Straight Arrow News
 | |
 Home page on September 28, 2025 | |
| Type of business | Media company |
|---|---|
Type of site | News website |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder | Joe Ricketts |
| Key people | Derek Mead |
| Revenue |  $9.9 million (2025)[1] |
| Employees | 71[1] |
| URL | san |
| Users | 1,800,000+ |
| Current status | Active |
Straight Arrow News (also known as Straight Arrow or SAN) is an American media company and news website founded in 2021 by billionaire and businessman John Ricketts. The company is based in Omaha, Nebraska and claims to produce "unbiased news, without agenda".
History
Background
In January 2021, press secretary of Joe Ricketts, American billionaire and CEO of TD Ameritrade living in Nebraska, announced the upcoming launch of a news outlet that he claimed would aim to report news "without opinion or bias". The first reports of the outlet's launch appeared in the Omaha World Herald, where Ricketts was noted as a sponsor of various conservative organizations.[2][3] The Center for Responsive Politics referred to him as a 'Republican Megadonor'.[4][3] The press secretary later revealed the name of the outlet, "Straight Arrow News", and said its launch was expected before the end of 2021. He said Ricketts chose this name for the outlet to emphasize its reliability that he compared to a "straight arrow that hits the bullseye".[3] Ricketts stated that his family members would not be involved in SAN.[5][6]
Ricketts was a CEO of other news websites, like DNAInfo, founded by him in 2009, and Gothamist, which was sold to Ricketts. He shut both websites down in November 2017 after their staff began forming labour unions.[6][4]
Company
The official launch of SAN took place sometime in June 2021.[7] SAN started with producing pre-recorded news segments in the studio, with SAN's anchors doing morning news updates.[8] At the end of April 2024, SAN released an updated version of its app for download. In June 2025 the company said the app saw a 1,170% increase in traffic compared to June 2024.[9] In April 2025, SAN chose Derek Mead, former editor of Vice Magazine, for the position of Chief Content Officer.[10]
Content, website and audience
On the website, news articles are divided into multiple sections: the first section presents the content, the second explains the importance of it, the third section summarizes the article, and the fourth lists sources used to make the article.[11] The website, along with the app, were relaunched on June 4, 2025. SAN redesigned the website and added new features like the aforementioned division of article into sections with summaries.[12] In July 2025, Journalism.co.uk said SAN has 70 employees and utilized programmatic advertising.[11]
Activities
SAN had partnered itself in 2025 with Jubilee Media to fact-check participants of its controversial "Surrounded" shows,[13][14] SAN appeared in multiple debate episodes filmed by Jubilee where it was seen giving on-screen fact-checks.[15]
References
- 1 2 "Straight Arrow News: Revenue, Competitors, Alternatives". GrowJo. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
- ↑ Hammel, Paul (January 17, 2021). "Joe Ricketts is launching a national news outlet based in Omaha". Omaha World-Herald.
- 1 2 3 Coster, Helen (January 19, 2021). "Billionaire businessman Joe Ricketts launching news outlet". Reuters.
- 1 2 "MEDIA: Billionaire Ricketts plans news outlet". The Washington Post. January 19, 2021. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021.
- ↑ Budryk, Zack (January 19, 2021). "Joe Ricketts to launch news outlet from Nebraska". The Hill. Archived from the original on March 3, 2025.
- 1 2 "Conservative Joe Ricketts, Cubs family patriarch who closed DNAinfo after union vote, to launch Omaha-based 'unbiased' news site". Chicago Tribune. January 18, 2021 – via Yahoo Sports.
- ↑ Keys, Matthew (June 10, 2021). ""Straight Arrow News" wants to shake up the news industry with facts-first reporting". TheDesk.net.
- ↑ Winslow, George (March 2, 2022). "Straight Arrow News Launches With Clear-Com IP Solutions". TV Tech.
- ↑ Brooker, Alice (July 31, 2025). "'Unbiased' US news publisher believes app is key in world of AI search summaries". Press Gazette.
- ↑ Schultz, Ray (April 21, 2025). "Straight Arrow News Hires Derek Mead As Chief Content Officer". MediaPost.
- 1 2 Kunova, Marcela (July 14, 2025). "How Straight Arrow News turned radical transparency into rapid audience growth". journalism.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 11, 2025.
- ↑ Schultz, Ray (June 4, 2025). "Straight Arrow News Upgrades Its Website". MediaPost.
- ↑ Zhan, Jennifer (2025-07-22). "Jubilee's Mehdi Hasan Debate Is Surrounded by Controversy". Vulture (website). Retrieved 2026-05-14.
- ↑ Tisch-Bostock, Lili; To, Julie (May 7, 2025). "Jubilee Media: Turning Hate into Clickbait". Gamamari.
- ↑ Guzman, Chad (July 22, 2025). "'Memeification of Politics': What to Know About Jubilee Media's Viral Debate Show Surrounded". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on July 30, 2025.