The right-leaning news startup Independent Journal Review has one declared goal: to be the media’s “breakout star” of this election cycle. “The key thing for us is to win 2016,” Executive Editor Michelle Jaconi told International Business Times Monday.
The site, founded by a former media director for the GOP and once hailed as “the right-wing Upworthy” -- a shorthand the company dislikes -- is riding high after scoring airtime on each of the cable networks last week for its slick videos featuring Republican presidential candidates during the buildup to the GOP’s first debate in Cleveland.
Like BuzzFeed’s recent foray into collaborations with candidates, the videos get chummy with the politicians, in order to “tell their amazing stories,” according to Jaconi. Last week’s standout, a black-and-white video hyping the GOP candidates’ debate rituals, looks like an ad for Grey Goose vodka or Guess jeans, blaring game-time music as the contenders moodily stare into the camera and share their inner thoughts. (Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker embarks on an Olympic jog filmed in slow motion.)
It’s a good example of the site’s grasp on how to make hip, polished and viral videos designed to go wild on Facebook. Combined with its curiosity gap-exploiting headlines and sleek, mobile friendly site design, it’s easy to see how IJReview cornered the market of Internet-savvy conservatives. All the exposure during the manic debate coverage seems to have broken the once-obscure site into the mainstream.
Humble Beginnings
From a small band of 10 employees in 2013, IJReview -- which will soon be rebranded simply “IJ” -- now boasts more than 60 editorial staffers, having poached the likes of reporter Hunter Schwarz from the Washington Post and Jaconi herself from CNN. It just brought on a new chief operating officer, former Google and DoubleClick executive Brandon Paine. The heads of IJReview told IBTimes that the site currently enjoys upwards of 35 million unique visits a month. (Quantcast gives it 22 million.)
Other “wins” abound: IJReview will be partnering with ABC in February to produce one of the Republican debates, and unlike the bombastic Breitbart News or Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller, the site has earned enough love from liberal journalists to merit an admiring profile at MSNBC. Jaconi asserted that IJReview is now the “third-biggest news company in the U.S.,” according to Quantcast data.
read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/ijreview-news-startup-next-door-political-consulting-agency-wants-win-2016-2048720
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