Good day.
After this morning’s announcement of our strategic partnership with Broad + Liberty, I certainly thought there would be reaction. I’m not sure that I anticipated the response received from some loyal readers.
It was nice to read opening lines in tweets, emails and comments about how readers enjoy PoliticsPA for its nonpartisan stance and how we share commentary from the left and the right from around the state and the nation.
It made me feel good that so many readers cared about PoliticsPA and what we bring to the daily political discourse.
What followed next?
“Is it really an equal partnership when the CEO of right wing publication Broad + Liberty oversees the entire project?”
“Incredibly disappointing to hear your nonpartisan coverage is ending.”
“Time to make sure you’re following (other outlets) for your Pennsylvania political news.”
“Why would you do this? Terrible move. But good to know where you stand.”
“Using PoliticsPA’s strong nonpartisan reputation to launder the image of such an obviously biased and agenda-driven outlet while covering a national election in the most pivotal state in the country is incredibly disappointing.”
“Man I never unsubscribed from something as fast as I did this morning with PoliticsPA newsletter.”
OK, then.
Now, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.
We, at PoliticsPA, are proud of what the Playbook and website mean to Pennsylvania political junkies and insiders. We also recognize that help was needed on the back end to continue its excellence and, ultimately, offer even more of the nonpartisan, high-quality content our readers have come to expect over the years.
Broad + Liberty is a media company with a strategy for growth. Yes, Broad + Liberty readily admits its editorial page is center-right. That was never glossed over in the negotiations. In fact, the company’s ideological transparency is an attribute. In PoliticsPA, Broad + Liberty saw an opportunity to improve its reach from a primarily Southeast Pennsylvania site to one that can better cover Harrisburg and the remainder of the Commonwealth.
Does it behoove Broad + Liberty to move PoliticsPA away from its nonpartisan reputation in order to compete with its own mission? Hardly. Broad + Liberty already has a strong brand amongst Pennsylvania conservatives.
Does it make sense for PoliticsPA’s editorial team to allow the longest-running political news website in Pennsylvania to alter its mission – focusing on topics that matter to political insiders? Absolutely not.
This strategic partnership will benefit both parties and is one that PoliticsPA and Broad + Liberty enter into with enthusiasm. Yes, Broad + Liberty will oversee PoliticsPA. But as managing editor, my goal has always been to deliver the headlines/news to you in an easy-to-read format that allows readers to see a story from all sides – not just left or right.
That is not going to change.
All parties involved agree that a healthy civic dialogue and access to high-quality information is vital to our democratic process, especially in a year where early polls indicate that another Biden-Trump matchup for the presidency is likely. PoliticsPA will remain true to its mission, as will Broad + Liberty. Can collaboration make both better and stronger? We believe so. Will you be better informed as a reader? The answer is yes.
To those who are disappointed with our move, I respectfully ask that you give us a chance to show you what we believe PoliticsPA has the potential to become: a better, stronger version of its current self. If you see a shift that you do not like, I understand and respect your desire to receive your political news in a different form.
If you are new to PoliticsPA, I welcome you to a different way to consume Keystone State politics. We’ll always present both sides of the story, fairly and thoroughly, so you can determine the effects on the Keystone State and how it affects our citizens.
We also sincerely appreciate the many notes of congratulations and well-wishes for this new endeavor.
Thank you for being along for the ride … and thank you for continued support of PoliticsPA.
Steve
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21 Responses
If it helps you stay afloat without changing the editorial bent, great. But it seems disingenuous and defensive to label Broad and Liberty as center-right. It certainly is not a site I choose to spend any time on, but I will let the continued reporting speak for itself. It will remain objective or it won’t. And that will determine my future readership and I imagine many others’.
I can’t believe you’re ruining your brand to partner with a Yass supported organization. He supports candidates who support Trump who wanted to throw out Pennsylvanian’s votes. An anti-democratic billionaire is giving you money but won’t assert control?!?! That’s an incredibly naive argument and we don’t believe you.
Leans right of center? Did PA Politics fall off the turnip truck over the weekend? B+L is nothing but a right wing propagandists wet dream along the lines of Breitbart. Not just the editorial page, mind you. All their news. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to pick up on that either. First paragraph of any of their news and the bias smacks you in the face harder than a field of poop. So disappointing to see this. If you really wanted to claim all sides being represented, where is the left leaning side? In a time where honesty is desperately needed, this is how you decided to go?
Hopefully you all start focusing on the corruption in the democrat party. Their PACs, especially BLM and the Pink mafia, need to be investigated.
The whole political apparatus of PA is broken. We have the weakest AG in the country. Our PD offices are a joke. The court system is a mess.
Abolish qualified immunity in PA. Let us sue the government.
Our public schools are an embarrassment. We need property tax reform. Sell the state stores already. I could go on.
Lol I see a lot of bitching here and zero evidence to back it up. Grow up.
A thoroughly delusional editorial. Broad+Liberty does not lean center-right – it’s a rightwing rag. And PoliticsPA’s nonpartisan reporting “won’t change” – until it does. There’s an overwhelming scholarly literature analyzing the many, many ways in which political agendas can – and do – creep into news coverage (not to mention staffing decisions, the selection of which stories to cover more vs less, the crafting of headlines, where the publication posts on social media, and so on). Recent history is littered with formerly employed editors who wrote what Steve writes here and find themselves no longer in their positions a year or two or three later.
