PJ Media, originally known as Pajamas Media, is an American
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
subscription-based commentary website. It was founded in 2004, with its majority owner being software entrepreneur, billionaire and
angel investor
An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...
Aubrey Chernick, founder of Candle Corporation (acquired by IBM).
Salem Media Group acquired the company in March 2019. PJ Media also operated the online television and video network PJTV, which ceased operations on May 11, 2016.
History
PJ Media was founded as Pajamas Media in 2004 by
Charles Johnson, the blogger behind
Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs (LGF) is an American political blog run by web designer Charles Foster Johnson. In its beginning years, the site had a right-wing orientation and was known for its advocacy of the War on Terrorism and the Iraq War, as well ...
, and screenwriter and producer
Roger L. Simon
Roger Lichtenberg Simon (born November 22, 1943) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He was formerly CEO of PJ Media (formerly known as Pajamas Media) and is now its CEO Emeritus. He is the author of eleven novels, including the Moses Win ...
, after Johnson's contribution to the
Killian documents controversy
The Killian documents controversy (also referred to as Memogate or Rathergate) involved six documents containing false allegations about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972–73, allegedly typed in 1973. D ...
investigation in 2004, in which he helped lead to the retraction of a ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' story critical of President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's service in the
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
and
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurr ...
's resignation from CBS News. Johnson and Simon set out to challenge the
mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
with a network of
citizen-journalists.
The network was primarily made up of
conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and
libertarians
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...
. The network's original name was derived from a dismissive comment made by former
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
news executive
Jonathan Klein during the
2004 Killian documents affair: "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances at ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."
Pajamas Media received
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
funding on 14 November 2005. Pajamas used this funding for its operations and marketing while expanding its news and opinion coverage. Investors in this round of financing included Aubrey Chernick, an angel investor and technology entrepreneur, James Koshland, a venture capitalist, and a partnership formed by DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. It rebranded as Open Source Media shortly thereafter and had a launch party that included a keynote address by former ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' journalist
Judith Miller
Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator known for her coverage of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, which was later discovered to have been based on ...
, presentations from
John Podhoretz
John Mordecai Podhoretz (; born April 18, 1961) is an American writer. He is the editor of ''Commentary'' magazine, a columnist for the ''New York Post'', the author of several books on politics, and a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald ...
of ''
Commentary
Commentary or commentaries may refer to:
Publications
* ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee
* Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...
'' magazine,
Andrew Breitbart
Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''.
After helping in the early stages of '' ...
, Elizabeth Hayt of the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,''
David Corn
David Corn (born February 20, 1959) is an American political journalist and author. He is the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for ''Mother Jones'' and is best known as a cable television commentator. Corn worked at ''The Nation'' from 1987 to 2007 ...
of ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' and others. Less than a week after its official launch Open Source Media changed its name back to Pajamas Media after discovering that
Public Radio International
Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States.
PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...
distributed a radio show called ''Open Source'' produced by Open Source Media, Inc.
Johnson and Pajamas split in 2007 by mutual agreement; Johnson's stake was bought out. In October 2011, Pajamas Media changed its name to PJ Media.
In September 2013, former congressman
Allen West left PJ Media after he had an altercation with a female staffer and allegedly called her a "Jewish American princess".
West denied being fired and said he left voluntarily.
False claims
In January 2019, PJ Media published a column by their senior editor Tyler O'Neil in which he insinuated in his article that a Muslim community patrol in New York City might be enforcing
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
Law and might be linked to the NYPD. This group, the Muslim Community Patrol Service (MCPS) was a certified volunteer
Neighborhood watch
A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch (see spelling differences), also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime and vandalism prevention within a neighborhood.
The aim of neig ...
in Brooklyn, a NYC CERT along with other community patrols such as the Brooklyn Asian Safety Patrol and the
Guardian Angels
A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in ...
. PJ Media offered nothing that demonstrated the MCPS could, or planned to, "enforce Sharia law", beyond engaging in the speculative hypothetical that the MCPS might somehow "apply
..Sharia in its community monitoring." Fact-checkers at Snopes rated this claim false.
In February 2019, PJ Media published a column by one of their writers
John Hawkins
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, also creator of Rightwingnews, in which he stated in an article titled "The Six Most Bizarre Proposals from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal", making five out of six claims such as "getting rid of airplanes" or "getting rid of cows", aim to "get rid of gas-powered cars in a decade", call for eliminating carbon emissions in ten years "without the use of nuclear power", or "promise 'economic security' for those 'unwilling to work'". Fact checkers at NewsGuard rated these five claims false, which can be further verified by the official government resolution H.Res.109
Green New Deal
Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...
proposed by Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...
