The Canary (political blog)

''The Canary'' is a left-wing news website based in the United Kingdom. While focusing on UK political affairs, it also has a "Global" section, a satire section ("Off the Perch"), and "Science", "Environment", and "Health" sections. Founded in 2015 by Kerry-Anne Mendoza and her wife Nancy Mendoza, the website increased in popularity around the time of the 2017 United Kingdom general election. It was initially funded through a combination of advertising and a group of about 1500 supporters, but by 2020 had moved to a largely reader-funded model.

According to Press Gazette, in July 2022 ''The Canary'' was the third most popular politics news website in the UK behind Politico and Politics Home.

History

According to editor-in-chief Kerry-Anne Mendoza, ''The Canary'' was created in October 2015 with five founding members in an attempt to "diversify the media". The website was funded by advertising and monthly contributions from around 1,500 supporters in August 2016. It published 9,000 articles in its first two years. According to Mendoza, a major factor motivating ''The Canary'' founders was scepticism of the mainstream media, a scepticism that was shared by Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party. In his first address as Labour leader, he attacked pundits, arguing that they did not understanding the discontent among many ordinary British voters, and talked about the "power of social media". Following the 2017 United Kingdom general election, the BBC reported that websites "such as ''The Canary'', ''The Skwawkbox'', and '' Another Angry Voice'' are making a huge impact and earning a massive following" and such sites were considered to have contributed to sensationalist reporting of the election.

In September 2020, ''The Canary'' announced it would fund a new investigative unit staffed by two journalists for six months. In a statement, it said "A reader-funded investigative unit that is responsive to the requests and demands of ''The Canary'' readership is something people have asked us for since our inception. We believe this unit will be of value to our existing readers and attract new readers. We hope they will work with us to secure funding to continue the unit after the initial six months." Drew Rose, formerly director of operations, became editor-in-chief, replacing Bex Sumner. Rose said the site had survived the "decimation" of its advertising income and "politically-motivated attacks on our staff", and had shifted to a 95% reader-funded model. In July 2021, Mendoza stepped down as director and editor-at-large, handing over her shares in Canary Media Limited to colleagues. She was named as chief operating officer and Emily Apple as senior editor.

Political standpoint

''The Canary'' is left-leaning and is frequently sceptical of the mainstream British press. It was generally supportive of former labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. In common with other left-wing alternative media in the United Kingdom, its stance towards the Labour leadership became more critical after Corbyn stepped down and Keir Starmer won the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

Describing her website to Journalism.co.uk, ''Canary'' editor-in-chief Kerry-Anne Mendoza said: "For us, this is ultimately about democracy. Informed consent in the public is the bedrock of democracy, and if that informed consent isn't there because people aren't aware of the kind of information that they need to be, they won't be equipped to make the decent democratic decisions that they need to, say, for example, on climate change, the justice system, or whether austerity is a positive economic policy." Mendoza stated it was "a complete coincidence" that the website was created shortly after Corbyn's leadership victory, and added: "We don't have any affiliations with political parties, we don't have any affiliations with political organisations, and we're not actually ostensibly left-wing." She called the site's editorial stance "a counterpoint to conservative media" and "broadly liberal". Mendoza also stated that ''The Canary'' was "biased in favour of social justice, equal rights – those are non-negotiable things. We're in this as an issue-driven organisation. ... Every press organisation has an editorial stance and we're certainly no different."

Regulation and accuracy

In August 2017, ''The Canary'' joined the voluntary state-approved press regulator IMPRESS. In its first year with the regulator, ''The Canary'' was the most complained about IMPRESS member, but the regulator upheld just two of the 58 complaints they received during 2017–2018 about its news reporting. In April 2019, ''The Canary'' was given an overall pass rating and a pass on eight out of nine factors (it failed on "handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly") by NewsGuard, an organisation which evaluates news outlets for trustworthiness.

