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Independent Journal Review

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Independent Journal Review
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
News aggregation,blogging,journalism
Available inEnglish
Founded2012;12 years ago(2012)
HeadquartersAlexandria, Virginia,U.S.[1][2]
OwnerMedia Group of America
Founder(s)Alex Skatell
Key peopleAlex Skatell
IndustryNews
URLijr
AdvertisingYes
Launched2012
Current statusActive

TheIndependent Journal Review(IJR,stylized asIJR.) is aconservative[3][4][5][6][7]American news and opinion website based inAlexandria,Virginia.[1][2]The publication was founded in 2012 by Alex Skatell.[8]Skatell serves as its CEO, with Camden Stuebe as President and Shushanna Walshe, former political director at ABC News as the Editor-At-Large.[9]The site covers general interest topics including politics, culture, entertainment, and viral news content.

History

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Founding and early expansion

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In 2012, Alex Skatell, a former digital director of theNational Republican Senatorial Committee,launched theIndependent Journal Review,using $40,000 that Skatell had earned via a software application that he developed at college and $20,000 borrowed from his parents. He believed that there was a gap in the market for a publication that would appeal to "a more mainstream center-right audience" and began aggregating news stories on aFacebookpage calledConservative Daily.Skatell promoted the page and later launched theIndependent Journal Review.[1]

Skatell then teamed up with Phil Musser, a former executive director of theRepublican Governors Association,to launch IMGE and Media Group of America. Atkinson then hired a staff of writers and editors to contribute to and grow the journal.[1]In 2012, Skatell hired Bert Atkinson as chief editor.[10]By November 2014, the organization employed over 62 staff across Media Group of America.[11]

The site attracted an audience that largely lived outsideWashington D.C. political circlesthat had broader interests than average consumers of political news.[12]

In June 2015, IJR hiredBenny Johnsonas a "creative director" fromNational Review.[13]Johnson had previously worked atBuzzFeed,being fired after plagiarizing content from other websites.[14][15]

In March 2015, the site was named "Best New Publisher of the Year" by Digiday.[16]

2016 election cycle

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During the 2015 campaign season, a number ofIndependent Journal Reviewpolitical videos acquired national attention, such asLindsey Grahamdestroying his cell phone[17]andTed Cruzmaking "machine gun bacon."[18]

Then,Independent Journal Reviewpartnered withABC Newsto host theRepublican Presidential Debateon February 6, 2016.[19][20]

During the 2016 election,Independent Journal Reviewwas listed in the top 10 websites engaged per news story on Facebook.[21]In November 2016,Independent Journal Reviewbecame one of the first two digital media companies accepted into the News Media Alliance, formerly the Newspaper Association of America.[22][23]

Post-2016 election

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In January 2017, the website was noted for being the first major U.S. news outlet to confirm that JudgeNeil Gorsuchwould be nominated by presidentDonald Trumpfor theSupreme Court,news which failed to spread quickly due to other media outlets' distrust of theReview.[24]

DuringUnited States Secretary of StateRex Tillerson's diplomatic trip to Asia in March 2017, theIndependent Journal Reviewwas the only news publication invited to send a reporter to accompany the trip.[25]

Several key members of theIndependent Journal Review'seditorial staff, including Benny Johnson and Kyle Becker, were suspended in March 2017 over an opinion piece on former President Barack Obama's visit to Hawaii prior to a judge's ruling on the travel ban.[26]Becker later resigned from IJR, and Johnson was fired fromIndependent Journal Reviewin October 2017.[27]

In May 2017, Haley Byrd, a congressional reporter for theIndependent Journal Review,said she was kicked out of the Speaker's Lobby in theU.S. Capitolbecause she was wearing a sleeveless dress; Byrd says she was told that she was violating the rules.[28]

In July 2017, IMGE CEO Phil Musser purchased IMGE and formally split the agency out of Media Group of America.[29]A few months later, in September 2017, Musser was named Senior Vice President of Communications atBoeingand left IMGE to a new leadership group.[30]

In mid 2017, IJR launched conservative and liberal verticals, IJR Red and IJR Blue[9]to transparently present a variety of perspectives around conversations across the United States.[31]The site broadened its mission to help organize communities around a set of facts and a variety of perspectives.[citation needed]

In November 2017, IJR was one of a handful of media publications, includingThe Washington Post,The Economist,Mic,The Globe and Mail,and others, to participate in the launch of "Trust Indicators" by The Trust Project.[32]According to theTrust Project,'Trust Indicators' are markings within published news articles that denote to readers the news websites' commitment to increased journalistic and ethical standards in reporting. The Trust Project is described as a consortium of top news companies working collectively to transparency standards and increase accountability in journalism, and is headed bySally Lehrman.[33]

