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Crooked Media’s nonprofit launches new political creator drive

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Tani, M. (2026, September 15). Crooked Media’s nonprofit launches new political creator drive. Semafor. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/07/2026/crooked-medias-nonprofit-launches-new-political-creator-drive

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Semafor · collected 2026-09-15 · by Max Tani

Quick Summary

Crooked Ideas, the nonprofit affiliate of Crooked Media, plans to engage younger voters by supporting politically aligned video creators on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram ahead of the 2028 election. The initiative aims to reach disaffected youth through entertaining content focused on issues such as AI safety, climate change, and income inequality. Kyle Tharp, a progressive digital strategist, will lead this effort to produce non-preachy media that appeals to younger audiences who are currently skeptical of both major political parties.
Written by AI on 2026-09-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Crooked Ideas, a nonprofit arm of Pod Save America, is launching new initiatives aimed at engaging younger voters who are disillusioned with both major political parties. The organization plans to support creators on social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram by experimenting with formats such as fast-paced street investigations similar to those by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley and short-form video comedy. Kyle Tharp, a progressive digital strategist known for his newsletter Chaotic Era, will lead the initiative as executive director. The goal is to produce entertaining content focused on issues important to Americans under 30, such as AI safety, tech accountability, climate change, and more, ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Written for “Political Creator Drive Launch” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Political Creator Drive Launch
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
16
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
60/100
Semafor's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Semafor · 1393 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Max Tani
10 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 The effort, which aims to support creators with existing followings and grow up-and-coming political stars, will experiment with video formats like fast-paced street investigations in the style of conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, and short-form video comedy, aiming to go viral on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
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Also by Max Tani
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 10 articles by Max Tani →

Topics

Crooked Ideas News Pod Save America’s Semafor the Democratic Party

Subjects

Crooked Ideas ORG · 3× Tharp PERSON · 3× Semafor ORG · 2× Crooked Media ORG · 1× News ORG · 1× Nick Shirley PERSON · 1× Pod Save America’s ORG · 1× TikTok ORG · 1× YouTube ORG · 1× the Democratic Party ORG · 1×

Narrative

The effort, which aims to support creators with existing followings and grow up-and-coming political stars, will experiment with video formats like fast-paced street investigations in the style of conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, and short-form video comedy, aiming to go viral on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15
🔮 The effort, which aims to support creators with existing followings and grow up-and-coming political stars, will experiment with video formats like fast-paced street investigations in the style of conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, and short-form video comedy, aiming to go viral on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
2026-09-15 · Semafor
Crooked Media’s nonprofit launches new political creator drive · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 0 hedged)

The News The nonprofit arm of Pod Save America’s audio empire is hoping to lure younger voters back to the Democratic Party by boosting ideologically aligned social video creators ahead of the 2028 presidential election. asserted
arm → hop → election
Crooked Ideas, the issue-focused partner organization of Crooked Media, is launching new programming and brands aimed at reaching younger, politically skeptical audiences alienated by both mainstream parties. asserted
Ideas → focus → parties
The effort, which aims to support creators with existing followings and grow up-and-coming political stars, will experiment with video formats like fast-paced street investigations in the style of conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, and short-form video comedy, aiming to go viral on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. asserted
which → aim → YouTube
The organization is bringing on Kyle Tharp — a progressive digital strategist whose newsletter, Chaotic Era, has become a must-read in political new media and advertising circles — to serve as executive director of the initiative. asserted
newsletter → bring → initiative
Tharp told Semafor in an email that the organization planned to focus on entertaining content about issues that Americans under 30 care about, including AI safety and tech accountability, “enshittification,” climate change, healthcare, and income inequality. asserted
Americans → tell → safety
“While the left-of-center media ecosystem has grown significantly over the past year, most of those audience gains have primarily come from older, highly-engaged audiences, and from outlets or creators deploying very similar, hyper-political formats to quickly monetize,” Tharp said. asserted
Tharp → grow → formats
“There is a large gap in terms of values-driven media projects reaching younger audiences with non-preachy content. asserted
projects → be → content
I think philanthropic-backed efforts like Crooked Ideas can and should play a role in filling that void.” asserted
efforts → think → void
The new effort by Crooked Ideas is one of many pushes by progressives to elevate the creator ecosystem in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. asserted
effort → elevate → election
President Donald Trump’s ability to speak directly to groups of largely male voters through popular podcasters and clipped viral video prompted a wave of soul-searching on the left, which for years relied on mainstream and left-leaning digital media outlets to promote the party’s messaging. asserted
which → speak → messaging
Courier Newsroom, the left-leaning digital network which Tharp helped lead, has attempted to grow its network of political creators ahead of the midterms. asserted
Tharp → lean → midterms
AND Media, a project from Biden White House veterans launched out of the offices of the Democratic political organization American Bridge, recently announced it was supporting a network of creators, including SubwayTakes host Kareem Rahma. asserted
it → launch → Rahma
The popular video creator told Semafor earlier this summer that the organization was helping him bring back Keep the Meter Running, in part to help counter the wave of content that is driving men towards loneliness and political radicalization. asserted
that → tell → loneliness
“We have a responsibility as people who sway opinion and can influence outcomes, we have a responsibility to do the right thing,” Rahma said. asserted
Rahma → have → thing
“I think that there is a lot of darkness right now. … asserted
I → think → darkness
I want to contribute positively to society.” asserted
I → want → society
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