Outlet profile

Missouri Independent

U.S. center-left (nonprofit, news-focused)

Owned byOperated as an affiliate of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. It has no individual or corporate owner.

FundingGrants from foundations and philanthropic donors, plus individual donations. States Newsroom says it accepts no corporate donations and publishes donors who give $1,000 or more. It ran as a project of the Hopewell Fund (managed by Arabella Advisors) before States Newsroom became independent in 2019. Its content is free to republish, and it does not rely on advertising or paywalls.

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The Missouri Independent launched in October 2020 as an affiliate of States Newsroom. Jason Hancock, a longtime Kansas City Star statehouse reporter, is its editor-in-chief. States Newsroom grew out of a project housed at the Hopewell Fund, a left-of-center fiscal sponsor managed by Arabella Advisors, and became an independent 501(c)(3) in 2019. The network now has affiliates in many states. The Independent says it is nonpartisan and editorially independent, and that donors have no influence over content. Critics, mostly conservative outlets and some media-watch groups, point to the Hopewell and Arabella links and to donors who lean left. They describe the network as left-leaning, and some have called its funding 'dark money'. The Independent's news coverage focuses on state government, budgets, ethics, health policy and elections. It also publishes opinion commentary, which tends toward the left. Its news coverage of the second Trump administration emphasizes the effects of federal cuts and policies on Missouri, and it is more often critical than supportive. In October 2026 it marked its sixth anniversary with a call for reader donations.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-26; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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