Editing Talking Points Memo

{{short description|American politics website}}
{{for|the communications concept|Talking point}}
{{Update|date=August 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox website
| name = ''Talking Points Memo''
| screenshot = Talking Points Memo screenshot.jpg
| screenshot_size = 250px
| caption = Main page of ''Talking Points Memo''<br>as of August 2010
| url = {{official website|http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/|talkingpointsmemo.com}}
| commercial = Subscription and advertising supported
| type = Political [[blog]], news, discussion forum
| language = [[English language|English]]
| registration = For discussion forum
| owner = [[Josh Marshall]]
| editor = Josh Marshall
| author = Josh Marshall
| launch_date = {{start date and age|2000|11|12}}
| current_status = Active
}}
'''''Talking Points Memo''''' ('''''TPM''''') is a liberal political news and opinion [[blog]] created and run by [[Josh Marshall]] that debuted on November 12, 2000. The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a "talking points memo" that was often discussed during the Clinton-era Monica Lewinsky scandal.<ref name='nyt-blogger-rakes-muck'>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25marshall.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=business | work=[[The New York Times]] | title=Blogger, Sans Pajamas, Rakes Muck and a Prize | last=Cohen | first=Noam | date=February 25, 2008 | access-date=December 29, 2024}}</ref> By 2007, ''TPM'' received an average of 400,000 page views every weekday.<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'>{{cite news | url=https://www.cjr.org/feature/the_josh_marshall_plan.php | publisher=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] | title=The (Josh) Marshall Plan | last=Glenn | first=David | date=September–October 2007 | access-date=September 8, 2007}}</ref>

== Growth ==
''Talking Points Memo'' was founded as a political blog in 2000 by [[Josh Marshall]], who until 2004 was the site's sole employee.<ref name="Seward-2008">{{cite news |last1=Seward |first1=Zachary M. |title=TPM sees room for growth through geotargeted advertising |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2008/12/tpm-sees-room-for-growth-through-geotargeted-advertising/ |work=[[Nieman Lab]] |date=December 2, 2008}}</ref> In 2005, TPM Media LLC was incorporated,<ref name="Seward-2008"/> and the company began to grow with more employees and spinoff websites.<ref name=AJR-2009>{{cite journal|last=Carmichael|first= Karen|title=Capital investment: Talking Points Memo launches a Washington bureau, augmenting its reporting firepower|journal=[[American Journalism Review]]|volume=31|issue=5|year=2009|page=8}}</ref> By 2009 it had 11 employees, and, having previously been funded by ads and reader donations,<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Alterman |first1=Eric |author1-link=Eric Alterman |title=Out of Print |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/03/31/out-of-print |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=March 24, 2008}}</ref> received [[angel investment]]s from a group led by [[Marc Andreessen]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Noam |title=Now Hiring at Talking Points Memo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/business/media/13marshall.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 13, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Kevin |title=Andreessen leads funding for US political blog network |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/pda/2009/jul/07/blogging-uspolitics-funding-journalism-businessmodel |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=7 July 2009 |language=en}}</ref> In 2009,  ''TPM'' opened a Washington, D.C. office and joined the [[White House press pool]] along with several other progressive news outlets to cover the [[Obama administration]].<ref name=AJR-2009/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Calderone |first1=Michael |title=TPM joins the pool and makes a splash |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/10/tpm-joins-the-pool-and-makes-a-splash-028955 |work=[[Politico]] |date=October 30, 2009 |language=en}}</ref>   The site introduced a subscription service, TPM Prime, in 2012,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bilton |first1=Richard |title=With 11,000 subscribers, Talking Points Memo says its paid product has helped stabilize its business |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2016/07/with-11000-subscribers-talking-points-memo-says-its-paid-product-has-helped-stabilize-its-business/ |website=[[Nieman Lab]] |date=July 19, 2016}}</ref> which by 2017 had over 21,000 subscribers,<ref name=niemanlab-2017-06-29>{{cite web |last1=Owen |first1=Laura Hazard |title=Talking Points Memo doubled its subscribers in a year — now it's trying to find new extras for them |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/06/talking-points-memo-doubled-its-subscribers-in-a-year-now-its-trying-to-find-new-extras-for-them/ |website=[[Nieman Lab]] |date=June 29, 2017}}</ref> and by December 2020 had nearly 35,000 subscribers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Marshall |first=Josh |title=The Push for 35,000 |url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-push-for-35000/ |website=Talking Points Memo |date=December 7, 2020}}</ref>