References

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  1. ^abcdKaufman, Leslie (November 2, 2014)."Independent Journal Review Website Becomes a Draw for Conservatives".The New York Times.New York City.RetrievedNovember 4,2014.
  2. ^ab"About – Independent Journal Review".Independent Journal Review.Alexandria,Virginia:Media Group of America.RetrievedJanuary 27,2017.
  3. ^David Karpf (2016).Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy.Oxford University Press. pp. 124–.ISBN978-0-19-026615-8.
  4. ^Kaufman, Leslie (3 November 2014)."Independent Journal Review Website Becomes a Draw for Conservatives".The New York Times.Retrieved2018-08-12.
  5. ^Darcy, Oliver."Independent Journal Review asks employees to sign new noncompete as top talent continues to leave".CNNMoney.Retrieved2018-08-12.
  6. ^"Video producer to depart conservative site".Politico.Retrieved2018-08-12.
  7. ^Sommer, Will (2018-02-16)."Millennial conservative site lays off staff after Facebook change".The Hill.Retrieved2018-08-12.
  8. ^Heath, Thomas (January 6, 2015)."IJReview gets $1.5 M funding, led by GOP politico and investor Pete Snyder".The Washington Post.Washington, D.C.:Nash Holdings LLC.RetrievedJanuary 6,2015.
  9. ^ab"About Us".IJR.Retrieved2019-04-24.
  10. ^Kaufman, Leslie (2014-11-02)."Independent Journal Review Website Becomes a Draw for Conservatives".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2017-11-27.
  11. ^Kaufman, Leslie (2014-11-02)."Independent Journal Review Website Becomes a Draw for Conservatives".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-04-24.
  12. ^Miller, Katherine (November 27, 2013)."The Right Wing Has Its Own Upworthy And You Won't Believe How Well It's Doing".BuzzFeed.New York City:BuzzFeed News.RetrievedNovember 25,2014.
  13. ^"Why hiring Benny Johnson is a smart play for National Review".Columbia Journalism Review.Retrieved2017-11-27.
  14. ^Terris, Ben (June 9, 2015)."Benny Johnson got fired at BuzzFeed. You will believe what happened next".The Washington Post.Washington, D.C.:Nash Holdings LLC.RetrievedJune 9,2015.
  15. ^Gold, Hadas; Shutt, Jennifer (July 26, 2014)."BuzzFeed fires Benny Johnson for plagiarism".Politico.Arlington County,Virginia:Capitol News Company.RetrievedDecember 26,2016.
  16. ^"Digiday Publishing Awards: New York Times, Refinery29 take top honors".Digiday.2015-03-19.Retrieved2017-11-27.
  17. ^Kelly, Conor (July 22, 2015)."Lindsey Graham Just Destroyed His Cellphone To Spite Donald Trump".ABC News.New York City:ABC.RetrievedJuly 22,2015.
  18. ^Maddow, Rachel (August 3, 2015)."Hey Ted Cruz, that's not a machine gun you're cooking with".MSNBC.New York City:NBCUniversal.RetrievedAugust 3,2015.
  19. ^Gold, Hadas."Independent Journal Review's big debate moment".Politico.Arlington County,Virginia:Capitol News Company.Retrieved26 December2016.
  20. ^ABC News Press (February 4, 2016)."ABC News Hosts" New Hampshire: The Republicans Debate "in Partnership with WMUR, Independent Journal Review, RNC and Saint Anselm College".ABC News.New York City:ABC.RetrievedDecember 26,2016.
  21. ^Corcoran, Liam (November 10, 2016)."These Were the Biggest Election Day Publishers on Facebook".NewsWhip.New York City:Blogger.RetrievedNovember 10,2016.
  22. ^Stroh, Sean (November 4, 2016)."The Newspaper Association of America Rebrands as the News Media Alliance".Editor & Publisher.Irvine, California:Duncan McIntosh Co.RetrievedNovember 4,2016.
  23. ^Wang, Shan (September 6, 2016)."Who are the first digital members of the newspaper industry's club? Billy Penn's owner and IJ Review".Nieman Foundation for Journalism.Cambridge, Massachusetts:Nieman Fellowship.RetrievedSeptember 6,2016.
  24. ^Gold, Hadas (February 1, 2017)."Meet the website that scooped the world on Gorsuch".Politico.Arlington County,Virginia:Capitol News Company.RetrievedFebruary 1,2017.
  25. ^Yuhas, Alan (March 18, 2017)."Rex Tillerson defends blocking reporters from diplomatic trip to Asia".The Guardian.Kings Place,London.RetrievedMarch 18,2017.
  26. ^Farhi, Paul (March 24, 2017)."A conservative news crack-up? Things just got real for some partisan personalities".The Washington Post.Washington, D.C.:Nash Holdings LLC.RetrievedMarch 24,2017.
  27. ^Fischer, Sara (October 20, 2017)."Scoop: Benny Johnson out at Independent Journal Review".Axios.RetrievedOctober 20,2017.
  28. ^"Are sleeveless dresses" appropriate attire "? Congress doesn't think so".CBS News.New York City:CBS.July 7, 2017.RetrievedJuly 9,2017.
  29. ^"IMGE breaks from IJR".Axios.2017-07-25.Retrieved2017-11-27.
  30. ^"Phil Musser takes top Boeing job; new partners to lead IMGE".Axios.2017-09-07.Retrieved2017-11-17.
  31. ^"How IJR plans to burst the filter bubble with a dose of The Resistance – Digiday".Digiday.2017-05-11.Retrieved2017-11-27.
  32. ^"Facebook, Google, Twitter and media outlets fight hoaxes with 'trust indicators'".USA Today.Retrieved2017-11-27.
  33. ^Lehrman, Sally (October 16, 2014)."Online Chaos Demands Radical Action by Journalism to Earn Trust".Markkula Center for Ethics.RetrievedOctober 16,2014.
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