Heat Street
The logo of Heat Street
Type of site
News and opinion
Available inEnglish
OwnerDow Jones & Company
Key peopleNoah Kotch
URLwww.heatst.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional, required to comment
LaunchedApril 20, 2016[1]
Current statusMerged into MarketWatch

Heat Street was a news, opinion and commentary website based in the United States and United Kingdom. The website was launched in April 2016 by U.S.-based British writer and former politician Louise Mensch.[2][3] It was owned by News Corp under Dow Jones & Company and featured sections on politics, technology, culture, business, entertainment, and life.[4] News Corporation announced that the site would shut down on August 4, 2017, to become part of MarketWatch.[5]

The website has been described as center-right and libertarian.[6]

Organization overview

Founding

Mensch had first been exploring the idea of creating a blog under News Corp for about three years before it was pitched to Dow Jones CEO Will Lewis as a "libertarian Huffington Post". News Corp CEO Robert Thompson signed off on the project in late 2015.[7][8]

The website was announced in February 2016. It launched officially on April 20, 2016,[2] headed by British journalist Louise Mensch and television executive Noah Kotch.[9]

Miles Goslett was hired as the site's UK editor in January 2016, prior to the site's launch.[7][8] By Heat Street's seventh month of publication, it reported 8 million unique users to the site.[7][10]

Mensch left Heat Street in mid-December 2016 and launched her own political blog, Patribotics, in January 2017, stating that she prefers the free hand self-publishing provides.[11][12][13][14]

Content

The site, which was housed under News Corp.'s Dow Jones & Company, used a more informal tone than other sites run by the company, such as The Wall Street Journal.[7][8] The Washington Times' Jennifer Harper described the site as follows: "The politics here are right-leaning and libertarian-minded; the publication also covers culture wars, commentary, technology, celebrity, business and assorted lifestyle matters."[15]

In 2016, Mensch said Heat Street was defined less by politics than by "culture wars". The site has run articles sympathetic to Gamergate. Speaking to Politico, Mensch said the gaming community has been "maligned".[8]

In December 2016, Mensch and the James Madison Project filed suit against five intelligence and law enforcement agencies including the U.S. Department of Justice's National Security Division and the Department of Homeland Security over withheld documents detailing evidence of Russian interference in the presidential election.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Digital media website Heat Street launches". 20 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to Launch Website Heat Street". 17 February 2016.
  3. ^ Niedzwiadek, Nick (16 February 2016). "News Corp to Launch Center-Right Digital Media Site" – via Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ Grove, Lloyd (2016-05-03). "The Woman Running Rupert Murdoch's 'Gawker' for the Right". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2017-02-04.
  5. ^ Rupert Murdoch is closing 'punky libertarian' website Heat Street after little more than a year. Business Insider, 30 June 2017
  6. ^ Barraclough, Leo (17 February 2016). "Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Sets Up Conservative Website Heat Street".
  7. ^ a b c d Kanter, Jake. "Heat Street's Louise Mensch tells us how she persuaded News Corp to back a news site with 'no safe spaces'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-02-04.
  8. ^ a b c d Sutton, Kelsey (May 31, 2016). "Heat Street charts a course through the culture wars". Politico. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  9. ^ Gray, Rosie; Waterson, Jim. "Louise Mensch To Launch "Heat Street" For Murdoch's News Corp". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  10. ^ Gold, Hadas (January 5, 2017). "Louise Mensch no longer leading News Corp.'s Heat Street". Politico. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  11. ^ Borger, Julian (February 17, 2017). "Louise Mensch: the former British MP who scooped US media on Trump's Russian ties". The Guardian. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Gold, Hadas (January 5, 2017). "Louise Mensch no longer leading News Corp.'s Heat Street". Politico. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  13. ^ Waldman, Katy (May 24, 2017). "The Rise of the Liberal Conspiracy Theorist". Slate. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  14. ^ Beauchamp, Zack (May 19, 2017). "Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia". Vox. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  15. ^ Harper, Jennifer (May 12, 2016). "Inside the Beltway: Just launched right-leaning news site Heat Street vows to 'mock the mainstream'". The Washington Times. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  16. ^ Williams, Katie Bo (30 December 2016). "Second FOIA lawsuit targets details on election interference". The Hill. Retrieved 5 March 2017.

External links

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