The New York Times Launches The Upshot

The New York Times (NYTimes.com) today launched its new politics and policy website, The Upshot (NYTimes.com/upshot), the goal of which is to help readers better navigate the news using data, graphics and technology.

Edited by Pulitzer winner and former New York Times Washington Bureau chief David Leonhardt, The Upshot delivers thoughtful explanation and analysis to help readers deepen their understanding of major issues. Graphics and interactives, built by The Times’s award-winning graphics staff, are a central part of The Upshot’s work.

The Upshot will focus on politics, policy and economics, with a particular emphasis on the 2014 elections, the state of the economy, economic mobility and health care. In addition, the site will cover education, transportation, climate and other issues, as well as writing occasionally about sports and culture.

The Upshot’s first day of stories include two substantial pieces of enterprise journalism. One compares income trends at different points on the income spectrum – rich, middle class and poor – in various countries, including the United States, Canada and major European countries. The analysis – some of the first publically available data of its kind – finds that the American middle class is no longer the world’s richest, having been caught by the Canadian middle class. The poor in much of Europe now have higher incomes than the poor in the United States.

The second project is in an interactive forecasting model to analyze every Senate race in the 2014 midterm election, based on polls, fundraising data, political history and other factors. The model finds that Democrats have improved their odds of retaining the Senate in recent weeks. Although Republicans were slight favorites several weeks ago, the campaign is now a toss-up, with the Democrats having the smallest of edges. The Upshot is publishing all of the data and code behind its model and welcomes feedback from readers and experts.

Amanda Cox and Josh Katz, both graphics editors and members of The Upshot’s staff, are the primary architects of the model.

Jill Abramson, executive editor, The New York Times, said, “The Times has always strived to answer the toughest questions and give context to the most important issues affecting our readers. And now with The Upshot, we look to an exceptional team of award-winning journalists and graphics editors from our newsroom and beyond, to provide even more analysis and explanation of the world we live in.”

The Upshot’s team of more than 15 journalists create content that includes immersive interactives, data visualizations, prediction models, quizzes and charts as well as photography and short- and long-form articles.

All content featured in The Upshot is in front of the pay gate and free to all New York Times readers at launch. Content will also be regularly featured in the daily print edition of The New York Times.

Special features on The Upshot will include scoreboard-like data visualizations, updated in real time, that give readers a way to understand important and complicated national issues, such as the midterm campaign, as well as HistorySource, a column by presidential historian Michael Beschloss, which takes readers back in time with photos and documents from notable points in history.

“We created The Upshot to serve as a destination for readers who want to deepen their understanding of the issues and policies that influence their daily lives,” said Leonhardt. “Using a conversational tone and a rich stream of graphics and interactives, The Upshot will build on what The Times already does so well—provide analysis of the news happening all around us. We also invite our readers to become a part of the conversation.”

Readers can follow The Upshot at Facebook.com/upshot and @UpshotNYT on Twitter.

Under Leonhardt’s guidance, The Upshot’s team of reporters, graphics editors, economists, political scientists and contributors includes seasoned Times journalists, as well as a number of newcomers and contributors: editors Laura Chang and Damon Darlin; graphics editors Amanda Cox, Kevin Quealy and Josh Katz; reporters Josh Barro, Claire Cain Miller, Nate Cohn, Neil Irwin and Derek Willis; photo editor Darcy Eveleigh; senior staff editor Nadia Taha; copy editors Toni Monkovic and Kathleen Flynn; and Marjorie Connelly, Megan Thee-Brenan, Allison Kopicki and Dalia Sussman from The New York Times Polling Group.

Contributors include: the historian Michael Beschloss; the political scientists Lynn Vavreck and Brendan Nyhan; and the economists Sendhil Mullainathan, Justin Wolfers, Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll.

The New York Times is one of the world’s most influential news organizations with numerous news bureaus around the New York region, the nation and the globe. The Times is known for accuracy, depth and authority and produces award-winning journalism, breaking news coverage and opinion and commentary along with deep databases of content and rich multimedia presentations. The Times has won 114 Pulitzer Prizes and Citations, far more than any other news organization. Follow The Times on Twitter at @NYTimes.