Crooks and Liars
U.S. progressive left
Background
John Amato, a musician-turned-blogger known informally as the 'Vlogfather,' launched Crooks and Liars in September 2004, motivated by what he saw as insufficient mainstream media scrutiny of the Bush administration. The site was a pioneer in embedding audio and video clips alongside political commentary, an approach that was novel for political blogs at the time. It grew quickly through the mid-2000s and was named one of TIME magazine's 25 Best Blogs in 2009. A 2011 academic study in the journal Journalism listed it among the 12 most popular partisan blogs in the United States. A 2017 Harvard Berkman Klein Center study found it was among the 50 websites most frequently shared in the context of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Media Bias/Fact Check rates it as strongly left-biased and mostly factual, while Ground News categorizes it as far left; a 2016 academic review noted a tendency toward clickbait-style headlines. The outlet has remained independent, funded by advertising and donations, without raising outside investment or being acquired by a larger media company. Its editorial posture in 2025–2026 reflects consistent, adversarial coverage of the Trump administration's second term.
Sources
- Crooks and Liars – Wikipedia
- Crooks and Liars – About Us
- Crooks and Liars – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
- Crooks and Liars – Bias and Reliability – Ad Fontes Media
- Crooks and Liars – Ground News
- Crooks and Liars – Crunchbase Profile
- Rage Against the Right: John Amato of Crooks & Liars Speaks – LA Progressive
- 25 Best Blogs 2009 – TIME
Profile compiled 2026-09-22; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.