Sandara Park: 🎥 Part 2: Behind the scenes

Last week, I shared with you the story of how we came to be. If you missed it, you can read it here. Today, I want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at Upward News.

Our team

This all started as a solo project — I was writing, researching, creating graphics, and running social media alone. Since then, I'm grateful to be joined by an incredibly talented team of creators, all passionate about going head-to-head with the corporate media despite our limited resources.

We function like a really, really small business. Everyone on the team works on Upward News part-time except me. Some of our writers are in college, and others are just starting their careers. We're all based in the U.S.

As of right now, the team consists of Brandon Goldman, the managing editor, Hudson Crozier, the associate editor, Jack Elbaum and Anthony Constantini, the staff writers, me, the editor-in-chief, and a few others who intermittently contribute to our work.

Our Process

Getting the newsletter out every day is a serious effort. There are over eight hours of research, writing, debate, and coordination behind each issue that lands in your inbox.

I'm the editor-in-chief, which is a fancy way of saying I choose the stories we cover and how we cover them. Every afternoon, I spend a few hours looking through hundreds of different news sources.

Most outlets operate on a high-output model, publishing as many articles as possible to increase web traffic for ad revenue, so there is a lot of noise to parse through. I pick only stories that matter the most and have our writers cover trends and insights.

Our writers aim to meet our high editorial standards based on a set of guidelines we created (we've made this public here). Each article usually takes hours of research and writing.

We make them concise and fast, which takes much more time than writing longer, less focused, fluff-filled articles. Then, the articles are scrutinized for errors and unintended opinions or biases.

Throughout the editorial process, we're focused on you, the reader. We try to anticipate what questions you'll have and do our best to answer them. We put ourselves in your shoes and imagine what details you'll find riveting and which ones won't meaningfully impact you. Our journalism isn't crafted to go viral in the algorithms, it's written to be read — by you.

Should you trust us?

You shouldn't trust anyone. Everyone has an agenda, from the behemoth corporate media to small alternative outlets to online citizen journalists. So, we try to earn your trust with a simple set of rules.

We have a strict no-opinion policy. Every story is told through a series of heavily cited, often underreported facts. We also include analysis, but we do it right: in a non-emotional, matter-of-fact style based on strong evidence. Our insights are there to help you understand reality, not convince you to support one set of values over another.

Regardless, mistakes are inevitable. The corporate media has mastered the art of silent corrections — quietly updating errors in articles. So when they get something wrong, the damage is done, and their readers rarely find out.

We do the opposite. When we're wrong, we'll highlight corrections at the top of the next day's newsletter and in web articles. They'll be impossible to miss.

What's our political slant?

Here is what the three main media bias rating sites say (not that they're objective):

AllSides rated us a "lean right."
Media Bias / Fact Check rated us as "right-center" with high credibility.
Ad Fontes Media rated us "skew right."

Who funds us?

Short answer: you.

The media industry is a web of agenda-driven donors and investors. When I was first looking at how to turn Upward News into a sustainable organization that could grow and compete in the big leagues, I found two options.

First: become a non-profit and find donors who believe in our cause. But most donors give because they want to influence. Outlets that rely on donors give them leverage.

This is the case with some of the world's largest outlets such as the Guardian, funded partly by Bill Gates, or the Associated Press, funded by liberal groups. It also happens with smaller, independent outlets too. In their defense, it can be hard to sustain journalism.

The second: go the for-profit route and find investors. This model can work, but it has the same problem of putting wealthy and politically motivated operators in the drivers' seats, especially if fundraising happens at the onset.

I said no to both ideas and decided Upward News would take a shot at bootstrapping and being fully funded by our readers and occasional sponsors that we trust. How's that going? Well, it's been much harder than anticipated. But we have big plans, and we're pushing ahead.

This way forward means editorial independence, but it also means that we need support from readers like you. If it feels like we're overemphasizing this point, it's because it's really important. Independent news isn't free, and if you believe in this mission and what we're doing, we need your hands on deck.

Become a supporting member today.

With your help, we'll be able to keep you informed and ahead of the curve with sane and uncompromising journalism.

If you have any questions, feedback, compliments, or criticisms — you can respond to any email we send, and I'll respond. That's a promise.

Stay ahead, stay informed.