The Canary (website)

The Canary is a left-wing news website based in the United Kingdom. Its editor-in-chief is Kerry-Anne Mendoza. While focusing on UK political affairs, it also has a "Global" section, a satire section ("Off the Perch"), and "Science", "Environment", and "Health" sections. Founded in 2015, the website increased in popularity around the time of the 2017 United Kingdom general election.
History.
"The Canary" was created in October 2015 with five founding members in an attempt to "diversify the media", according to editor-in-chief Kerry-Anne Mendoza. The website was funded by advertising and monthly contributions from around 1,500 supporters in August 2016.
A major factor motivating "The Canary" founders, Mendoza said, was scepticism of the mainstream media, a scepticism shared by Jeremy Corbyn, the then leader of the Labour Party. In his first address as Labour leader, he attacked pundits for not understanding the discontent among many ordinary British voters, and talked about the "power of social media".
Following the 2017 United Kingdom general election, the BBC reported that "Sites such as The Canary, The Skwawkbox, and Another Angry Voice are making a huge impact and earning a massive following", and such sites were considered to have contributed to sensationalist reporting of the election.
In September 2020, "The Canary" revealed plans to fund a new investigative unit staffed by two journalists. In a statement, it said: "A reader-funded investigative unit that is responsive to the requests and demands of "The Canary" readership is something people have asked us for since our inception. We believe this unit will be of value to our existing readers and attract new readers. We hope they will work with us to secure funding to continue the unit after the initial six months."
Political standpoint.
The Canary has been described as "hyper-partisan".
Describing her website to Journalism.co.uk, "Canary" editor-in-chief Kerry-Anne Mendoza said that:
For us, this is ultimately about democracy. Informed consent in the public is the bedrock of democracy, and if that informed consent isn't there because people aren't aware of the kind of information that they need to be, they won't be equipped to make the decent democratic decisions that they need to, say, for example, on climate change, the justice system, or whether austerity is a positive economic policy.
"The Canary" is generally supportive of Corbyn, but has also supported Natalie Bennett (former leader of the Green Party) and the Greens' "radical alternative" to the "Tory-lite" policies of "the neoliberal Labour Party" asserting "The Green Party's rise to viability preceded the election of Jeremy Corbyn" and the emergence of Momentum.
Mendoza claims that it was "a complete coincidence" that the website was created shortly after Corbyn's leadership victory. "We don't have any affiliations with political parties, we don't have any affiliations with political organisations, and we're not actually ostensibly left-wing", she added, calling the site's editorial stance "a counterpoint to conservative media" and "broadly liberal". Mendoza also stated that "The Canary" was "biased in favour of social justice, equal rights – those are non-negotiable things. We’re in this as an issue-driven organisation", and stated: "Every press organisation has an editorial stance and we’re certainly no different."
In common with other left-wing alternative media sites, "The Canary"'s stance towards the Labour leadership became more critical after Corbyn stepped down and Keir Starmer was elected as Labour leader in 2020.
Regulation and accuracy.
In August 2017, "The Canary" joined the voluntary state-approved press regulator IMPRESS. IMPRESS upheld two of the 58 complaints they received during 2017/18 about The Canary's news reporting.
In April 2019, "The Canary" was given an overall pass rating and a pass on eight out of nine factors (it failed on “handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly”) by NewsGuard, an organisation which evaluates news outlets for trustworthiness.
A 2018 study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism described "The Canary" as "a left-wing partisan site" and an example of "alternative and partisan brands" which have "a political or ideological agenda and their user base tends to passionately share these views". Its trust rating was given as 4.69 where 10 is fully trusted, making it more trusted than the "Daily Mail", "Buzzfeed News" and "The Sun", but less than "The Daily Mirror", the regional press or any broadsheet newspaper, although its trust level among its own users was at 6.65 (a similar level to "The Independent", "The Daily Telegraph" and the regional press).