A 2018 study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism described ''The Canary'' as "a left-wing partisan site" and an example of "alternative and partisan brands" which have "a political or ideological agenda and their user base tends to passionately share these views." Its trust rating was given as 4.69 where 10 is fully trusted, making it more trusted than the '' Daily Mail'', '' Buzzfeed News'', and '' The Sun'' but less than the ''Daily Mirror'', the regional press, or any broadsheet newspaper, although its trust level among its own users was at 6.65 (a similar level to ''The Independent'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', and the regional press).

In response to criticism, Mendoza said: "We are human beings and we make mistakes. We clean up the mess and make sure it's clear to our readership." On 14 March 2019, ''The Canary'' said that it had produced 10,000 articles since its creation and two of its articles required deletion after editorial review, representing 0.02% of its content.

Business model

In April 2016, Mendoza said in ''Free & Fearless'' (a magazine produced by Hacked Off) that "we are attracting an audience of 3.5 million unique users per month. On top of this: every two hours, 24 hours a day, seven days a week – someone becomes a paid subscriber of ''The Canary''. ... Our growing traffic is attracting advertisers who are now offering us a floor RPM (payment per 1,000 hits) of £3 and a ceiling of £9." According to ''The Canary''s FAQ, around half of the website's revenue is raised from online advertising, and the other half from reader subscriptions. According to one journalism lecturer, while the website is skilled at promoting its stories, the primary reason for its viral popularity may be its political standpoint.

In its FAQ, the website explains its business model, as "Each writer and section editor is paid in two ways. Firstly, each and every article receives a flat-rate equal payment from our monthly income from supporters. So with each new supporter, the pay per article goes up for everyone every month. Secondly, each article receives a top-up payment based directly on the percentage of web traffic, and therefore advertising income, that articles generate during a given calendar month." This pay-per-click model has been criticised for promoting clickbait as writers are only paid for their work if it becomes viral. Mendoza disputes this, saying that the payment structure means that people who generate the revenues get a fair share.

During 2016–2018, the website had an editorial team of around 30, although only five of ''The Canary'' staff earn enough money to work full-time. It had an annual turnover of £250,000 in 2016. In August 2019, ''The Canary'' emailed users to announce that it would rely more on its team and less on freelance contributors due to a reduced income. After the email was shared online, Mendoza said on Twitter that by the middle of this August the website would "leave the gig economy". ''The Canary'' said this was due to Facebook and Google changing their algorithms, which reduced the site's traffic and therefore advertising income, and to the campaign to persuade advertisers to blacklist the site. It said it was "susceptible to pressure from political Zionists, and our advertising revenue is under fire." ''The Canary'' mounted a recruitment drive for one thousand additional subscribers, which it reported it had achieved by early August, saying this had secured its immediate future.

In October 2022 staff at the organisation announced that they had "overthrown" the site’s management and had been running the publisher as a co-operative since June of that year, after discovering evidence of "gross inequalities and gross mismanagement that was rampant in the company".

Reception

In 2016, Carl Miller of Demos has said that, while the "digital world" has been "democratizing", he believes that sites such as ''The Canary'', which reflect a single worldview, cut down on dissenting information and are likely to make people "even angrier, more outraged, more certain that that people we disagree with are evil ... which isn't good for reasoned, civil debate." In January 2017, Owen Jones told ''PR Week'' that the website "promotes conspiracy theories and a lot of things that just aren't right. I worry about the ''Canary''-isation of the left, where it ends up in a bizarre sub-culture that anyone who doesn't agree is seen as part of a conspiracy. But then you do get those blogs on left and right." In July 2017, Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite the Union, said to the '' Morning Star'': "The media needs regulating, the control of information shouldn't be in the hands of a few billionaires. Alternative media needs supporting ... . But I'd support everything that chips away at Establishment control of the narrative — ''The Canary'', the ''Skwawkbox'', all of it."

In September 2017, Nick Robinson of the BBC
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