Circa News

Circa News
Type of site
News, Lifestyle, Travel, and Culture
Available inEnglish
DissolvedMarch 26, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-03-26)
Successor(s)The National Desk (social media accounts)
OwnerSinclair Broadcast Group
EditorLou Ferrara (chief content officer), Bonny Ghosh (managing editor)
URLcirca.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedOctober 16, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-10-16) (initial)
July 18, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-07-18) (relaunch)
Current statusDefunct

Circa News, also known as Circa, was an American online newspaper and entertainment service. The site was founded in 2012 by Matt Galligan, Ben Huh and Arsenio Santos.[1] The service had news stories and features consisting of individual bits of information.[2]

The service went offline for financial reasons on June 24, 2015,[3] and was then relaunched in spring 2016 under the ownership of the Sinclair Broadcast Group media company.[4][5][6] Under Sinclair, the website's coverage was described by some media outlets as conservative[7] although the site claimed to report from a neutral point of view.[8]

The site was discontinued abruptly on March 26, 2019, with Sinclair stating that industry changes did not justify the continuation of Circa News as a website (and three days before sister property KidsClick was also closed with little notice).[9] The former domain for the site now redirects to Sinclair's streaming portal, Stirr. Circa's social media accounts remained active but dormant, with their handles changed to the initials "TND"; Sinclair would later repurpose the accounts for its headline news service The National Desk, removing all traces of Circa from the accounts, but also retaining the existing subscribers of those feeds.[10]

  1. ^ "Social Startups: Circa Modernizes the Mobile News Consumption Experience". Social Media Today. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  2. ^ Orin, Andy (14 May 2014). "Behind the App: The Story of Circa". Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Matt Blog was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Jonathan Kuperberg, "Set to Launch Digital News Site Circa, Sinclair Taps John Solomon as COO", Broadcasting & Cable, 12 July 2015
  5. ^ Owen, Laura Hazard (5 July 2017). "In Circa, Sinclair sees a way to attract "independent-minded" millennials (and Sean Hannity)". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  6. ^ Sommer, Will (18 March 2017). "News outlet rising on the right for Russia coverage". The Hill. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Donald Trump Jr.: Kremlin-linked woman claimed DNC dirt". www.bostonherald.com. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference WSJ12072015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Hazard Owen, Laura (27 March 2019). "Circa, Sinclair's millennial-focused news site (and the final remains of some interesting mobile ideas), is shutting down". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Sinclair Quietly Rebrands Circa". 21 May 2019.