Good Authority website provides important political analysis for the public
A fresh political news site has just launched with John Sides, William R. Kenan Jr. Chair and professor in political science, at its helm. Goodauthority.org draws on the expertise of leading political scientists to provide the public with evidence-based, non-partisan information about the most important issues of the day.
Good Authority’s mission is “to bring insights from political science to a broader audience.” The site is Sides’s latest project after his previous website, The Monkey Cage, finished a long run in December of last year. The Monkey Cage was a well-regarded political science blog first published in 2007 that connected political scientists and the political conversation by creating a compelling forum, developing publicly focused scholars, and building a more informed audience. The site operated as part of The Washington Post from 2013 to 2022.
Sides and his collaborators started Good Authority with the same approach.
“The site has the same mission as its predecessor: to use political science to explain politics,” Sides said. “What you’ll see at Good Authority is a wider range of formats, including both shorter and longer pieces, audiovisual content, and a bit more fun.”
The most notable difference is Good Authority’s independence. The site operates under a Creative Commons license, meaning all content is completely free to view and share if appropriate citations are made. The site is also home to the entire Monkey Cage archive.
“We are incredibly grateful for The Monkey Cage and especially its time at The Washington Post,” Sides said. “But we felt that an independent site like Good Authority would give us more control over how the site appears and the types of content we publish. We have a great community of readers after 16 years and we want to keep them engaged and find new readers.”
Sides, who specializes in public opinion, voting, and American elections, is the publisher of the new site. He is joined by more than 20 other faculty experts from across the country who serve as editors and contributors. The regular contributors to the site will cover everything from global conflict and elections to book reviews and music. Recent stories focus on topics like election denial, the US-Mexico border wall, and the Israel-Hamas war.
Sides hopes the site serves as a resource for academics and policymakers and empowers all readers to feel smarter about politics.
“Our goal is to provide informed and evidence-driven analyses that stand apart from the conjecture and emotion you’ll often get in political discourse,” Sides said.