Rare is an American news and opinion website based in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
Rare was launched as a startup in 2013 by a team of journalists, marketers and business executives at Atlanta-based
Cox Media Group
CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...
. Rare's slogan is, “America's News Feed", describing itself as a "news, political, and lifestyle social content hub".
The publication's first editor in chief was Brett M. Decker, formerly an editorial page writer for ''The Wall Street Journal'' and editorial page editor of ''The Washington Times''. Will Alford, one of the site's original founders and a former newsroom director at ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
,'' became acting editor after Decker left. Betsi Fores, formerly of ''
The Daily Caller
''The Daily Caller'' is a right-wing news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by political commentator Tucker Carlson and political advisor Neil Patel in 2010. Launched as a "conservative answer to ''The Huffington ...
'', became Rare's managing editor, and
Jack Hunter, former aide to
U.S. Senator Rand Paul, became the politics editor after resigning from his Senate job.
History
Rare launched at a
Newseum
The Newseum (April 18, 1997–March 3, 2002 and April 11, 2008–December 31, 2019) was an American museum located first in Rosslyn, Virginia, and later at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in Washington, D.C., dedicated to news and journalism that ...
gala on April 15, 2013, and acquired 25 million page views within the first year. The website was aimed at a younger,
center-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
audience, and early contributors brought in by Decker's team included
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...
,
Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
,
Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011.
A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
and
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and anti-tax advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary pro ...
. Rare has been described as
libertarian-conservative and has been compared to the websites ''
Independent Journal Review
The ''Independent Journal Review'' (IJR, stylized as IJR.) is a conservative American news and opinion website based in Alexandria, Virginia. The publication was founded in 2012 by Alex Skatell. Skatell serves as its CEO, with Camden Stuebe as ...
'',
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...
, and ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
''.
Their original tagline, "Red is the Center" referred to an editorial position where conservative thinking was at the heart of American success. In 2014, their tagline became “America's News Feed”, reflecting more mainstream, high-traffic, popular content targeting a younger, socially engaged audience.
In March 2018, editors for the site said Cox had decided to cease publication. Following a mass layoff of over 50 staffers, the site and its affiliated web properties were purchased by Texas-based Wide Open Media Group.
The site ceased publishing once again in 2021, after its parent was acquired by Publishers Clearing House. It was acquired by Nashville-based Savage Ventures and relaunched in April 2022. In 2023, a CNN report described the new iteration of Rare as one of several "fringe right-wing" news sites with inflammatory and misleading content that
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
AI was serving to consumers. Rare editor Troy Smith responded, calling CNN "left-wing fringe" and saying that mainstream media fail to cover President
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
honestly.
Rare ceased publication in early 2024, with its last social media posts in February.
Previously-published content on the site is no longer accessible and the main page of the site is a list of aggregated headlines of stories published in May 2024.
References
{{reflist
External links
Savage Ventures Official WebsiteRare Brings Its Patriotic, Country Music-Loving Audience To Bat For Advertisers
American news websites
Libertarianism in the United States
American conservative websites
American political websites