.
In January 2020, PJ Media published a column by one of their writers,
Robert B. Spencer
Robert Bruce Spencer (born 1962) is an American anti-Muslim author and blogger, and one of the key figures of the counter-jihad movement. His published books include two ''New York Times'' bestsellers.
In 2003 he founded and has since direc ...
, also founder and director of the anti-Muslim conspiracy blog
Jihad Watch
Jihad Watch is an American far-right anti-Muslim conspiracy blog operated by Robert B. Spencer. A project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Jihad Watch is the most popular blog within the counter-jihad movement. Organization
The site fe ...
, in which he stated that congresswoman
Ilhan Omar had given Iran military advice by suggesting it could target Trump hotels, and thus committed treason. Fact-checkers at Snopes rated this claim false.
In February 2020, PJ Media published a column by Victoria Taft, one of their writers and a conservative talk show host, in which she stated that President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
waited until millions were infected and 1000 dead in the U.S. before he declared the
Pandemic H1N1/09 virus
The pandemic H1N1/09 virus is a swine origin influenza A virus subtype H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic. This strain is often called swine flu by the public media. For other names, see the Nomenclature section ...
an emergency. Fact-checkers at Snopes rated this claim false.
According to NewsGuard, articles on PJMedia.com have frequently included distorted or misleading claims, including about the COVID-19 pandemic. A now deleted July 2020 article written by Matt Margolis headlined "COVID-19 May Soon Lose Status as an 'Epidemic' Under CDC Guidelines", promoted a misleading claim originally published by JustTheNews.com. Many other websites reported this story by PJ Media. After the fact, PJ Media never issued a correction to their original story, but only an update with changes and a new headline "COVID-19 Will Not Soon Lose Status as an 'Epidemic' Under the CDC".
In August, 2020, PJ Media published an article by their Chicago editor Rick Moran, claiming Democrats were urging presidential candidate Joe Biden not to debate with President Trump because they were concerned with the former vice president's mental stamina. The source for this claim cited on the PJ Media article was from ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'', but the article states that the former vice president was advised not to debate Trump, citing "publicity stunts and disregard for the rules in 2016" as well as cancelling debates over concerns of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Furthermore, the ''Newsweek'' article cited by PJ Media makes no mention about any mental stamina. According to
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo stated that presidential candidate Biden has already agreed to three debates with President Trump in Fall 2020.
In September 2020, PJ Media published an article by senior editor Tyler O'Neil, claiming that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was promising fewer fires, floods, and hurricanes if he should defeat Donald Trump in November. Though Biden did promise he would solve the climate crisis if elected in November, he did not literally promise fewer catastrophic events. Fact checkers at Snopes rated this claim as false.
In September 2022, PJ Media blogger Matt Margolis was the originator of a claim made in a PJ Media article that “The Obama Foundation stored classified documents in an abandoned furniture warehouse.
Snopes
''Snopes'' , formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a Fact checking, fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been see ...
called this out as a false claim as both classified and unclassified records from the Obama presidency were temporarily located in Hoffman Estates, a suburb of Chicago, in a building that used to be an old furniture store. However, while the Obama Foundation provided funds to move and store those records, it had neither possession nor control of them, given that they were in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) from the day Obama left office. What the PJ Media article failed to mention is that this was an agreement in which the foundation provided funds to move documents, but did not state that the foundation had control or access to those documents. After further research and scrutiny from other fact-checkers such as
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
, PJ Media later admitted they made a false claim.
PJTV
In the summer of 2008, Pajamas Media launched PJTV, a subscription based internet television service.
The Internet television service debuted at the
2008 Republican National Convention in
St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. PJTV featured shows hosted by commentators such as
Bill Whittle
William Alfred Whittle (born April 7, 1959) is an American conservative political commentator and YouTuber. He has made videos for PJ Media as the presenter of ''Afterburner'' and ''The Firewall'', and as co-host of ''Right Angle'' with Stephen ...
,
Tammy Bruce
Tammy K. Bruce (born August 20, 1962) is an American Conservatism, conservative radio host, author, and political commentator. Earlier she had been president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women. She is currently a ...
, and
Glenn Reynolds
Glenn Harlan Reynolds (born August 27, 1960) is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and is known for his American politics blog, ''Instapundit''.
Authorship Instapundit blog
Reynolds ...
.
On May 11, 2016, PJTV shut down operations after its majority investor Aubrey Chernick pulled out funds.
References
External links
*
{{Salem Media Group
Community-created content television
Conservative media in the United States
Internet properties established in 2004
Internet television channels
Television networks in the United States
Salem Media Group properties