Pressure of Truth
Exposing the spin on all sides of the news.
Outlet profile

Missouri Independent

U.S. left-leaning

Owned byStates Newsroom, a national nonprofit news network
FundingDonations and foundation grants channeled through States Newsroom, whose major funders include the Wyss Foundation (Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss), the Hopewell Fund (managed by Arabella Advisors, itself backed by left-aligned foundations including the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund), and AFSCME, a public-sector union that overwhelmingly backs Democrats
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The Missouri Independent launched in October 2020 as the 19th outlet created by States Newsroom, which describes itself as the largest nonprofit state-news network in the United States. It was founded with a staff of four full-time journalists based in Jefferson City, the state capital, and led by editor Jason Hancock, a veteran watchdog reporter from the Kansas City Star. The outlet focuses exclusively on Missouri state government, politics, and policy, positioning itself as a public-interest alternative to the declining statehouse press corps. States Newsroom originated as a fiscally sponsored project of the Hopewell Fund, an Arabella Advisors-managed vehicle, before incorporating independently; it has received at least $1 million from the Wyss Foundation and funding from AFSCME, both organizations associated with the political left. A 2020 Politifact Missouri check found that claims linking the outlet to George Soros were false, though conservative critics have continued to characterize its broader funding network as left-aligned. Media bias raters place it to the left of center: AllSides rates it 'Lean Left' and Media Bias/Fact Check rates it 'Left Bias,' while Biasly calls it 'Somewhat Left' with high reliability. Throughout 2025 and into 2026 the outlet published hundreds of stories on the impacts of Trump administration budget cuts in Missouri and on White House pressure to redraw the state's congressional map to benefit Republicans, consistently presenting those actions in a skeptical light.

Sources

  1. About • Missouri Independent
  2. States Newsroom Launches The Missouri Independent
  3. Missouri Independent – Influence Watch
  4. Missouri Independent Media Bias – AllSides
  5. Missouri Independent – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
  6. States Newsroom (Newsroom Network) – Influence Watch
  7. FACT CHECK: George Soros is not behind the Missouri Independent
  8. Trump White House pressing Missouri Republicans to redraw congressional map • Missouri Independent
  9. States Newsroom Impact Report 2025

Profile compiled 2026-07-27; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

← Back to track record