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Drop Site News

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Drop Site News
FormationJuly 2024; 1 year ago (2024-07)
FounderJeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim
TypeNonprofit news outlet
PurposeInvestigative reporting
Official language
English
Websitewww.dropsitenews.com Edit this at Wikidata

Drop Site News is a nonprofit investigative news outlet founded by Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill in July 2024. It is based in Washington, D.C., United States.[1][2] It describes itself as non-aligned and anti-establishment.[3]

History

In July 2024, Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill founded Drop Site News,[4][5][6][7][1] with Nausicaa Renner as a founding editor.[2] All three formerly worked at The Intercept,[2] which had seen significant staff turmoil and departures in the preceding months.[8][9] The board of The Intercept rejected an offer from Grim and Scahill to take over the company.[9]

The New York Times described the establishment of Drop Site News—comparing it to Taylor Lorenz's User Mag, Oliver Darcy's Status, and 404 Media founded by former staff of Vice Motherboard—as an instance of "a series of journalists leaving legacy media institutions in recent years to strike out on their own".[1] The Intercept provided startup funding for Drop Site News.[8][10]

Grim described Drop Site News as focusing broadly on "power and greed".[2] He has expressed a belief in the importance of alternative media in "debunking disinformation that often goes unchallenged by corporate journalism", citing his observation that "many Israeli propaganda narratives fell apart under pressure from alternative media", such as claims that Hamas beheaded 40 babies or committed systemic rape during the October 7 attacks.[11]

On July 8, 2024, the Meta Platforms-owned social media platform Instagram took down several interviews about the Gaza war posted by Democracy Now!. An interview of Scahill by Amy Goodman on his interviews with Hamas officials for Drop Site News was among those taken down. Instagram's takedown notice said that the removed interviews included "symbols, praise, or support of people and organizations we define as dangerous".[10]

In December 2024, Owen Jones reported in an article for Drop Site News, citing 13 anonymous BBC staffers, that its Middle East editor Raffi Berg was acting to skew the BBC's coverage of the Gaza war in favor of Israel.[12][13] The BBC denied the allegations.[14][12] In November 2025, Berg sued Jones for libel, alleging Jones's article had damaged his reputation and resulted in "an onslaught of hatred, intimidation and threats". Jones said in response to the lawsuit, "I strongly disagree with Mr Berg's accusations, and I look forward to vigorously defending my reporting in court."[13]

In February 2025, the Palestine Laboratory Podcast, hosted by investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein of Drop Site News, was a finalist for the Melbourne Press Club's Quill Award for best podcast.[15]

In September 2025, Grim announced that Nika Soon-Shiong, daughter of Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, would serve as Drop Site News's publisher.[16][17]

Funding

The Intercept provided startup funding for the new outlet[18] [19] Open Society Foundations awarded $250k to Social Security Works Education Fund, the non-profit which acts as a fiscal sponsor for Drop Site News "to support establishing a Drop Site News MENA desk to bridge a critical information gap in independent journalism"[20][21]

Journalists

Drop Site's journalists include Grim, Scahill, Renner, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, and Murtaza Hussain.[2] During the Gaza war, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat worked for Drop Site News, reporting from the northern Gaza Strip, before he was killed in March 2025.[22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c Robertson, Katie; Mullin, Benjamin (2024-10-01). "Taylor Lorenz, Chronicler of Digital Culture, Will Start Own Newsletter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-27.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bose, Meghnad. "The Adversarial Ethos". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  3. ^ "About". Drop Site News. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
  4. ^ "Drop Site News: Jeremy Scahill on Launching Investigative News Outlet with Ryan Grim". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  5. ^ "Scahill and Grim Launch New Media Outlet With The Intercept's Support". The Intercept. 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  6. ^ "Ryan Grim dishes on why he's leaving The Intercept". The Hill. 2024-07-09.
  7. ^ Tucker, Pete (2024-07-10). "[Ryan] Grim News". CounterPunch.org. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  8. ^ a b Allsop, Jon. "Britain's government has changed. Will its relationship with the press?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-07-14. Yesterday was a busy one for media-jobs news. Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim announced that they are leaving The Intercept and founding a new investigative outlet called Drop Site News; The Intercept said that it is providing 'startup funding' and will continue to host the pair's podcasts.
  9. ^ a b Tani, Max (2024-06-02). "Money woes, staff issues strain the Intercept". Semafor. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  10. ^ a b Tani, Max (2024-07-09). "Instagram removes Gaza posts from lefty news org Democracy Now". Semafor.
  11. ^ "Alternative Media and Debunking Israeli Lies". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. 2024-10-19. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  12. ^ a b Linares, Matthew; Freedman, Des; Matar, Dina; Berry, Mike (17 January 2025). "Can we trust the BBC on Israel-Gaza?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  13. ^ a b "BBC editor accused of Israel bias sues Owen Jones over report". The New Arab. 7 November 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-11-07. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  14. ^ Farber, Alex (2025-01-12). "BBC editor may sue Owen Jones over Israel bias claim". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2025. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  15. ^ "30th Quill Awards – Finalists". Melbourne Press Club. February 27, 2025. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
  16. ^ Tani, Max (September 14, 2025). "'The verdict of history will be merciless': A new left media rises in the age of Trump". Semafor. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  17. ^ McCarthy, Will; Mason, Melanie; Jones, Blake; Gardiner, Dustin (September 15, 2025). "How Arnold will talk about redistricting". Politico. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  18. ^ Intercept, The (2024-07-08). "Scahill and Grim Launch New Media Outlet With The Intercept's Support". The Intercept. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  19. ^ "The adversarial ethos of Drop Site". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  20. ^ "Open Society Foundations - Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships". www.opensocietyfoundations.org. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  21. ^ Ross, Chuck (2025-11-14). "EXCLUSIVE: Soros Bankrolling Anti-Israel Drop Site News". Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  22. ^ Alam, Anam (25 March 2025). "'If you're reading this, it means I have been killed': Gaza journalist Hossam Shabat shares final message after death". The New Arab. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  23. ^ Zirin, Dave (2025-03-25). "By Targeting Artists and Journalists, Israel Is Trying to Kill the Truth". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
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