Sinclair Launches The National Press on Substack

Overview

• Sinclair and New Media announced The National Press on Oct. 6, a Substack-based outlet that will package reporting from roughly 1,200 Sinclair journalists in more than 60 markets into free and paid tiers.
• The launch debuts three flagship programs hosted by Lyndsay Keith: a daily morning show, a weekly deep dive, and a weekly debate, with distribution planned on YouTube, podcasts, social platforms, and email.
• New Media will handle production under a commercial deal that includes a monthly production fee plus a share of revenue, according to reporting that cited New Media founder Alex Chitty.
• Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said the venture will be judged on revenue growth and subscriber growth, acknowledged the company’s prior Circa effort as a failure, and invited critics to ‘tune in and judge for themselves.’
• The effort tests whether trust in local news can be monetized at scale and raises newsroom and reputational questions to watch for next, including disclosed subscriber targets, audience growth, and any editorial guardrails addressing political bias.