==Reception==
[[Robert W. McChesney]] and [[John Nichols (journalist)|John Nichols]] describe the site as taking a "more raucous and sensational" tone than traditional news media. This includes coining phrases such as "Bamboozlepalooza" to describe [[George W. Bush]]'s efforts to [[Social Security debate in the United States|privatize Social Security]], which the blog opposed;<ref name="PublicAffairs">{{cite book|title=The Death and Life of American Journalism|last1=McChesney|first1=Robert W.|last2=Nichols|first2=John|publisher=[[PublicAffairs]]|year=2010|isbn=978-1-56858-700-4|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g85l-l-CnbIC&pg=PA91}}</ref> and "bitch-slap politics" to refer to the [[Swiftboating]] of 2004 presidential candidate [[John Kerry]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marshall |first1=Josh |title=Well it seems there |url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/--97767? |website=Talking Points Memo |date=19 August 2004 |publisher=TPM Media |access-date=January 8, 2023}}</ref>

McChesney and Nichols compare the site's style to the [[muckraking]] of [[Upton Sinclair]]. The more social aspects of the site, which invite [[crowdsourcing]], were compared to ''[[La Follette's Weekly]]''.<ref name="PublicAffairs"/> [[Tom Rosenstiel]], director of the [[Project for Excellence in Journalism]], in 2009 said "''TPM'' is really an advocacy operation that has moved toward journalism."<ref name=AJR-2009/>

Guest bloggers have included [[Matthew Yglesias]], [[Robert Reich]], [[Dean Baker]], [[Michael Crowley (journalist)|Michael Crowley]], and, briefly, vice-presidential candidate [[John Edwards]]. Beginning in the summer of 2006, many weekend postings were provided by [[anonymous blogger]] ''DK''. On November 11, 2006, ''DK'' was revealed to be attorney David Kurtz, who now posts openly under his name.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In 2007, ''TPM'' won a [[George Polk Award]] for Legal Reporting for its coverage of the 2006 [[2006 dismissal of U.S. attorneys|U.S. Attorneys scandal]], becoming the first online-only outlet to receive the award.<ref>{{cite news|first=Noam|last=Cohen|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/24/business/blogger.php|title=A Web-only news operation gets its due|work= [[International Herald Tribune]]|date= February 24, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318035209/http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/24/business/blogger.php|archive-date=March 18, 2008}}</ref>

== Related projects ==
* [[TPMCafe]] - a "spin-off" blog also created by Josh Marshall, is a companion website that debuted on May 31, 2005. This site features a collection of blogs about a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues written by academics, journalists, and former public officials, among others.
* TPMmuckraker - a new blog that was founded when Marshall expanded his operation where journalists working for the TPM collective, such as [[Paul Kiel]] and [[Justin Rood]], investigate political corruption.
* TPMDC - founded in January 2007, the ''Horse's Mouth'', is a blog authored by Greg Sargent with a remit to cover how Washington politics was covered by the major news outlets, that moved home from ''[[The American Prospect]]'' to the TPM Media family.<ref>''[http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2007/01/post_492.html The American Prospect]'' {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Sargent had begun writing for TPMCafe in July 2006. In 2008, Sargent stopped posting to the ''Horse's Mouth'' blog and began posting to a new blog called TPM Election Central, which focused on covering the 2008 elections. In 2009, TPM Election Central was renamed TPMDC, to cover politics from Washington, D.C., and Marshall hired journalists based in Washington to report for the blog.
* TPMLiveWire - is a spin-off established in September 2009.
* TPMIdea Lab - is a blog established in January 2011 to cover science and technology.
* TPMPollTracker - is an aggregator of various polls about incumbents taken by polling agencies.
* TPMPrime - is a paid members-only section offering long form articles, and interactive discussions with journalists and political figures.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://prime.talkingpointsmemo.com/about.php |title=TPMPrime |publisher=TPMPrime |access-date=2012-10-08 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The four blogs (Talking Points Memo, TPMCafe, TPMMuckraker, and TPMDC) are published by TPM Media LLC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tpmmuckraker.com/about.php |title=TPMmuckraker |publisher=TPMmuckraker |access-date=2010-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122130830/http://tpmmuckraker.com/about.php |archive-date=2008-01-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:American political blogs]]
[[Category:Online magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 2000]]
[[Category:Opinion polling in the United States]]
[[Category:Liberalism in the United States]]