018, he worked closely with associates of

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

, the personal lawyer of U.S. President

, to promote the spurious Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory. In May 2018, Solomon's role was changed to opinion contributor, although he was allowed to keep his original title. In September 2019, he left ''The Hill''. , ''The Hill'' was the second most-viewed U.S. political news website and the third-most tweeted U.S. news source. In January 2019,

claimed Finkelstein interfered in the

editorial independence An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...

of the paper by "keeping a watchful eye on the newspaper's coverage to ensure it is not too critical" of President Trump. In 2019, ''The Hill'' was ranked second among all U.S. news sites for political readership, second to CNN, and ahead of Capitol Hill competitors such as ''Politico''. In 2020, it was again ranked second for online politics readership across all news sites, behind only CNN. It remained ahead of ''Politico'',

, NBCNews.com and

the newspaper claims to have more than 22,000 print readers. ''The Hill'' is distributed for free in newspaper boxes around the U.S. Capitol building, and mailed directly to all congressional offices. ''The Hill''s YouTube channel had 1,100,000 subscribers, ahead of ''Politico'', ''Axios'', and ''Bloomberg Politics''. In October 2020, ''The Hill''s YouTube channel averaged over 1.5 million daily video views and more than 10 million per week; in September 2020 it received over 340 million video views. In 2021, ''The Hill'' was acquired by

for $130 million. In 2022, ''The Hill'' was accused of censorship after firing Katie Halper for a segment supporting

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib ( ; born July 24, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, sh ...

's labeling of Israel as an "apartheid government". In 2024, Briahna Joy Gray was fired after appearing to roll her eyes while discussing the allegations of sexual violence against Israeli hostages during an interview with the sister of an Israeli who was abducted by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

in the 7 October attacks.

Features and editions

''The Hill TV''

In June 2018, ''The Hill'' launched Hill.TV, a digital news channel. Four years later, the channel expanded to a FAST streaming service and was rebranded as ''The Hill TV''. It is distributed by Haystack, LG, LocalNow, Plex, Roku, and Vizio. Programming includes '' Rising'', a morning news program hosted by Robby Soave four days a week (initially by Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton.) In May 2021, long-time hosts Ball and Saagar Enjeti announced they were departing in order to release their own independent project, '' Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar''.

NewsNation

Since Nexstar's acquisition of ''The Hill'', branded programming has appeared on Nexstar's cable news channel,

NewsNation NewsNation is an American cable news network owned by Nexstar Media Group. Known for most of its history as Superstation WGN before becoming WGN America in 2008, it relaunched on March 1, 2021, as a cable news network named after its flagship n ...

. Starting on April 24, 2023, ''The Hill'' appears as a weekday afternoon program on NewsNation, moderated by Leland Vittert and with panel discussion featuring Chris Stirewalt,

George Will George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian conservative writer and political commentator. He writes columns for ''The Washington Post'' on a regular basis and provides commentary for '' NewsNation''. In 1986, ''The Wall ...

, Johanna Maska,

Niall Stanage Niall Stanage (born 18 June 1974) is a Northern Irish journalist and associate editor of the American political newspaper '' The Hill''. Biography Stanage was born in 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and attended Carryduff Primary School and ...

, or other rotating panelists. NewsNation's chief Washington correspondent, Blake Burman, took over moderation duties in August 2023 and Mick Mulvaney and Sean Spicer joined the list of rotating panelists. ''The Hill'' also airs on

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

immediately following its live broadcast. On March 3, 2024, ''The Hill Sunday'' launched. Hosted by Stirewalt, it is a

Sunday morning talk show A Sunday morning talk show is a television program with a news/ talk/ public affairs–hybrid format that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. This type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries. Sunday mor ...

focusing on Washington politics. On April 7, 2024, the show was offered to

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

network stations and local stations owned by Nexstar.

Notable stories and awards

The National Press Club's annual Sandy Hume Memorial Award is named after staffer Sandy Hume, in recognition of his 1997 reporting in ''The Hill'' of an attempted Republican coup against then-speaker

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...

. Climate and energy reporters Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin were recognized with

SEAL Awards SEAL Awards are an environmental advocacy organization that uses annual awards for businesses and journalists to support environmental initiatives and to fund grants in the field of policy research. The name is an acronym for sustainability, envi ...

for environmental journalism in 2022 and 2023.

Staff

Masthead

*Joe Ruffolo, General Manager *Bob Cusack, Editor-in-Chief

Past

* James Carville * Ron Christie *

Judd Gregg Judd Alan Gregg (born February 14, 1947) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and a United States senator from New Hampshire from 1993 to 2011 where he was Chairman of the Heal ...

* David Keene *

Josh Marshall Joshua Micah Jesajan-Dorja Marshall (born February 15, 1969) is an American journalist and blogger who founded ''Talking Points Memo.'' A Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal, he presides over a network of Left-wing politics, progress ...

Dick Morris Richard Samuel Morris (born November 28, 1948) is an American author, commentator, and former political consultant. A friend and advisor to Bill Clinton during his time as Governor of Arkansas and since his 1978 run, Morris became a political ...

* A. B. Stoddard * Byron York * John Solomon * Gen. Michael Hayden (ret.) (former NSA and CIA director)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, The 1995 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2021 mergers and acquisitions American political websites Legislative branch of the United States government Newspapers published in Washington, D.C. Political mass media in the United States Newspapers established in 1995 01 Weekly newspapers published in the United States