Reason / Volokh Conspiracy
U.S. libertarian
Background
Reason was founded in 1968 by Lanny Friedlander and later acquired by the Reason Foundation, which was formally established in 1978 to promote libertarian ideas. The magazine and its foundation have long been sustained by donor funding, including substantial gifts over the years from Koch family and Scaife family philanthropies, alongside subscriber and advertising revenue. Editorially, Reason has built a reputation for consistent libertarian positions: opposing the drug war, defending free speech and free markets, criticizing occupational licensing and police militarization, and generally distrusting concentrated government power under presidents of both parties. The Volokh Conspiracy, started in 2002 by UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh and colleagues, built a following for detailed legal and constitutional analysis; it moved from the Washington Post's website to Reason.com in 2014 after editorial friction over a paywall and content restrictions. Since Trump's second term began in January 2025, Reason's writers have combined support for some deregulatory and judicial-appointment moves with pointed criticism of tariffs, immigration enforcement tactics, and expansions of executive authority, while Volokh Conspiracy contributors have offered legal critiques of administration actions on separation-of-powers and free-speech grounds. Because it is not affiliated with either major party and often finds fault with both, outside media-bias trackers commonly classify Reason as libertarian-leaning rather than conventionally left or right.
Sources
- Reason (magazine) - Wikipedia
- Reason Foundation - Wikipedia
- About Reason - Reason Magazine
- Reason - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
- Reason Foundation - Influence Watch
Profile compiled 2026-09-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.