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Privatizing Combat Journalism

A note to our readers

TheRsvlts.com

Happy news: The Washington Free Beacon is taking its talents to the free market.

Since its launch in February 2012, the Free Beacon has been a project of the Center for American Freedom, a nonprofit that has graciously supported our reporters, editors, and contributors. But we have large ambitions. And in order for the Free Beacon to grow, for it to take its rightful place alongside the New York Times and the Washington Post, it must become a newspaper like any other—online in our case, but making its way in the private sector, funded by investors, sustained by advertisers, and seeking out elusive Mexican oligarchs.

We're therefore pleased to report that the Free Beacon is now a privately owned, for-profit enterprise. We thank the Center for American Freedom for sustaining us during our infancy. As we enter the private sector, we will make sure that incorporating advertising into the website does not become a nuisance to our readers. Indeed, we won't do anything to distract from the journalism our readers have come to expect, such as our exclusive reporting on Hillary Clinton’s successful defense of a child rapist. This new model should allow us to expand our reporting. It should allow us to better serve the cause of freedom.

The Center for American Freedom is also starting a new adventure. We want to thank Bill Kristol and Jaime Sneider, who along with Michael Goldfarb have stepped down from the board, for their help with the Free Beacon. Kristol and Sneider will also continue to be involved with our publication.

The Center for American Freedom has been renamed and reconfigured as the Center for American Opportunity. Its mission of incubating journalism startups continues with the launch of Opportunity Lives, a news platform devoted to highlighting stories of success, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving across the United States. You can read more about OpportunityLives.com and its mission here and here.

The mission of the Free Beacon remains the same: to uncover the hypocrisies, scandals, and insipid politics of the nation’s capital through tough and original reporting. We call it combat journalism. And we’re loaded for bear.

Michael Goldfarb

Chairman

Matthew Continetti

Editor in Chief