Washington, D.C. — Today the award-winning blog and progressive newsroom ThinkProgress.org launched a redesigned and expanded website. ThinkProgress is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAP Action), a nonpartisan organization that seeks to provide a forum that advances progressive ideas and policies. ThinkProgress was originally established as the first political and policy research blog of its kind in 2005. Today ThinkProgress continues that spirit of innovation by ushering in a new era of political media and journalism within a research institution.
The new ThinkProgress features dedicated blogs in six issue areas: Green, Economy, Health Care, LGBT, National Security, and Justice, along with two new authored blogs in addition to the acclaimed Yglesias blog by Matt Yglesias: a culture blog edited by Alyssa Rosenberg; and the merger of Joe Romm’s ClimateProgress.org with the ThinkProgress blog.
“We have built an in-house progressive news organization,” said Faiz Shakir, Editor-in-Chief of ThinkProgress. “With the maturation of the blogosphere, news and analysis broken on ThinkProgress enters the political debate the same way it would through traditional media. Our new design reflects the professionalism of the news content we are delivering.”
ThinkProgress the newsroom is also part of a larger initiative within CAP Action. Partnered with a permanent progressive communications “war room” team, the coverage on the blog drives efforts by progressives to frame the debate and push back on conservative policies. All told, the effort is staffed by more than 30 researchers, reporters, and communications experts.
“In an ever-changing media environment, we aim to drive the debate with new analysis, innovative reporting, and questions that get to the fundamentally different impact of progressive and conservative ideas on our country,” said Tara McGuinness, head of the ThinkProgress war room communications team.
ThinkProgress.org building influence
- Attracts more than 4.5 million visits a month, more than 2 million unique visitors, and more than 6 million page views.
- Technorati, the leading authority on blog rankings, lists ThinkProgress as one of the top 10 influential blogs in America and one of the top three political blogs.
- A New York Times analysis of reporting based on citations of new reporting put ThinkProgress above traditional media outlets like Newsweek, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic for original reporting.
- Memeorandum, a site that tracks the importance of political stories on the web, ranks ThinkProgress seventh—ahead of The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, and Los Angeles Times.
- In 2010 ThinkProgress reporters visited 20 states, interviewed 56 Democratic and Republican members of Congress, one Supreme Court justice (Samuel Alito), and David Koch, the billionaire funder of many right-wing efforts.
- ThinkProgress reporters have already interviewed 10 presidential candidates in 2011.
ThinkProgress.org breaks news
GOP budget—rough sale in the heartland. The ThinkProgress footage of Ryan getting booed moved onto television and was featured on "The Daily Show," CBS, MSNBC, CNN, and other national media outlets. Organizations jumped on the footage as well and used it to amplify the anger over the Republican budget—it was used in emails and web ads.
“Oil Above All Energy” policies exposed. After gaining traction with footage from town halls, ThinkProgress focused on the increasingly vocal backlash members of Congress received about $40 billion in subsidies for oil companies while asking seniors to sacrifice even more. ThinkProgress spotlighted members such as Reps. Denny Rehberg, Paul Ryan, Lou Barletta, and Randy Hultgren all being challenged by constituents to end the subsides.
Partners and activists elevate content. A recent video on New Hampshire Tea Party activists and marriage equality garnered more than 160,000 views on YouTube in just less than a week. ThinkProgress video of members of Congress under fire for the GOP budget was sent to more than 3 million MoveOn.org members.
ThinkProgress was voted “Best Liberal Blog” in the 2006 Weblog Awards and chosen as an Official Honoree in the 2009 Webby awards. It was also named best blog of 2008 by The Sidney Hillman Foundation, receiving an award for journalism excellence. In 2009 ThinkProgress was named a “Gold Award Winner” by the International Academy of Visual Arts.
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