Drop Site News

Drop Site News
FormationJuly 2024 (2024-07)
FounderJeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim
TypeNonprofit news outlet
PurposeInvestigative reporting
Official language
English
Websitewww.dropsitenews.com

Drop Site News is a nonprofit investigative news outlet founded by Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill in July 2024. It is based in Washington, D.C., United States.[1][2] It describes itself as non-aligned and anti-establishment.[3] Other media organizations have described Drop Site News as an independent news website.[4][5][6][7]

History

In July 2024, Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill founded Drop Site News,[8][9][10][1] with Nausicaa Renner as a founding editor.[2] All three formerly worked at The Intercept,[2] which had seen significant staff turmoil and departures in the preceding months.[11][12] The board of The Intercept rejected an offer from Grim and Scahill to take over the company.[12] MENA editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous explained the position of the outlet, saying "Drop Site will cover the Democrats as critically as we will cover Republicans—we're not going to change depending on who's in power ... Our ethos is adversarial journalism."[2]

The New York Times listed the establishment of Drop Site News along with Taylor Lorenz's User Mag, Oliver Darcy's Status, and 404 Media, founded by former staff of Vice Motherboard, as instances of "a series of journalists leaving legacy media institutions in recent years to strike out on their own".[1]

In September 2025, Grim announced that Nika Soon-Shiong, daughter of Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, would serve as Drop Site News's publisher.[13][14]

Coverage

Grim has said that Drop Site News focuses broadly on "power and greed", with the Columbia Journalism Review writing that the outlet focuses on topics ranging from war zones to the January 2025 Southern California wildfires.[2] Grim expressed a belief in the importance of alternative media in "debunking disinformation that often goes unchallenged by corporate journalism", citing his assertion that "many Israeli propaganda narratives fell apart under pressure from alternative media", such as claims that Hamas beheaded 40 babies or committed systemic rape during the October 7 attacks.[15] Grim also said he began to "wonder about the histories that are written of so many previous conflicts" and how mainstream media shapes a narrative that becomes established as history.[15]

The Daily Telegraph reported that Drop Site News leaked documents showing that the Commonwealth of Nations, which served as an election observer, allegedly hid a report of voting misconduct amid allegations of rigging in the 2024 Pakistani general election after the Pakistani government reportedly suggested the suppression of the report.[16]

In December 2024, citing 13 anonymous BBC staffers, Owen Jones reported for Drop Site News that BBC Middle East editor Raffi Berg was acting to skew coverage of the Gaza war in favor of Israel.[17][18] The BBC denied the allegation.[19][17] In November 2025, Berg sued Jones for libel, alleging Jones's article had damaged his reputation and resulted in "an onslaught of hatred, intimidation and threats". Jones responded, "I strongly disagree with Mr. Berg's accusations, and I look forward to vigorously defending my reporting in court."[18]

In February 2025, Grim and Drop Site News broke the story that the U.S. State Department had allocated $400 million for "Armored Tesla" in a procurement document. After the story broke, the document was amended to read "Armored Electric Vehicles".[20][21] The story prompted Senator Richard Blumenthal and Congressman Gregory Meeks to send Secretary of State Marco Rubio letters highlighting the conflict of interest in Elon Musk's role as CEO of Tesla while also working for the Department of Government Efficiency.[22]

From September to November 2025, Grim and Murtaza Hussain broke a series of stories on Jeffrey Epstein's connections with Israeli intelligence.[23][24]

In January 2026, before the 2026 Iran war, Drop Site News reported that an anonymous U.S. intelligence official said President Donald Trump was planning to attack Iran and that the main objective was regime change by killing Iranian government leaders, destroying weapons, and using the momentum of the 2025–2026 Iranian protests to overthrow Iran's government.[25]

Censorship

On July 8, 2024, the Meta Platforms-owned social media platform Instagram took down several interviews about the Gaza war posted by Democracy Now!. An interview of Scahill by Amy Goodman on his interviews with Hamas officials for Drop Site News was among those taken down. Instagram's takedown notice said that the removed interviews included "symbols, praise, or support of people and organizations we define as dangerous".[26]

In September 2024, Drop Site News reported that it was blocked in Pakistan after reporting in July on the Army Agahi Network, a secret online operation run by the Pakistan Army. Pakistan's military followed the ban with legal threats and accusations that Drop Site News is "being funded by Jew and Indian lobbies".[27]

Funding

The Intercept provided startup funding for Drop Site News.[9][2] In November 2025, according to The Washington Free Beacon, the Open Society Foundations awarded $250,000 to the Social Security Works Education Fund, the nonprofit that acts as a fiscal sponsor for Drop Site News "to support establishing a Drop Site News MENA desk to bridge a critical information gap in independent journalism".[28]

Journalists

Drop Site's journalists include Grim, Hussain, Scahill, Renner, and Sharif Abdel Kouddous.[2] During the Gaza war, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat reported from the northern Gaza Strip for Drop Site News before he was killed in March 2025.[29][30]

Reception and recognition

Drop Site News has been described as an independent news organization.[4][5][6][7] Jeet Heer of The Nation, commenting on US press coverage of Jeffrey Epstein's Israel links, wrote, "The blockbuster reporting in Reason and Drop Site has not been matched by any comparable investigations in The New York Times or The Washington Post, on CNN or the major networks."[24]

Meghnad Bose wrote in Columbia Journalism Review that Drop Site has blended reporting with advocacy, including campaigning for a book by a Refaat Alareer and petitioning for the release of Hussam Abu Safiya. Bose said that the outlet does not seek out all perspectives equally and its investigations adopt a skeptical posture toward official institutions.[31]

