Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Joe Ricketts is preparing another venture into the news business, and he’s chosen Omaha as his launching pad.
The Omaha World-Herald reports Ricketts is hiring staff to launch an online national news outlet called Straight Arrow News that he said will do what other outlets aren’t doing — providing news without a political slant.
“I think there’s a gap in the market — there’s no source for unbiased, fact-based news. And I believe there’s a business opportunity there,” he said.
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| Joe Ricketts |
In the past few weeks, online job advertisements have been posted for a video editor, senior producer, news reporter, and motion graphics designer/producer for Straightarrownews.com. The ads say the endeavor will be “dedicated to unbiased, nonpartisan reporting” and is projected to start in February.
The company was incorporated in Delaware in July. An October filing in New York State lists the company’ address as 9140 West Dodge Road. That is also the address of Hugo Enterprises, the holding company of for-profit and nonprofit endeavors of Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade. His family also owns the Chicago Cubs.
He declined to say how large of a staff he is hiring or when exactly the service will launch, but he said Straight Arrow would initially focus on national news.
When asked about the launch of non-biased news source, Gary Kebbel, a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said Straight Arrow News is a great name.
“I think most people will say that’s exactly what they want,” Kebbel said, but he’s not convinced that is really, truly what they’re seeking.
People’s attitudes about bias in news, he said, are colored by their own opinions. And people with strong political opinions on the right or left tend to be more passionate about seeking out stories than those in the middle of the spectrum, Kebbel said.
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