Crooks and Liars
Crooks and Liars is an independent progressive political media outlet founded in 2003, publishing daily news commentary and video content for left-leaning readers. It operates a Drupal-based website, daily newsletter, CLTV video platform, and the Blue America political endorsement initiative, funded by advertising, subscriptions, and reader donations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Crooks and Liars does
Crooks and Liars is an independent, reader-supported progressive political media outlet founded in 2003 and operating from Santa Monica, California. The company publishes daily political news, commentary, and opinion pieces from a left-leaning editorial perspective, with coverage focused on Republican politicians, the Trump administration, and criticism of conservative media figures. Its content is produced by a team of 11-50 contributors including co-founder John Amato, Managing Editor Karoli Kuns, and a roster of staff writers, and is distributed through a Drupal-based content management system at crooksandliars.com, an embedded video platform called CLTV, a daily email newsletter, and social media accounts on Twitter/X, Facebook, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Flipboard.
The company's product portfolio spans five interconnected properties: the core news website, the CLTV video platform, an ad-free subscription membership, a daily newsletter, and the Blue America progressive political endorsement initiative. The site functions primarily as a political blog and commentary outlet, with editorial content aggregating and analyzing mainstream political news through a progressive lens rather than conducting original investigative reporting at scale.
Crooks and Liars generates revenue through three streams: programmatic and display advertising served to free users, recurring subscription memberships ($5.99/month or $59.99/year with a 20% annual discount) managed via the Admiral platform, and reader donations accepted through Kindest, PayPal, and mail. The publication operates without disclosed venture capital, private equity, or parent company ownership, and appears to be founder-led. Its customer base consists of individual progressive/left-leaning news consumers, with no enterprise clients, advertisers, or institutional sponsors named in available data.
Crooks and Liars firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Crooks and Liars
- Legal name
- Crooks and Liars
- Website
- https://crooksandliars.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Crooks and Liars is an independent progressive political media outlet founded in 2003, publishing daily news commentary and video content for left-leaning readers. It operates a Drupal-based website, daily newsletter, CLTV video platform, and the Blue America political endorsement initiative, funded by advertising, subscriptions, and reader donations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Crooks and Liars industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Progressive Political News & Media
- NAICS
- Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)
- SIC
- Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations (MPAJADAF)
Keywords
Where Crooks and Liars is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Crooks and Liars business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Advertising: The website displays advertisements to free users as part of its revenue model. Free users see ads while browsing the site.
- Subscriptions / Memberships: Crooks and Liars generates revenue through ad-free subscription memberships offering full access to premium content, faster browsing experience, and member perks. The site uses Admiral as its ad-free partner platform.
- Donations: The platform accepts one-time and recurring donations from readers who prefer not to pay for subscriptions but still want to support independent journalism. Donations can be made via Kindest, PayPal, or by mail.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Monthly subscription at $1 for first month, then $5.99/month |
| Subscription | Annual | Annual subscription at $59.99 for first year, then $75/year |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Crooks and Liars product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Crooks and Liars is a progressive political news and commentary website that publishes written articles, video content through its CLTV platform, and a daily email newsletter covering U.S. politics from a left-leaning perspective. The site operates a reader-supported revenue model, offering an ad-free subscription membership ($5.99/month or $59.99 first year) and accepting donations. A co-featured initiative, Blue America, endorses progressive political candidates.
Product overview
Crooks and Liars is a progressive news and media website offering a unified platform of news coverage, video content (CLTV), and political commentary. The core offering is the news website itself, complemented by an ad-free subscription membership (offering monthly and annual plans at $5.99/month or $59.99/year with first-year discount), a daily email newsletter, and Blue America — a political campaign initiative supporting progressive candidates. The site has been operating for over 22 years and generates revenue through advertising and reader donations/subscriptions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CLTV: Video content platform associated with Crooks and Liars for multimedia news coverage
- Blue America
Products and services
- Crooks and Liars Website Progressive news and media coverage website featuring political commentary, investigative journalism, and opinion pieces on U.S. current events, targeted at left-leaning readers.
- CLTV Video Platform Embedded video content platform offering political commentary, news analysis, and multimedia reporting integrated within the Crooks and Liars website.
- Ad-Free Subscription Membership Premium subscription service offering ad-free reading experience, faster browsing, full premium content access, and member perks, available as a monthly ($5.99/month after $1 first month) or annual ($59.99 first year, renewing at $75/year) plan.
