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UnHerd
Type of site
Commentary
Available inEnglish
Founded21 July 2017
Headquarters
London
,
UK
OwnerSir Paul Marshall
EditorSally Chatterton
Employees23 (2022)
URLunherd.com
Current statusActive
UnHerdatOld Queen Street,Westminster

UnHerdis a British news and opinion website founded in July 2017, which describes itself as a platform forslow journalism.

History[edit]

UnHerdwas founded in 2017 bySir Paul Marshallas owner and publisher, and conservative British political activistTim Montgomerieas editor.[1][2]

The website initially existed without apaywall,as it is funded by an endowment from Marshall.[3][4][5]In 2017,New Statesmanreported that the site intended to introduce paid services.[6]In May 2020, the site said that it intended to switch to a subscription model later that year.[4]As of October 2022,it offers readers a limited number of articles for free. The website lists 23 staff.[7]

Following Montgomerie's departure in September 2018,[8]journalist Sally Chatterton, who previously wrote forThe Daily TelegraphandThe Independent,took over as editor.[9][5]Freddie Sayersjoined the magazine in 2019 as executive editor, having previously been editor-in-chief ofYouGovand founder of the British news and current affairs websitePolitics Home.[citation needed]

In November 2022,UnHerdopened a private members' club and restaurant inWestminster,named the Old Queen Street Cafe. Talks and debates at the club are broadcast onUnHerd'sYouTubechannel.[1]

Content[edit]

UnHerd's columnists includeGiles Fraser,Justin Webb,Carl Miller,Ed West,Tanya Gold,John Gray,James Bloodworth,Matthew Goodwin,Maurice Glasman,Julie Bindel,Meghan Murphy,Michael Tracey,Douglas Murray,Paul Embery,Kathleen StockandIan Birrell.[10]

In January 2023, formerPoliticoandThe Atlanticwriter Tom McTague was hired asUnHerd's political editor.[11]

Notable stories[edit]

In 2021, anUnHerdpiece criticising theWorld Health Organization(WHO) for dismissing theCOVID-19 lab leak theoryin its investigation was marked byFacebookwith a "false information" tag; Facebook apologised afterUnHerdobjected. In an opinion piece about the incident,Financial TimescolumnistJemma Kellynoted that three days later theWhite Houseexpressed "deep concerns" about the WHO investigation.[12]

In a February 2022UnHerdpiece,GuardianjournalistHadley Freemanwrote that her paper was allowing itself to be bullied over transgender issues.[13][14]

In July 2022,UnHerdreported that the Ukrainian government'sCenter for Countering Disinformationhad compiled a list of politicians and intellectuals in multiple countries whom they believed were promoting Russian propaganda.[15][16]The list included US senatorRand Paul,former US congresswomanTulsi Gabbard,military analystEdward Luttwak,political scientistJohn Mearsheimer,and journalistGlenn Greenwald,as well as the former chair of the IndianNational Security Advisory Board.[17][18]TheUnHerdreport included responses from Luttwak, Mearsheimer, and Greenwald.[15]

Reception[edit]

When the site was launched in July 2017, Simon Childs inVicewas critical of the underlying premise, saying: "The social media news cycle can be a jading stream of ill-informed narcissists, but it's refreshing to be reminded that at least it offers a more diverse outlook than Tim Montgomerie funded by an oligarch publishing the kind of people who are generally 'unheard' because people edge away from them at parties."[19]Jasper Jackson writing for theNew Statesmanwas also sceptical ofUnHerd's promotion ofslow journalism,saying "the ideaUnHerdis offering a groundbreaking solution to information overload is faintly ludicrous. "[6]

In 2020, Ian Burrell, writing in thei,noted thatUnHerdpieces can run to 2,000 words in length, presenting "nuance and context" in science articles and pursuing an "approach to digital journalism [that] is counter to the notion that only extreme views can generate traffic"; he compared the website toTortoise Media,another "slower-paced news experiment that defies the catch-all notion of the media."[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^abEarle, Samuel (28 October 2023)."UnHerd owner Paul Marshall became Britain's newest media mogul".The Guardian.Retrieved9 March2024.
  2. ^Thomas, Daniel; Agnew, Harriet (9 March 2024)."Paul Marshall, the financier turned media baron bankrolling GB News".Financial Times.Archived fromthe originalon 9 March 2024.Retrieved9 March2024.
  3. ^Nelson, Fraser(21 July 2017)."Welcome to the herd, UnHerd".The Spectator.London.Retrieved5 June2019.
  4. ^abcBurrell, Ian (18 May 2020)."News websites are seeing record traffic, so public trust is higher than it seems".The i.London.
  5. ^abChakelian, Anoosh (30 January 2019)."The UnHerd Tortoise: are elite media start-ups just hype?".New Statesman.London.Retrieved6 January2020.
  6. ^abJackson, Jasper (21 July 2017)."UnHerd's rejection of the new isn't as groundbreaking as it seems to think".New Statesman.London.Retrieved5 June2019.
  7. ^"About UnHerd".www.unherd.com.Retrieved12 October2022.
  8. ^Mayhew, Freddy (25 September 2018)."Former Times columnist Tim Montgomerie leaves Unherd news website he founded last year".Press Gazette.Retrieved16 December2019.
  9. ^"Sally Chatterton, Editor".www.unherd.com.Retrieved27 March2020.
  10. ^"Writers".www.unherd.com.Retrieved29 October2022.
  11. ^UnHerd [@unherd] (13 January 2023)."We are delighted to announce that the brilliant @tommctague (ex-Atlantic, Politico) will be joining UnHerd as our new Political Editor, starting in a week!"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  12. ^Kelly, Jemima (18 February 2021)."How 'fact-checking' can be used as censorship".Financial Times.Retrieved29 October2022.
  13. ^Fanshawe, Simon (22 February 2022)."New York Times is peddling its own alternative facts over JK Rowling".New Statesman.Retrieved29 October2022.
  14. ^Kanter, Jake (21 February 2022)."Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman says left-wing media bows down to trans bullies".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Retrieved29 October2022.
  15. ^abCarbonaro, Giulia (26 July 2022)."Tulsi Gabbard, Rand Paul Placed on List of Russian Propagandists by Ukraine".Newsweek.Retrieved29 October2022.
  16. ^"'Russian propaganda promoters list': NSAB Chairman on Ukraine list, he says claim preposterous ".The Indian Express.1 August 2022.Retrieved29 October2022.
  17. ^McRedmond, Finn (25 July 2022)."Ukraine Government issues blacklist of 'Russian propagandists'".UnHerd.Retrieved29 October2022.
  18. ^Mitra, Devirupa (26 July 2022)."Ukraine Accuses 3 Indians, Including Former NSAB Head, of 'Promoting Russian Propaganda'".The Wire.Retrieved29 October2022.
  19. ^Childs, Simon (25 July 2017)."The UnHerd and the Whining of the Perfectly-Well-Represented".Vice.Retrieved16 December2019.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UnHerd&oldid=1228085830"