The Texas Tribune
Nonprofit news site on Texas politics and policy, based in Austin
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit (501(c)(3)) news website about Texas politics and public policy, based at 919 Congress Avenue in Austin. It was founded by the venture capitalist John Thornton with the journalists Evan Smith and Ross Ramsey and launched on 3 November 2009. Sarah Adler Hartman became chief executive in 2026, and Matthew Watkins has been editor-in-chief since September 2024. It is governed by a volunteer board of directors.Sources:2Wikipedia: The Texas Tribune, Wikipedia (source, opens in a new tab)3The Texas Tribune: About us, The Texas Tribune (source, opens in a new tab)
It has no owner and no single majority funder. It is funded by memberships (more than 13,000 members), donations from individuals and foundations, corporate sponsorships, events and a paid newsletter. John and Julie Thornton gave $1 million in seed money; early foundation grants included $750,000 from the Houston Endowment, and the Knight Foundation had given about $2 million by 2016. The Tribune says editorial decisions “are made by journalists alone and are not influenced by donors”, and it publishes its largest donors.Sources:2Wikipedia: The Texas Tribune, Wikipedia (source, opens in a new tab)3The Texas Tribune: About us, The Texas Tribune (source, opens in a new tab)4Media Bias/Fact Check: Texas Tribune – Bias and Credibility, Media Bias/Fact Check (source, opens in a new tab)
Who it favours
Our reading of 1 article by The Texas Tribune on stories with competing sides. A story counts only when two signals point the same way; balanced coverage counts too. How we decide.
Balanced in every story we analysed.
Who controls it
Whoever owns an outlet, provides most of its money or directs it controls it. Our rule.
No government, party or politician is documented as its owner, main funder or director, and its ownership is not yet documented.
Owners, funders and directors
Not yet documented.
- Ownership disclosed on its site
- Published corrections policy
- Funding disclosed
- Sources:3The Texas Tribune: About us, The Texas Tribune (source, opens in a new tab)4Media Bias/Fact Check: Texas Tribune – Bias and Credibility, Media Bias/Fact Check (source, opens in a new tab)
How we use it
1 story cites The Texas Tribune directly.
October 2026
- Texas sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, seeking to bar minors from ChatGPT in the stateTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging ChatGPT was marketed as safe while harming Texans; OpenAI says AI rules should cover the whole industry.
Outside left–right raters
For comparison only. Western raters place outlets on a left–right line, which says nothing about whom they favour in a given story or who funds them; our own tally is above.
Media Bias/Fact Check: Left-Center (checked 24 Oct 2026)
Sources
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