Shareblue, formerly known as Blue Nation Review, is an American left-wing news website owned by journalist and political activist David Brock and headed by former Clinton staffer Peter Daou. Shareblue is within a constellation of political groups in Democratic strategist David Brock’s network that will raise a roughly $40 million budget to oppose President Donald Trump's policies.
Contents
History and activities
Originally called Blue Nation Review, the website relaunched as Shareblue in September 2016. Formerly owned by Moko Social Media Limited, a multi-media platform developer, Blue Nation Review was sold to Media Matters for America founder David Brock on November 25, 2015. After Blue Nation Review's sale, almost all of its staff were terminated. Brock hired Peter Daou – a former Clinton Senate-staffer who worked for her 2008 Presidential campaign as a digital media strategist – to head True Blue Media, LLC and to write for the website. Before the purchase, Blue Nation Review had published reports that shed light on the spending habits of former U.S. Representative Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), playing a role in the former Congressman’s eventual resignation. During the primaries, the website was critical of Bernie Sanders and supportive of Hillary Clinton, posting stories like "With Bernie Sanders As Their Nominee, Democrats Can Kiss The Presidency Goodbye" and "Why does Bernie Sanders keep denigrating Hillary’s supporters?". Blue Nation Review endorsed Clinton in January 2016.
David Brock has described the website as alternative and independent, saying that Blue Nation Review would produce daily content including investigative reports and video. Later, he said that the main goal of the website was to get presidential candidate Hillary Clinton elected. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Shareblue's "bread-and-butter content" was "exposing what it considers to be news coverage stacked against" Clinton; the group's major message was "that a shameful false equivalence was causing the media to soft-pedal Mr. Trump's many transgressions and overplay the few it could find on Mrs. Clinton."
Ownership
Brock formed a Delaware-based corporation, True Blue Media, LLC, to manage his ownership stake in the website. True Blue Media owns 80% of Blue Nation Review, with Moko Social Media retaining a 20% ownership stake. Brock tapped journalist David Sirota to lead the company, which Brock intends to be "an answer to Breitbart on the left", but Sirota later rescinded his acceptance citing doubts about the project's funding and purpose.