Exactly. B&L is FAR Rightwing nutjob territory, not “center-right.” Sad to see. Won’t be seeing any more. Sticking with Capital Star and Spotlight PA.
Agree with Capital Star and Spotlight PA. I’ll add PCN to make it three.
I totally support this strategic partnership in the interest of fairness, thoroughness and balance. Broad & Liberty is a very responsible site and organization and the people at PoliticsPa need not explain this any further or (perish the thought!) apologize. Go forward now, be strengthened and do good work. Avanti!
Congratulations to Larry, Steve and Terry. I understand the reasons behind the partnership and wish you all the best!
Congratulations on the partnership, Larry, Steve and Terry. I understand the reasons for it and wish you all the best!
Who are you fooling here besides yourselves?
I don’t trust Broad & Liberty at all. You partnered with an organization that wants my friends dead, or at the very least, wouldn’t mind too much if they were hate crimed. You can reap the benefits of that business decision.
Why so dramatic? Why is it that dem socialists always rant and rave about “hate crimes”. Every crime involves hate.
Larry Ceisler here, one of the longtime owners of the site. Please know we still maintain ownership of the site. If we were not transparent regarding this partnership, the only thing anyone would have noticed is the site was improving because Steve had more time to report original stories. It is to everyone’s benefit that PoliticsPa maintains its non-partisan stance. This partnership is about providing more resources to Steve and back-office support to the site. We have operated the site all these years at a financial loss because we know people enjoy it. And you will continue to enjoy it. Please contact me if you have further questions.
Wow you are fooling yourself if you think this is a sustainable model.
I’m not so sure I agree with above comments. Why? Because the articles in the last six to eight weeks has been 90% but press releases from new and would be candidates for office, someone could send a press release saying their labrador retriever was running for office and it would get published no questions asked. The ups and downs (covering the past week) comes through about once every three months, IMO that has been the only insightful reading for a while now. No matter I will continue to read. For the time being. However one minuscule hint of broad + liberty’s agenda overtaking the articles and I move on, bye bye to sy snyder. The competing, not-aligned pennsylvania politics websites (we all know their names) are one click away in my bookmarks. And so is the delete key. And if the non aligned websites are pay walled all you have to do is find their author’s social media feeds.
When I look at the Board of Directors of Broad + Liberty and see the name of Matt Brouillette. the idea that this organization is somehow non-partisan vanishes in a cloud of dust. Matt has been the continual voice of one of the state’s biggest lobbying groups, funded by billionaire Jeffrey Yass. The group has funneled literally millions into the coffers of legislative leaders to push for ever more funding for state charter schools.
93% of the state’s 500 school boards have petitioned the legislature to look at the formula for funding charters since the bulk of those dollars come out of the budgets of tax-payer funded public schools who have struggled for years with inadequate state funding and rampant inequalities between schools.
Charter school backers have clearly been using their dollars to block any efforts to conduct peer-reviewed studies that measure whether PA charter schools produce results that are equal to or better than public schools. A number of such studies elsewhere in the country suggest they do not.
And finally, Commonwealth has steadfastly pushed to continue Pennsylvania’s dubious distinction as one of just a handful of states that will NOT bar gifts to legislators…..the very gifts Commonwealth and other powerful interests in the state use to buy what they want….a power lobbyists have enjoyed since the robber baron days when steel, coal and railroads ruled the halls of Harrisburg.
In fact when Commonwealth hosted a luncheon for one of the legislatures leaders, and representatives of a group that has been fighting for a gift ban for years appeared with a banner calling out the need for a ban, it was Mr. Brouillette himself who stood up and tried to tear it apart.
The record of Broad + Liberty is what you would expect from backers who clearly do NOT have the interests of average Pennsylvanians on their roster. The present system in Harrisburg….gerrymandered districts, unfair rules rammed through at the start of each session, refusal to consider truly independent redistricting and continual roadblocking of a large range of issues critical to our citizens…reflects a legislative process tailor made for the powerful and a legislature deeply beholden to those who pay for what they want and very often get.
Broad + Liberty support for the Moms for Liberty school board drive in Bucks county is just part of an overall effort by these forces to steadily weaken public education with a goal of replacing schools with for-profit charters. Thankfully the voters in Bucks stood up and brought that effort to a halt.
We know these are challenging times for journalism, but that makes it even more important that we support outlets that remain truly independent. I recently signed up for your newsletter. I will be watching with great interest to see whether your claims that you are not giving up your independence will survive.
My advice…..watch your back.
Thanks for publicizing all the connections to Yass that we all knew about but may have forgetten. B&L is NOT media – it’s paid propaganda. Sad to see Sy Snyder become a shill.
Sorry but like many others, I’m not buying your attempt to gloss over who is in charge. Your objectivity will vanish. Perhaps it will take a little time but vanish it will before the 2024 general election.
I have really liked Politics Pa for it approach to the state politics, but like most mergers along these lines, I think that I will no longer bookmark it. I just did a basic Google, and found headlines like “Broad+Liberty: A conservative angle on Philadelphia News.”
Then I read how they supported the nefarious “Moms for Liberty” and the Central Bucks School Board that gave its conservative superintendent, now gone after the new school board was elected, a $16,000 raise knowing that he would be fired.
This is sad. I really liked the approach of Politics Pa.