Evolve Politics

Evolve Politics is a British left-wing news and current affairs website created in September 2015.[2][3] The website describes itself as "a truly independent, shared equity media outlet, providing incisive news reporting and investigative journalism that highlights and exposes injustice, inequality and unfairness within UK politics, and throughout society in general."[4]

Evolve Politics
Screenshot of Evolve Politics homepage on mobile device
Type of site
News and current affairs
EditorsJessica Miller and Tom Rogers
Revenue£14,830 (2017)
URLevolvepolitics.com
Alexa rank7,557 (UK 06/2018)[1]
Launched2015
Current statusActive

Staff and financing

The website's editorial staff consists of editor-in-chief Jessica Miller and senior editor Tom Rogers. It pays contributors on a freelance basis, the rate being dependent on how many clicks their articles receive on top of a basic article fee. It is funded by a mixture of advertising, one-off donations and monthly subscribers. For the year to the end of August 2017, Evolve made a turnover of £14,830 and a profit of £4,292.[3][5]

In February 2018, then-senior editor Matt Turner became the first pro-Corbyn blogger to successfully join the parliamentary lobby in Westminster.[6] However, in May of the same year, Turner announced that he would be leaving the website in order to take up a role in public relations, stating that he was "looking forward to making my political points and push forward my ideas without being visible and accessible all the time like a lot of journalists and political commentators have to be".[7]

Content and impact

The website's political stance is highly supportive of the leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, as such it is often compared with other independent pro-Corbyn sites such as The Canary, Another Angry Voice and The Skwawkbox.[5][8][9][10]

A number of its stories entered the political mainstream due to their viral nature, including a story regarding the Conservative Party's decision to drop a ban on ivory trade (which had previously been in the party's 2015 manifesto).[11] During this election, most media commentary predicted electoral disaster for the Labour Party; however, senior editor Matt Turner predicted a hung parliament in April 2017.[12] Turner appeared on BBC Newsnight to discuss his correct prediction,[13] and Newsnight editor Ian Katz called Evolve Politics "one of a clutch of pro-Corbyn websites which claimed to have their finger closer to the national pulse than traditional media".[12]

During the 2017 general election Evolve reached a peak of almost two million monthly views, with a Facebook reach of more than twenty million.[3]

Regulation

In November 2017 Evolve Politics joined the state-approved press regulator IMPRESS.[3] In May 2018, IMPRESS ordered the website to pay £900 in damages for falsely claiming that Sky news presenter Jonny Gould attended a 2018 charity dinner hosted by the Presidents Club at which widespread sexual misconduct was reported.[14]

Criticism

In early 2019, Stop Funding Fake News, which does not disclose those involved, was launched to pressure advertisers not to allow their ads to run on left-wing websites such as Evolve Politics and The Canary, and the right-wing websites Westmonster, which has ceased to operate, and the Canadian Rebel News. The campaign was supported by Rachel Riley,[15] who campaigns against the party leadership's handling of allegations of antisemitism within the Labour Party, and promoted by Jewish News and Nick Cohen.[16]

References
  1. "Evolvepolitics.com Traffic Statistics". Alexa. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  2. "Traffic Analysis". Easycounter. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  3. Mayhew, Freddy (30 November 2017). "Left-wing news site Evolve Politics joins press regulator Impress in response to 'unsubstantiated shrieks of fake news'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  4. "What is Evolve Politics?". Evolve Politics. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  5. Booth, Robert. "DIY political websites: new force shaping the general election debate". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  6. Waterson, Jim (February 19, 2018). "Sign of the times: Evolve Politics' @MattTurner4L becomes the first of the Corbynite blogs to get a parliamentary lobby pass and attend lobby briefings, making him a full member of the hated MSM.pic.twitter.com/wJ08vWnIb0".
  7. Forsdick, Sam (9 May 2018). "Evolve Politics editor Matt Turner steps down after two years for PR job". Press Gazette. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  8. Waterson, Jim (6 May 2017). "The Rise Of The Alt-Left British Media". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  9. Waterson, Jim (18 June 2017). "This Was The Election Where The Newspapers Lost Their Monopoly On The Political News Agenda". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  10. Manthorpe, Rowland. "The UK's left is scrambling to adapt to Facebook's algorithm change". Wired. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  11. D'Urso, Joey (14 November 2017). "Ivory, the election and social media". BBC News. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  12. Katz, Ian (18 July 2017). "Why did (almost) everyone call the election wrong (again)?". BBC News. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  13. Evolve Politics (2017-07-17), Matt Turner of Evolve Politics on BBC Newsnight 17/07/17, retrieved 2018-04-30
  14. Mayhew, Freddy (21 May 2018). "Evolve Politics told to pay £900 in damages by Impress arbitrator after defaming broadcaster in follow-up report on Presidents Club dinner". Press Gazette. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  15. Frot, Mathilde (3 April 2019). "How a group of friends are fighting fake news – with a hand from Rachel Riley". Jewish News. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  16. Cohen, Nick (19 March 2019). "The campaign to boycott the extremists who peddle fake news". The Spectator. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
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