- Daily Newsletter Daily email newsletter delivering curated top news picks and progressive commentary to subscribers' inboxes.
- Blue America Progressive political endorsement and campaign support initiative featuring candidate profiles, fundraising appeals, and campaign coordination, co-featured on the Crooks and Liars platform.
Companies that use Crooks and Liars
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Crooks and Liars technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Crooks and Liars partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Blue AmericaminorBlue America is a progressive political initiative co-featured on Crooks and Liars that endorses and promotes progressive Democratic candidates. The partnership allows Crooks and Liars to feature Blue America candidate endorsements and fundraising appeals on their platform, serving their progressive audience.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Crooks and Liars competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Daily Kos: Daily Kos is a progressive political blog and news site with community features, advertising, and a membership/subscription model. It targets the same left-leaning audience as Crooks and Liars with opinion, political commentary, and election coverage, making it the closest direct peer in size, format, and editorial stance.
- Talking Points Memo: TPM is an independent progressive political news site covering Washington and elections with a mix of reporting and commentary. It competes for the same politically engaged reader and subscriber base and operates a comparable reader-supported digital news model.
- Raw Story: Raw Story is an independent progressive news outlet focused on politics, media criticism, and investigative reporting. It targets the same progressive news audience, monetizes through advertising and reader support, and competes directly for traffic on overlapping political topics.
- Media Matters for America: Media Matters is a progressive media watchdog that monitors and critiques conservative media. Its editorial focus on exposing right-wing media misinformation directly mirrors Crooks and Liars' stated mission of "untangling the lies of right wing media," and it operates a similar digital, donation/subscription-funded model.
- Mother Jones: Mother Jones is a progressive investigative news magazine with a digital-first, reader-supported model. It covers the same left-leaning political audience with original reporting and long-form journalism, making it a comparable peer despite being larger and nonprofit.
- Alternet: Alternet is an independent progressive online magazine covering politics, media, and culture. It serves the same left-leaning audience as Crooks and Liars with opinion and reported pieces, supported by advertising and donations.
- The American Prospect: The American Prospect is a progressive policy and politics magazine with a digital publishing operation. It overlaps with Crooks and Liars in covering progressive politics, Democratic policy, and Republican critique, with a reader-supported revenue model.
Broad incumbents
- HuffPost: HuffPost is a large mainstream-left digital news publisher covering politics, entertainment, and lifestyle. It overlaps with Crooks and Liars on progressive political coverage but operates at much greater scale with broader topic coverage and larger newsroom.
- Slate: Slate is a general-interest online magazine with a left-of-center editorial perspective covering politics, news, and culture. It competes for some of the same politically engaged readers but with a broader topic mix and a paid-membership model (Slate Plus).
- The Daily Beast: The Daily Beast is a large digital news and opinion site with a left-leaning editorial stance covering politics, pop culture, and investigations. It overlaps with Crooks and Liars on political news and commentary but operates at greater scale as part of a larger media group.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Crooks and Liars social profiles
Digital presenceCrooks and Liars financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Crooks and Liars leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Crooks and Liars funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Crooks and Liars M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Crooks and Liars
What does Crooks and Liars do?
Crooks and Liars is a progressive political news and commentary website that publishes written articles, video content through its CLTV platform, and a daily email newsletter covering U.S. politics from a left-leaning perspective. The site operates a reader-supported revenue model, offering an ad-free subscription membership ($5.99/month or $59.99 first year) and accepting donations. A co-featured initiative, Blue America, endorses progressive political candidates.
Is Crooks and Liars a public or private company?
Crooks and Liars is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Crooks and Liars founded?
Crooks and Liars was founded in 2003. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Crooks and Liars based?
Crooks and Liars is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does Crooks and Liars make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Advertising is the primary driver. The others are subscriptions / Memberships and donations.
Who are Crooks and Liars's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Media Matters for America, Mother Jones, Alternet and The American Prospect. Broad incumbents are HuffPost, Slate and The Daily Beast.
Does Crooks and Liars have an API?
No public API is recorded for Crooks and Liars.
What industry is Crooks and Liars in?
Crooks and Liars's product category is Progressive Political News & Media. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJADAF, Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations. Its NAICS code is 5131 and its SIC code is 2711.