Mendoza has said: "We are human beings and we make mistakes. We clean up the mess and make sure it's clear to our readership". "The Canary" said that as of March 2019 it had produced 10,000 articles since its creation and two of its articles required deletion after editorial review, representing 0.02% of its content.
In early 2019, the campaign organisation Stop Funding Fake News, described "The Canary" as promoting conspiracy theories, defending antisemitism, and publishing fake news. The campaign was launched to pressure advertisers not to allow their ads to run on certain websites. The campaign persuaded Macmillan Cancer Support to suspend advertising on "The Canary" while it reviewed online ad placement. In response to criticisms from the campaign, a co-founder of "The Canary", Nancy Mendoza, who is Jewish, said that neither she nor the site was antisemitic and that it had taken a position of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Then MP Chris Williamson described the SFFN's campaign against "The Canary" as "sinister".
Business model.
In April 2016, Mendoza said in "Free & Fearless" (a magazine produced by Hacked Off) that: we are attracting an audience of 3.5 million unique users per month. On top of this: every two hours, 24 hours a day, seven days a week – someone becomes a paid subscriber of "The Canary" ... Our growing traffic is attracting advertisers who are now offering us a floor RPM (payment per 1,000 hits) of £3 and a ceiling of £9."
According to "The Canary"'s FAQ, around half of the website's revenue is raised from online advertising, and the other half from reader subscriptions.
The website explains its business model: "Each writer and section editor is paid in two ways. Firstly, each and every article receives a flat-rate equal payment from our monthly income from supporters. So with each new supporter, the pay per article goes up for everyone every month. Secondly, each article receives a top-up payment based directly on the percentage of web traffic, and therefore advertising income, that articles generate during a given calendar month." This pay-per-click model has been criticised for promoting clickbait as writers are only paid for their work if it becomes viral. Mendoza disputes this, claiming that the payment structure means that people who generate the revenues get a fair share.
According to one journalism lecturer, while the website is skilled at promoting its stories, the primary reason for its viral popularity may be its political standpoint.
During 2016–18, the website had an editorial team of around 30, although only five of "The Canary" staff earn enough money to work full-time. It had an annual turnover of £250,000 in 2016.
In August 2019, "The Canary" emailed users to announce that it would rely more on its inhouse team and less on freelance contributors, due to a reduced income. After the email was shared online, Mendoza said on Twitter that, by the middle of this August, the website would "leave the gig economy". "The Canary" said this was due to Facebook and Google changing their algorithms, which reduced the site's traffic and therefore advertising income, and to the campaign to persuade advertisers to blacklist the site: it said it was "susceptible to pressure from political Zionists, and our advertising revenue is under fire". "The Canary" mounted a recruitment drive for one thousand additional subscribers, which it reported it had achieved by early August, saying this had secured its immediate future. In March 2020, advertising for Tom Stoppard's play "Leopoldstadt", which is about the legacy of the Holocaust, were removed from "The Canary" after allegations of antisemitism from the Stop Funding Fake News campaign.
Reception.
Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union has said to the "Morning Star" in 2017:
Carl Miller of Demos has said that, while the "digital world" has been "democratizing", he believes that sites such as "The Canary", which reflect a single worldview, cut down on dissenting information and are likely to make people "even angrier, more outraged, more certain that that [sic] people we disagree with are evil... which isn't good for reasoned, civil debate". Owen Jones told "PR Week" in January 2017 that the website "promotes conspiracy theories and a lot of things that just aren't right. I worry about the "Canary"-isation of the left, where it ends up in a bizarre sub-culture that anyone who doesn't agree is seen as part of a conspiracy. But then you do get those blogs on left and right."
Leeds University political scientist Jonathan Dean wrote in 2020 that "websites such as Evolve Politics, Skwawkbox and The Canary have aped a more tabloid style, with short, punchy headlines and an often rather sensationalised style of reporting. The Canary, in particular, has faced criticism for its highly partisan presentation of political news stories, with critics often deeming it symptomatic of the rise of so-called ‘fake news’".
