The liberal think tank Center For American Progress says it’s putting its flagship news site ThinkProgress up for sale, according to a report by The Daily Beast Monday.
Staff for the news site were told Monday afternoon of the impending sale. A CAP official told The Daily Beast that the news organization has faced a dire financial situation in recent years.
“Unfortunately, like so many other news outlets that have relied on advertising to fund its work, ThinkProgress has seen a significant drop in revenue in recent years, along with other financial strains,” Navin Nayak, executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said. “In addition, events over the last few years have underscored the divergent missions of American Progress and ThinkProgress.”
Nayak noted that the search for a new owner is a “tough decision” because of how ThinkProgress has been “a part of CAP Action almost since its founding.”
“While ThinkProgress’ financial challenges are unsustainable for an organization like CAP Action, we are hopeful that there are publishers who would be better able to support ThinkProgress’ mission and better positioned to maximize the significant value ThinkProgress has built up,” Nayak said.
Born out of the Bush era, ThinkProgress — which is editorially independent from CAP — has a reputation for being a mainstay in progressive news coverage since its launch 14 years ago. As advertising revenues and traffic have continued to decline, the site reportedly faced a $3 million gulf between revenues and expenses in 2019, with $350,000 of it made up by a shortfall in ad revenue and nearly $180,000 of it coming from a drop in expected online contributions.
Read the full Daily Beast report here.
