Washington, D.C. — Today, ThinkProgress, a product of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, announced the launch of ThinkProgress Sports, a new section that will bring original reporting and comprehensive analysis to the sports news cycle, and the stories behind the sports headlines.
Professional sports aren’t just one of the largest drivers of news readership, they’re a key arena for social issues like equal pay for women and the full inclusion of LGBT people in public life. ThinkProgress Sports will uncover the hidden dynamics behind the biggest athletic stories of the day, such as a new polling effort on the Washington Redskins name change, and will explore how sports are changing the debate over issues like infrastructure investment in Brazil.
“Sports have long been an important agent of social change, and have helped drive national opinions on issues ranging from civil rights to immigration reform,” said Travis Waldron, senior reporter for ThinkProgress Sports. “Through our original coverage, ThinkProgress Sports will examine the many issues in sports that matter not just on the field, but off the field as well.”
ThinkProgress, which launched in 2005, has long covered sports in its reporting, and its coverage has been used by outlets like CBS Sports, Slate, USA Today, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, and Fox News. Now, ThinkProgress—with roughly 5 million unique visits per month, more than 330,000 Facebook fans, and more than 240,000 Twitter followers—will continue to provide readers extensive sports coverage and in-depth analysis through its new sports section.
In addition to the creation of ThinkProgress Sports, ThinkProgress announced today that Alyssa Rosenberg, a former culture reporter for ThinkProgress, has been promoted to Features Editor. Within her new role, Rosenberg will oversee ThinkProgress’s reporting and commentary on the arts, entertainment, media, and sports, and develop new areas of coverage for the site.
Rosenberg—who has received praise for her innovative reporting on pop-culture news—will also contribute to ThinkProgress Sports.
“Over the past two years, ThinkProgress has expanded the conversation not just on what makes culture progressive, but what makes a television show, book, movie, or music video a great piece of pop culture,” Rosenberg said. “I’m thrilled to bring those discussions to sports, one of the most important cultural meeting places in the United States, and around the world.”
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Prior to joining ThinkProgress, Waldron began his journalism career as a sportswriter for the Kentucky Kernel, where he covered basketball and football. Waldron also worked as a freelance sportswriter at the Lexington Herald-Leader while attending college at the University of Kentucky.
Rosenberg, in addition to her role at ThinkProgress, is a columnist for the XX Factor at Slate, and a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com. Before joining ThinkProgress, she was editor of Washingtonian.com and a staff correspondent at Government Executive. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, Esquire.com, The Daily, The American Prospect, and National Journal.
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