UnHerd

UnHerd[3][4] is a British news website founded on 21 July 2017.[5]

UnHerd
Type of site
Commentary
Available inEnglish
Founded21 July 2017
Headquarters
London
,
UK
EditorSally Chatterton[1]
Key peopleFreddie Sayers
URLwww.unherd.com
Alexa rank 66,694 (29 July 2020)[2]
Current statusActive

Contributors

The website is edited by former Daily Telegraph and Independent journalist Sally Chatterton[6][7] following the departure of Tim Montgomerie in March 2018.[8][9] Freddie Sayers joined the magazine in 2019 as executive editor, having previously been editor-in-chief of YouGov and founder of the British news and current affairs website Politics Home. As of January 2020 the website has 10 full-time editorial and production staff.[10]

The site's columnists include Giles Fraser, Ed West, Tanya Gold, John Gray, James Bloodworth, Matthew Goodwin, Julie Bindel and Douglas Murray.[11]

Operating model

The website exists without a paywall, with its operating budget deriving from an endowment by former Liberal Democrat donor, Brexit-supporting businessman Sir Paul Marshall.[5][12] The site intends to switch to a subscription based model later in 2020.[3][12] During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom, Sayers presented a YouTube channel, Lockdown TV, which received 2.2 million views in the month leading up to 18 May.[12]

Reactions

Ian Burrell wrote in i that UnHerd's "mission is to stand aside from the rest of the news pack and 'to push back against the herd mentality with new and bold thinking'". The science writer Tom Chivers's pieces, some of the most popular on the site, weigh data without necessarily coming to conclusions.[12]

Jasper Jackson wrote in New Statesman: "There is one way in which UnHerd perfectly embodies its stated aim of avoiding the new – the idea that we need to address the frenetic nature of modern news has been around for years. “Slow news” – a more considered approach to what's going on in the world that takes in the bigger picture – has been talked about since at least the beginning of this decade."[3] He also wrote "In fact, it's been around so long that it has become positively mainstream. That pusher of rolling coverage the BBC has been talking about using slow news to counteract fake news, and Montgomerie's old employers, the Times decided last year to move to publishing digital editions at set points during the day, rather than constantly updating as stories break."[3]

Simon Childs wrote in Vice: "The site that claims to be for unheard voices, while its contributors are a parade of people who already have big media profiles, or are think-tank directors with books out."[4] He also wrote "The Unherd is the pinnacle of journalistic anguish and confusion, and also a perfect example of the kind of media nobody needs any more. It makes some nods towards worthwhile things, like giving its journalists time to dig into stories, but there's no sign that they'll use it to come up with anything new or interesting. They say they want to present more than one side of an argument, but the whole thing comes across of a whiny rejection of a media landscape in which other people are talking over all their dreadfully important think-tanks."[4]

gollark: TJ09 can ND a sinomorph.
gollark: I still consider that broken, but at least there might be a *reason*.
gollark: Hey, that might be part of why the API needs keys...
gollark: Ah, the sound of broken software in the afternoon...
gollark: Your suggestion... is getting wide acceptance from people... including a moderator? Impossible.

References
  1. Mayhew, Freddy (25 September 2018). "Former Times columnist Tim Montgomerie leaves Unherd news website he founded last year". Press Gazette. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  2. "unherd.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. Jackson, Jasper. "UnHerd's rejection of the new isn't as groundbreaking as it seems to think". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  4. Childs, Simon (25 July 2017). "The UnHerd and the Whining of the Perfectly-Well-Represented". Vice. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  5. Nelson, Fraser (21 July 2017). "Welcome to the herd, UnHerd". The Spectator. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  6. "Sally Chatterton, Editor". www.unherd.com. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  7. "The UnHerd Tortoise: are elite media start-ups just hype?". New Statesman. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  8. Mayhew, Freddy (25 September 2018). "Former Times columnist Tim Montgomerie leaves Unherd news website he founded last year". Press Gazette. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  9. Dale, Iain (1 October 2018). "The Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2018". www.iaindale.com. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  10. "About UnHerd". www.unherd.com. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  11. "Writers". www.unherd.com. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  12. Burrell, Ian (18 May 2020). "News websites are seeing record traffic, so public trust is higher than it seems". inews.co.uk.
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