Talking Points Memo

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA

·

EST. NOVEMBER 13, 2000

·

talkingpointsmemo.com

OVERVIEW

Talking Points Memo publishes independent reporting and analysis on American political culture. TPM produces a daily news report, an editors' blog, an investigative vertical, newsletters and podcasts.Talking Points Memo publishes independent reporting and analysis on American political culture. TPM produces a daily news report, an editors' blog, an investigative vertical, newsletters and podcasts.

HISTORY

Josh Marshall launched Talking Points Memo in November 2000 as a blog covering the contested Florida recount between George W. Bush and Al Gore, while working as Washington editor of The American Prospect. His first post ran 254 words. In 2002, TPM's coverage of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's remarks praising Strom Thurmond's segregationist 1948 presidential campaign contributed to Lott's resignation from Senate leadership. TPM began accepting reader donations in 2003 to help fund reporting on the New Hampshire primary, and the site later expanded into offshoot verticals including TPM Muckraker and TPM Cafe.

In 2007, TPM's reporting on the Bush administration's dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys helped drive the story into a national scandal that contributed to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's resignation. The coverage won the George Polk Award for Legal Reporting in 2008, making TPM the first web-native news organization to receive a Polk Award. TPM opened its Washington, D.C. bureau in 2009 under the motto "in it but not of it." In 2012, ahead of that year's presidential election, TPM launched a reader-membership program, becoming one of the earliest online news organizations to build a subscription business. Marshall has remained TPM's majority owner throughout its history, declining outside investment offers — including interest from venture capitalist Marc Andreessen around 2008 — in order to retain editorial control. TPM marked its 25th anniversary in November 2025.

NOTABLE WORKS

Beyond its Polk Award-winning 2007 investigation into the U.S. attorneys firings, TPM's coverage has included reporting that won multiple awards for its opposition coverage of the Bush administration's push to privatize Social Security; early reporting examining then-candidate Donald Trump's ties to Russia and later his pressure campaign toward Ukraine; coverage that turned then-Rep. Todd Akin's 2012 "legitimate rape" remarks into national news; and reporting on credit-card fraud allegations against former Rep. George Santos. TPM's editorial staff is unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.

KEY PERSONNEL

• FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
  Josh Marshall

• PUBLISHER
  Joe Ragazzo

• EXECUTIVE EDITOR
  John Light

• EDITOR-AT-LARGE
  David Kurtz

• DEPUTY EDITOR OF NEWS
  Nicole LaFond

• DEPUTY EDITOR, AUDIENCE & STRATEGY
  Allegra Kirkland

• INVESTIGATIONS DESK
  Josh Kovensky, Hunter Walker

• HEAD OF PRODUCT
  Derick Dirmaier

AUDIENCE

TPM is funded overwhelmingly by its readers. As of the organization's most recently published financial breakdown, more than 91% of revenue came from memberships and reader contributions, with the remainder from advertising. As of its 25th anniversary in November 2025, TPM reported more than 35,000 paying subscribers and a newsroom of more than a dozen staffers, serving readers focused on U.S. political news, government accountability reporting and left-of-center political commentary.

LOCATION AND CONTACT INFO

HEADQUARTERS

New York, New York

BUREAU

Washington, D.C.

WEBSITE

https://talkingpointsmemo.com