The Desk

U.S. center — trade/industry press

Background

The Desk was founded in 2013 by Matthew Keys, who previously held positions at Thomson Reuters, Disney-ABC Television Group, and several local television stations. Keys launched the site as an independent outlet covering the intersection of business, technology, and media — including television broadcasting, streaming video, cable and satellite TV, digital advertising, and related regulatory and legal developments. The outlet operates under Solano Media LLC and has always been funded through advertising rather than subscriptions or reader donations. Keys's career has not been without controversy: in 2015 he was convicted on three felony counts under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act after providing login credentials for Tribune Company's content management system to the hacking collective Anonymous in 2010, resulting in the brief defacement of a Los Angeles Times article. He was sentenced in 2016 to two years in federal prison. After his release, Keys resumed his journalism career and continued building The Desk into a recognized trade publication. Media Bias/Fact Check rates the outlet as 'Least Biased' and 'High' for factual reporting, citing minimal editorializing and a clean fact-check record. The publication has expanded to cover European and UK media markets as well, reflecting the increasingly global nature of the streaming and broadcasting industries it covers.

Sources

1. The Desk — About Us
2. The Desk – Bias and Credibility — Media Bias/Fact Check
3. Matthew Keys — TheDesk.net author page
4. Matthew Keys profile — Muck Rack
5. Former Reuters Journalist Matthew Keys Found Guilty of Three Counts of Hacking — Vice
6. Former Reuters editor Matthew Keys gets 2 years in prison for LA Times hack — CNN Money
7. United States v. Matthew Keys — Electronic Frontier Foundation
8. TheDesk.net overview — Muck Rack

Profile compiled 2026-08-12; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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