NowThis News is a progressive

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

-focused

news organization The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

founded in 2012. The company posts short (in most cases 15 seconds long) news videos and hyperpartisan content.

History

NowThis News was founded by ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' co-founder and former chairman

Kenneth Lerer Kenneth Lerer is an American businessman and a media executive. He was the chairman and co-founder of ''The Huffington Post'', an American news website acquired by Aol in 2011. Lerer is also a managing director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and chai ...

and former ''Huffington Post'' CEO

Eric Hippeau Eric Hippeau is a partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures in New York City. Early life and education Hippeau graduated from the Lycee Francais de Londres and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris. Career Hippeau joined Ziff-Davis in 1989 as pub ...

in September 2012. NowThis originally focused exclusively on social-media platforms such as

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, having announced in 2015 that it would not have a

homepage A home page (or homepage) is the main web page of a website. The term may also refer to the start page shown in a web browser when the application first opens. Usually, the home page is located at the root of the website's domain or subdomain ...

. By 2018, it had changed this position. Behind the Scenes of Joe Biden on Now this News

On December 8, 2015, NowThis News raised $16.2m in

Series D A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...

funding. By this time, the company has said that 68% of its audience were

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

between the ages of 18–34. It was announced that this funding would be used to launch more focused channels. Between 2012 and 2014, the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

was

Edward O'Keefe Edward Fitzpatrick O’Keefe is the Chief Executive Officer of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, and a former media executive. O’Keefe worked at ABC News, before serving as the founding Editor-in-Chief of media start-up NowT ...

, who previously was the executive producer at ABC News Digital. As of 2013, NowThis News produced about 50 segments per day and received about 15–20 million views per month. In 2016, NowThis joined with ''The Dodo'', ''

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis News ...

'', and ''Seeker'' to form

Group Nine Media Group Nine Media was an American digital media holding company based in New York City. The company comprises Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo, and Seeker. The four brands and former brand Sourcefed, merged to form Group Nine Media in October 2016. ...

, which was acquired by

Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...

in February 2022. Former ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

'' head of digital Jon Laurence joined as deputy editor in January 2018. In June 2020, numerous accusations of sexual misconduct were levied at NowThis associate producer Jackson Davis after being retweeted by

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 ...

. NowThis News suspended Davis and, following an external investigation, removed him from the company.

Content

NowThis News' videos are primarily emotion-driven in order to generate views and shares. An analysis from ''

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, it ...

'' found that NowThis News was the most popular left-leaning site on

between 2015 and 2017, and, along with

Occupy Democrats Occupy Democrats is an American left-wing media outlet built around a Facebook page and corresponding website. Established in 2012, it publishes false information, hyperpartisan content, and clickbait. Posts originating from the Occupy Democrats ...

, accounted for half of the 50 top posts on Facebook. In 2015, NowThis News published a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

which claimed that

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 the M ...

deleted a poll of Facebook users asserting that most participants thought that

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

beat

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in the first Democratic presidential debate. NowThis News created a video titled "It looks like

is trying to help Hillary look good, even if that means deleting polls." However,

PolitiFact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times'' ...

found that CNN did not delete the poll in question and in fact displayed the results of the poll during its broadcast and also published the poll on its Facebook page. The claim was rated as "Pants on Fire" false by PolitiFact. After

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

was elected president in 2016, NowThis News posted a clip of

commentator

Van Jones Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American news and political commentator, author, and lawyer. He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and c ...

giving a speech about the election results on their social media. The posted clip generated over 23 million views on Facebook, and NowThis News included its own logo in the upper corner, not CNN's. CNN accused NowThis News of violating their

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

and stated that video "was used without attribution or permission" and they were "exploring

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

options with regards to NowThis, Facebook and Twitter." NowThis News removed the clip from their Facebook, though it remained on their Twitter. During the 2016 presidential election, NowThis News repeatedly claimed that Donald Trump lied about

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

signing the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

using videos posted on Facebook and YouTube. PolitiFact found that Bill Clinton did in fact sign the final version of the North American Free Trade Agreement as Trump had stated, and rated the claim false. In September 2019, NowThis News tweeted out that "Republicans in North Carolina used a 9/11 memorial to trick Democrats into missing a key vote," which was later shared by senator

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

. PolitiFact rated the claim false and discovered only one Democrat was at a 9/11 memorial during the time North Carolina Republicans held a controversial budget vote. NowThis News did not correct their claim. In January 2020, NowThis News removed a segment of a video they posted where a

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

student falsely claimed that Holocaust diarist

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

did not die in a concentration camp (Frank died in the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

in either February or March 1945).

References

External links

* {{Vox Media American news websites Mass media companies based in New York City American companies established in 2012 Internet properties established in 2012 Mass media about Internet culture Mass media companies established in 2012 2012 establishments in New York City Progressivism in the United States Podcasting companies Vox Media