Fake News Goes Bust: Democrat Media Front ThinkProgress is Losing Millions as Staffers Revolt
Shane Trejo
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ThinkProgress, an astroturfed entity largely funded through a top Democrat Party think-tank, is struggling to maintain profitability and retain its employees as the market share for their fake news is drying up.
The Daily Beast obtained financial records showing that the progressive propaganda site is expecting to post a $3 million gap between revenue and expenses in 2019. They noted that the website has never exactly been a moneymaker, but it is now more unprofitable than ever before.
The John Podesta-founded Center for American Progress, which has funded ThinkProgress as its propaganda organ despite the fact it has never been much of a revenue generator throughout the years, may have to re-think their investment as it hemorrhages money.
“Unfortunately, ThinkProgress has had a large and growing budget gap for going on two years now,” said Navin Nayak, who works as the executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
“Like most media organizations, ThinkProgress has relied on advertising revenue as a major source of funding, increasingly subject to the behavior of social-media platforms and their decisions on news distribution. As with many other digital media organizations, 2017 and 2018 were particularly challenging years in this regard, as ThinkProgress experienced a 40 percent drop in ad revenue over just one year, creating an inevitable budgetary strain,” Nayak added.
Advertising revenue is expected to fall $350,000 short of initial estimates for the year while online contributions are expected to undershoot predictions by approximately $180,000. They are expecting a mere $64,000 in grant revenue, which is $60,000 under original estimates and a shocking $540,000 short of their 2018 figures.
Staffers, such as managing editor Tara Culp-Ressler and four of her colleagues, have already left the organization as the writing is on the wall that ThinkProgress is a sinking ship.
The rest of the writers are not happy, as evidenced by a letter addressed to editor-in-chief Jodi Enda by the ThinkProgress writers’ union last month.
“[M]orale is low across the team as we wrestle with lost trust and an unclear vision,” the letter read. “After careful consideration over how best to address our shared concerns, we write to you today with the hope that we can reignite the passion that brought us all here and work together to build a promising new future for ThinkProgress.”
But as downsizing and other cost-cutting measures become inevitable due to ThinkProgress becoming so insignificant and unlucrative, morale is never likely to improve.
“As these challenges emerged, CAP Action Fund has been transparent with ThinkProgress staff, including implementing and explaining the need for a hiring freeze early in 2018 and providing managers and the union a full account of the financial pressures facing ThinkProgress in the fall of 2018,” Nayak said.
“Indeed, in fall of 2018, we shared with the ThinkProgress union that the situation was so concerning that actions of some kind would be needed. The budget situation has only grown worse since,” he added.
It looks to only be a better of time before ThinkProgress shuts its doors, as digital media outlets known for publishing liberal propaganda struggle to remain afloat in a competitive online marketplace.
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