Truthdig
Type of site
News commentary, alternative media, editorials
Available inEnglish
Founder(s)Zuade Kaufman
Robert Scheer
URLtruthdig.com
CommercialCommercial
RegistrationOptional
Launched2005

Truthdig is an American alternative news 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 point of view.[1] The site offers independent journalism and focuses on major "digs" that purport to look beneath headlines to reveal facts overlooked or not reported by mainstream media. Truthdig was co-founded in 2005 by Zuade Kaufman and Robert Scheer, who served as editor-in-chief.[1] As of 2014, the Truthdig site drew more than 400,000 visitors per month.[1]

Origins

Kaufman's first job in journalism was at KCET in Los Angeles. She worked in documentaries before moving to print journalism. She worked with Scheer at hyperlocal editions of the Los Angeles Times identified as Westside, Weekly, and Our Times, as a researcher and then as a reporter. When the newspaper changed owners and the local editions were cut, Kaufman went for her masters in journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communications.[2][3] She began developing an online news site while still a student. She and Scheer launched Truthdig the year she was graduated, which was immediately after Scheer was pushed out of the Los Angeles Times.

Contributors

Significant contributors to Truthdig have included Noam Chomsky, Juan Cole, animator Mark Fiore, Amy Goodman, Sam Harris, Chris Hedges, Greg Palast, Carrie Rickey, and Gore Vidal.[citation needed]

In October 2006, Truthdig published a 660-word essay entitled, "After Pat's Birthday", about the death of the NFL player and American soldier Pat Tillman that was written by his brother Kevin.[4] The essay was widely distributed and was cited in The New York Times[5] and the Associated Press.[1]

On the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War, Truthdig published "The Last Letter" by Tomas Young, a veteran paralyzed in Iraq, that addresses George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and condemns them as war criminals. Written as Young awaited his death under hospice care, the letter was translated into several languages and printed worldwide.[6]

Communication studies

Truthdig has been used as a data source in communication studies research on systematic differences in coverage of political events by alternative media (such as Truthdig) versus mainstream media.[7] It also has been included in a set of news sources subjected to statistical analysis intended to identify credible sources.[8]

Awards

As of October 2017, Truthdig has won six Webby Awards, including four regular Webbys [9][10][11][12][13] and two Webby People's Voice Awards.[9][10][14] In 2007, it won both a regular Webby and a Webby People's Voice Award.[9][10] 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—what fucking thieves."[1]

Truthdig and its individual journalists have won numerous awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, including five Southern California (SoCal) Journalism Awards in 2010, three in 2013,[15] and [16], and eleven in 2017.[17] The five SoCal awards from 2010 included four first-place awards, in the categories "Online Journalist", "Online Column/Commentary/Criticism", "Online Sports News/Feature/Commentary", and "Website, Exclusive to the Internet—Budget over 10K".[16] The three SoCal awards from 2013 included one first-place award, in the category "Website, News Organization, Exclusive to the Internet".[15] The eleven SoCal awards from 2017 included three first-place awards, in the categories "Editorial Cartoon", "Investigative", and "Political Column/Commentary—Election".[17]

As of October 2017, Truthdig journalists have won three Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists: two to cartoonist Mr. Fish (Dwayne Booth) in 2009 and 2010,[18][19] and one to Robert Scheer for "Online Column Writing (Independent)" in 2011.[20]

Work stoppage in 2020

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".[21][22] 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.[23] 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.[21] The "Truthdig" website concomitantly posted an announcement that "Truthdig" was "going on a hiatus".[24]

Relaunch in 2022

On November 1, 2022, the website relaunched without Scheer's involvement.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Leibowitz, Ed (February 25, 2014). "Can you dig it? Yes you can". Media. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  2. ^ Roderick, Kevin (December 12, 2005). "The woman behind Truthdig". LA Observed. Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  3. ^ Kaufman, Zuade (May 2013). "Zuade Kaufman, publisher of Truthdig". Live Encounters (Interview). Interviewed by Mark Ulyseas. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  4. ^ Tillman, Kevin (November 6, 2009). "After Pat's Birthday" (Reprint of October 19, 2006 article). Truthdig. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  5. ^ Archibold, Randal C. (October 24, 2006). "Brother of N.F.L. Star Posts Antiwar Essay". The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  6. ^ Young, Tomas (March 19, 2013). "The Last Letter; A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran". Truthdig. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  7. ^ Cissel, Margaret (Spring 2012). "Media framing: a comparative content analysis on mainstream and alternative news coverage of Occupy Wall Street" (PDF). Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications. Elon University. 3 (1): 67–77. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  8. ^ Mukherjee, Subhabrata; Weikum, Gerhard (October 18–23, 2015). "Leveraging joint interactions for credibility analysis in news communities". CIKM ’15: Proceedings of the 24th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management. 24th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM 2015), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 353–362. arXiv:1705.02667. doi:10.1145/2806416.2806537. ISBN 978-1-4503-3794-6.
  9. ^ a b c "Truthdig". Webby Awards. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  10. ^ a b c "Truthdig: Blog—Political". Webby Awards. 2007. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  11. ^ "Truthdig: Blog—Political". Webby Awards. 2010. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  12. ^ "Truthdig: Blog—Political". Webby Awards. 2011. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  13. ^ "Truthdig: Politics". Webby Awards. 2013. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  14. ^ "Truthdig: Blog—Political". Webby Awards. 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  15. ^ a b "Winners of 55th Annual SoCal Journalism Awards 2013" (PDF). Los Angeles Press Club. 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  16. ^ a b "Winners of 52nd Annual SoCal Journalism Awards announced". Los Angeles Press Club. June 27, 2010. Archived from the original on October 7, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  17. ^ a b "59th SoCal Journalism Awards winners announced". Los Angeles Press Club. June 25, 2017. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  18. ^ "Announcing winners of the 2009 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for journalism". Society of Professional Journalists. May 3, 2010. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  19. ^ "Announcing winners of the 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for journalism". Society of Professional Journalists. May 10, 2011. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  20. ^ "2011 Sigma Delta Chi Award honorees". Society of Professional Journalists. 2011. Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  21. ^ a b "Update: Statement from Striking Truthdig Workers". Popular Resistance. March 27, 2020.
  22. ^ "Truthdig LLC: 31-CA-264453". National Labor Relations Board.
  23. ^ Kaufman, Zuade (March 17, 2020). "Open Letter from Truthdig's Publisher & CEO: Breaking My Silence". Truthdig. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  24. ^ Karlis, Nicole (March 28, 2020). "Truthdig staff laid off amid work stoppage". Salon.com. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  25. ^ Kaufman, Zuade (November 1, 2022). "Letter from the Publisher". Truthdig.

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