In February 2025, the Palestine Laboratory Podcast, hosted by investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein of Drop Site News, was a finalist for the Melbourne Press Club's Quill Award for best podcast.[32] Lila Hassan's investigation "Archiving Gaza: The Race to Save Evidence of War Crimes and Mass Destruction", published by Drop Site News, was nominated for the 2026 True Story Award.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c Robertson, Katie; Mullin, Benjamin (2024-10-01). "Taylor Lorenz, Chronicler of Digital Culture, Will Start Own Newsletter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-27.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bose, Meghnad (February 7, 2025). "The Adversarial Ethos". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  3. ^ "About". Drop Site News. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
  4. ^ a b Jolly, Jasper (2025-02-13). "State department removes word 'Tesla' from $400m US armoured vehicles list". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-11. Drop Site News, an independent outlet
  5. ^ a b Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine. "Inside FEMA boss David Richardson's first all-hands meeting with stressed-out staff". Business Insider. Retrieved 2026-03-11. the independent news outlet Drop Site News
  6. ^ a b "Who is Noa Avishag Schnall? US-born journalist details 'abuse and rape threats' in Israeli detention". Hindustan Times. 2025-10-15. Retrieved 2026-03-11. independent publication Drop Site News
  7. ^ a b "Who is Noa Avishag Schnall? Journalist accuses Israeli guards of rape threats and 'extreme brutality'". The Financial Express. 2025-10-14. Retrieved 2026-03-11. independent outlet Drop Site News
  8. ^ "Drop Site News: Jeremy Scahill on Launching Investigative News Outlet with Ryan Grim". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  9. ^ a b "Scahill and Grim Launch New Media Outlet With The Intercept's Support". The Intercept. 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  10. ^ "Ryan Grim dishes on why he's leaving The Intercept". The Hill. 2024-07-09.
  11. ^ Allsop, Jon. "Britain's government has changed. Will its relationship with the press?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-07-14. Yesterday was a busy one for media-jobs news. Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim announced that they are leaving The Intercept and founding a new investigative outlet called Drop Site News; The Intercept said that it is providing 'startup funding' and will continue to host the pair's podcasts.
  12. ^ a b Tani, Max (2024-06-02). "Money woes, staff issues strain the Intercept". Semafor. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  13. ^ Tani, Max (September 14, 2025). "'The verdict of history will be merciless': A new left media rises in the age of Trump". Semafor. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  14. ^ McCarthy, Will; Mason, Melanie; Jones, Blake; Gardiner, Dustin (September 15, 2025). "How Arnold will talk about redistricting". Politico. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  15. ^ a b "Alternative Media and Debunking Israeli Lies". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. 2024-10-19. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  16. ^ Lateef, Samaan (15 September 2025). "Commonwealth 'helped hide Pakistani election rigging'". The Daily Telegraph.
  17. ^ a b Linares, Matthew; Freedman, Des; Matar, Dina; Berry, Mike (17 January 2025). "Can we trust the BBC on Israel-Gaza?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  18. ^ a b "BBC editor accused of Israel bias sues Owen Jones over report". The New Arab. 7 November 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-11-07. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  19. ^ Farber, Alex (2025-01-12). "BBC editor may sue Owen Jones over Israel bias claim". The Times. Retrieved 2025-11-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  20. ^ Grim, Ryan; Poulson, Jack. "UPDATED: "Armored Tesla" (was) forecast to win $400 million State Department contract after Trump's election". Drop Site News. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  21. ^ "State Department removes mention of 'armored Teslas' from its 2025 procurement list, replaces it with 'armored electric vehicles'". Business Insider. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  22. ^ Gault, Matthew. "Lawmakers Demand Answers From Rubio Over the $400 Million Armored Tesla Contract". Gizmodo. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  23. ^ Grim, Ryan; Hussain, Murtaza. "Epstein and Israel". Drop Site News. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
  24. ^ a b Heer, Jeet (2025-11-14). "Jeffrey Epstein Was a Warlord. We Have to Talk About It". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
  25. ^ "تقارير: ترامب قد يأمر بهجوم ضد إيران الأحد". Al Khaleej (in Arabic). 30 January 2026. Retrieved 2026-03-11. [Multiple sources confirmed to the Drop Site News investigative network that senior US military officials have told the leadership of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East that President Donald Trump may authorize an American attack on Iran ... A U.S. intelligence official and an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy told the network: 'This is not about nuclear weapons or the missile program. It's about regime change.' ... The official stressed that American war planners envisage attacks targeting nuclear, ballistic and other military sites throughout Iran, but they would also aim to 'decapitate' the Iranian government, especially the leadership and capabilities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. According to the source, the prevailing thinking in the Trump administration is that a successful blow to the Iranian leadership will be followed by Iranians taking to the streets to protest, leading to the overthrow of the government.]
  26. ^ Tani, Max (2024-07-09). "Instagram removes Gaza posts from lefty news org Democracy Now". Semafor.
  27. ^ Scahill, Jeremy (September 9, 2024). "Drop Site News is Under Attack From an Authoritarian Government". Drop Site News. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  28. ^ Ross, Chuck (2025-11-14). "EXCLUSIVE: Soros Bankrolling Anti-Israel Drop Site News". The Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  29. ^ Alam, Anam (25 March 2025). "'If you're reading this, it means I have been killed': Gaza journalist Hossam Shabat shares final message after death". The New Arab. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  30. ^ Zirin, Dave (2025-03-25). "By Targeting Artists and Journalists, Israel Is Trying to Kill the Truth". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
  31. ^ Bose, Meghnad (February 7, 2025). "The Adversarial Ethos". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved March 14, 2026.
  32. ^ "30th Quill Awards – Finalists". Melbourne Press Club. February 27, 2025. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
  33. ^ "Archiving Gaza: The Race to Save Evidence of War Crimes and Mass Destruction". True Story Award. Retrieved 2026-03-11.
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