Truthdig is an American

alternative news Alternative media are media sources that differ from established forms of media, such as mainstream media or mass media, in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica ...

website that provides a mix of long-form articles, blog items, curated links, interviews, arts criticism, and commentary on current events that is delivered from a politically progressive,

left-leaning Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commonl ...

point of view. The site focuses on major "digs" that purport to look beneath headlines to reveal facts overlooked or not reported by

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...

. Truthdig was co-founded in 2005 by Zuade Kaufman and

Robert Scheer Robert Scheer (born April 4, 1936) is an American left-wing journalist who has written for '' Ramparts'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Playboy'', '' Hustler Magazine'', ''Truthdig'', ''ScheerPost'' and other publications as well as having written ...

, who served as editor-in-chief. As of 2014, the Truthdig site drew more than 400,000 visitors per month.

History

Kaufman began her journalism career at

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

in Los Angeles, initially working on documentaries before transitioning to print journalism. She collaborated with Scheer on hyperlocal editions at the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' , ''Westside'', ''Weekly'', and ''Our Times'', starting as a researcher and then as a staff reporter. After the newspaper changed ownership and eliminated these local editions, Kaufman pursued a master's degree in journalism at the

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is a part of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It has 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students. Willow Bay is the dean. Prof. Hector Amaya is the Director of the Sc ...

. She began developing Truthdig while at USC, and it launched immediately after Scheer was fired from the ''Los Angeles Times''. On March 11, 2020, nine employees of Truthdig signed a statement announcing a work stoppage to protest what they described as "unfair labor conditions and the effort by the publisher, Zuade Kaufman, to remove the site's founding Editor-in-Chief and co-owner Robert Scheer". On March 27, 2020 Kaufman responded in an open letter that attributed the matter to "negotiations to end the business partnership" between her and Scheer. On March 25, 2020 Truthdig employees received emails they characterized as "Truthdig LLC was being dissolved and that our positions at the publication had been terminated". According to the full statement, 15 employees would be affected. The "Truthdig" website concomitantly posted an announcement that "Truthdig" was "going on a hiatus". On November 1, 2022, the website was relaunched without Scheer's involvement.

Contributors

Significant contributors to Truthdig have included

William Blum William Henry Blum (; March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author and journalist and a critic of United States foreign policy. Early life Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of Maimonides Medical Center) in Brooklyn, ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

Juan Cole John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. Dead link; no archive located. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University ...

, animator Mark Fiore,

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupatio ...

Sam Harris Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, determinism, neuroscience, meditation ...

Chris Hedges Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist, author, commentator and Presbyterian minister. In his early career, Hedges worked as a freelance war correspondent in Central America for ''The Christian Science Monit ...

, Kamin Mohammadi,

Greg Palast Gregory Allyn Palast (born June 26, 1952) is an author and a freelance journalist who has often worked for the BBC and ''The Guardian''. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance. He has also worked with labor unions and consumer a ...

Carrie Rickey Carrie Rickey (born November 26, 1952) is an American film critic. Rickey was a film critic for ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' from 1986 to 2011, and has contributed to ''The New York Times'', ''San Francisco Chronicle'', and '' Village Voice''. H ...

Émile P. Torres Émile P. Torres (born 2 July 1982), formerly known as Phil Torres, is an American philosopher, intellectual historian, and activist. Their research focuses on eschatology, existential risk, and human extinction. Along with computer scientist Ti ...

, and

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

. In October 2006, Truthdig published an essay entitled, "After Pat's Birthday", about the death of the NFL player and American soldier

Pat Tillman Patrick Daniel Tillman Jr. (November6, 1976– April22, 2004) was an American professional American football, football player for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) who left his sports career and enlisted in the United ...

that was written by his brother Kevin. The essay was widely distributed and was cited in ''

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 ...

'' and the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Reception and awards

Truthdig has been used as a data source in

communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

research on systematic differences in coverage of political events by

alternative media Alternative media are media sources that differ from established forms of media, such as mainstream media or mass media, in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica ...

(such as Truthdig) versus

. In 2015, an

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

conference paper determined that users of the

NewsTrust NewsTrust was a non-profit news network that operated a web site where users were able to reference news stories, rate those stories according to quality of journalism, post reviews, and add stories they found worthwhile. It was operated and co-fou ...

website considered Truthdig a "most trusted" political news source with a "left" viewpoint. , Truthdig has won six

Webby Awards The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

, four awards from the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

, and forty first-place awards from the

Los Angeles Press Club The Los Angeles Press Club is an American journalism organization founded in 1913. It honors journalists through its annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards. As of 2023, the Los Angeles Press Club hosted ...

, among others. At the 2010 ceremony for the Webby Awards, which traditionally limit acceptance speeches to five words, Robert Scheer accepted on behalf of Truthdig, saying: "

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

—what fucking thieves."

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.truthdig.com
Truthdig on YouTube.com
American news websites Broadcasting websites Citizen journalism Internet properties established in 2005 Investigative journalism Media analysis organizations and websites News agencies based in the United States Mass media in Los Angeles Webby Award winners

History

Contributors

Reception and awards

See also

References

External links