Punchbowl News is an online political news daily, in Washington, D.C., which debuted January 3, 2021, as "a membership-based news community", which focuses on the individuals "who power the US legislature". It intends to be non-partisan and non-judgemental, focusing on scoops and facts about Congress and the Washington power establishment, particularly core power-players.[2][3][4]
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Punchbowl News' homepage on May 12, 2024 | |
Type of site | News |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Employees | 30[1] |
| URL | punchbowl |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | 2021; 3 years ago (2021) |
| Current status | Active |
The initial products from Punchbowl included a free weekday-morning newsletter. Premium subscribers (annual subscription: $300[2]) also received afternoon and evening editions, and access to question-and-answer sessions with the authors, online via Zoom, and a Sunday conversation.[2][4] The team launched a podcast with Cadence13 in early February 2021,[2][4][5] and by early April 2021, it was available as The Daily Punch on Apple Podcasts Preview.[6] Conference calls and virtual events are also to be provided to subscribers.[2]
The publication gets its name from the codename used by the U.S. Secret Service for the U.S. Capitol.[2][3][4]
In a January 2021 interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, co-founder Jake Sherman indicated that Punchbowl's objectives were to:
Sherman indicated that the publication would be non-partisan, and refrain from value judgments and commentary, focusing instead on identifying newsworthy facts.[2][4]
Washington insiders, as subscribers, were the Punchbowl's initial target market.[2] Sherman described his target market as "people who [must] exist in Washington, people who [must] exist in the government, or [people] who deeply care about it" — whether professionally or as a hobby.[4]
Sherman said that Punchbowl News would differentiate itself from other media by largely ignoring sensational stories about the declarations, posturing, and gaffes of individual politicians and officials — focusing, instead, on "power... exercise of power... people abusing power".[4]
Punchbowl News was founded by three journalist-authors departing Politico: Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer (co-authors of Politico Playbook and the best-seller The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump’s America), and co-founder John Bresnahan, a then-recent Capitol Hill reporter for Politico,[2][3][4][5] along with Rachel Schindler, formerly with Facebook's news team.[2]
Initial funding, organized by the media banker Aryeh Bourkoff of Kindred Media, was US $1 million, which was relatively minor startup funding compared to the semi-rivals Politico and Axios. However, Sherman reported that they initially garnered far more subscribers than expected.[2]
Initial staffing involved only the four co-founders, with Palmer as CEO and Schindler running operations[2] — but Sherman indicated in January that they planned to expand and diversify the team.[2][4]
Within 72 hours of the first publication of Punchbowl News on January 6, 2021, the Capitol was stormed and occupied by protestors in a violent riot. Sherman and Bresnahan were present behind a door on which protesters were banging.[5]
In February 2021, Punchbowl News was suedbyPunchbowl, Inc., a Massachusetts greeting card company, for trademark infringement—claiming that the Punchbowl News company name, logo and trademark color unfairly resembled theirs.[7] The suit was dismissedinVirginia for improper venue. Punchbowl, Inc., re-filed in California. Punchbowl News won on summary judgement and the case was dismissed.[8] Punchbowl Inc. filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit, and Punchbowl News won again.[9]
In January 2023, Voice of America reported that Punchbowl News received sponsorship funding from Alibaba Group.[10]
In December 2023, Punchbowl News announced its acquisition of Electo Analytics, a company created to analyze legislation. They planned to use it as a source for data for subscribers. [11]