Notable articles.
"The Canary" has published a number of stories which have been notable enough to be picked up by mainstream media outlets.
Electoral fraud investigations.
Following the 2015 general election, "The Canary" "dug into assorted expense claims and activities in (target) seats", according to Michael White in "The Guardian", after a whistleblower contacted the website to allege illegal telephone push polling by the Conservatives.
Portland Communications story.
In June 2016, a "Canary" article saying that the parliamentary revolt against Corbyn "appears to have been orchestrated" by Portland Communications went viral and was repeated by Len McCluskey on Andrew Marr's Sunday morning BBC programme. The article listed links between partners and employees of the PR firm, where Alistair Campbell is a senior advisor, and members of the centre-left Fabian Society and other politicians on the right of the Labour Party, without providing evidence that the firm had organised the revolt.
Laura Kuenssberg.
"The Canary" has been critical of Laura Kuenssberg's coverage of Jeremy Corbyn, and BBC News politics coverage more generally: The website promoted a petition calling for Kuenssberg's resignation, hosted by 38 Degrees. 38 Degrees later took the petition down, with the agreement of the originator, saying that the petition "had become a focal point for sexist and hateful abuse made towards Laura Kuenssberg on Twitter". "The Canary" reported Craig Murray's view that the petition was probably taken down due to "Establishment pressure" while Ian Middleton in "The Huffington Post" wrote that: "if one looks at the list of comments published ... it's difficult to find anything remotely aggressive or sexist", and the accusations of abuse "may have been part of an orchestrated campaign on behalf of those looking to discredit the petition itself".
In the 14 months between the withdrawal of the petition in May 2016 and 20 July 2017, according to Jasper Jackson of the "New Statesman", "The Canary" ran "at least 17 articles criticising Kuenssberg. In September 2017, "The Canary" published an inaccurate headline that "(Kuenssberg's) listed as a speaker at the Tory Party conference". (The article itself stated correctly that she had been invited to speak at a fringe event.) "The Canary" later modified its headline and added a statement released by the BBC in response, stating that she would not be speaking. However, IMPRESS, the press regulator, adjudicated in December 2017 that the website had broken its code by publishing an inaccurate headline, not making sufficient efforts to check the facts, and failing to correct the inaccuracy with due prominence. During the IMPRESS investigation, two board members were recused after publicly criticising Kuenssberg. The Canary's tweet ("We need to talk about Laura Kuenssberg. She’s listed as a speaker at the Tory Party conference") remained online and was widely shared on social media.
Carl David Goette-Luciak.
In September 2018, The Canary republished an article by Max Blumenthal (originally published by MintPress News) attacking Nicaragua-based Carl David Goette-Luciak, a freelance journalist reporting on anti-government protests for "The Guardian", days after the Committee to Protect Journalists warned that that Goette-Luciak was the victim of a “targeted online harassment campaign” by supporters of the government. Shortly afterwards, Goette-Luciak was detained, interrogated and deported. The Canary published a further article by Blumenthal attacking the reporter. As a result, a lecture by The Canary's editor due to be given at "The Guardian"'s offices was protested by the National Union of Journalists and subsequently cancelled, leading to some controversy.
Readership.
During July 2016, "The Canary" achieved over 7.5 million page views, ranking 97th in readership among British media organisations, slightly higher than "The Spectator" and "The Economist". The site's publishers, Canary Media, rose 47 spots from 126th in June to 79th in July among the top UK publishers. By June 2020 the site had fallen out of the top 1,000 with just over 600,000 pageviews. The majority of its site traffic comes from Facebook.
A 2018 study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found "The Canary" to be used by 2% of the UK news audience, compared with "The Times" website on 5% or "The Guardian" on 15%. Its readers were more left-wing than readers of all but one other publication in the survey.