Talking Points Memo

Talking Points Memo (or TPM) is a political news and opinion website created and run by Josh Marshall that debuted on November 12, 2000. The name is a reference to the memo (short list) consisting of the issues (points) discussed by one's side in a debate or used to support a position taken on an issue. By 2007, "TPM" received an average of 400,000 page views every weekday.
History.
Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols describe the site as taking a "more raucous and sensational" tone than traditional news media. This includes coining phrases such as "Bamboozlepalooza" to describe George W. Bush's efforts to privatize Social Security, which the blog opposed. McChesney and Nichols compare this to the muckraking of Upton Sinclair. The more social aspects of the site, which invite crowdsourcing, were compared to "La Follette's Weekly".
Guest bloggers have included Matthew Yglesias, Robert Reich, Dean Baker, Michael Crowley, and, briefly, vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. Beginning in the summer of 2006, many weekend postings were provided by anonymous blogger "DK". On November 11, 2006, "DK" was revealed to be attorney David Kurtz, who now posts openly under his name.
On July 10, 2007, the site had a major overhaul, adding much content from its related sites to the main page. It is part of the effort to have more original reporting on the website.
In 2007, "TPM" won a Polk Award for its coverage of the 2006 U.S. Attorneys scandal, becoming the only blog so far to win the award.
Related projects.
The four blogs (Talking Points Memo, TPMCafe, TPMMuckraker, and TPMDC) are published by TPM Media LLC.