I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”
Today's topic.
Tangle’s case for support. My name is Isaac Saul. I’m a politics reporter who grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, one of the most politically divided counties in all of America. I have lived, studied, traveled and written all over the U.S., Bolivia, Canada, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Singapore and Thailand, among others.
After college, I helped build A Plus, a solutions journalism media outlet, alongside actor and entrepreneur Ashton Kutcher. My work has appeared in several dozen digital publications and has also been cited by outlets like Fox News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. In 2016, Yahoo News named me one of the 16 people whose writing shaped the 2016 election. In 2020, Forbes Magazine called me one of the 1,000 “upstart entrepreneurs redefining the American dream.”
Our mission.
In 2019, I started Tangle as a side project because I recognized that the news industry was broken. As a politics reporter, my work was getting published in a lot of different places, but I realized people trusted it not based on what I was saying — but based on where I was saying it. Readers on the left would trust nothing I wrote if it showed up in a conservative-leaning news outlet, and vice versa. This is how I realized just how strong the information bubble was.
The experience gave me the idea for something different: A newsletter where no matter who you were you would encounter political opinions that you did not agree with. That seemed healthy to me. Tangle started as a side project but rapidly grew during COVID-19. I took a leap and decided to quit my job to go "all-in" on the vision of Tangle.
From our early days, when we had just a few hundred subscribers, my long-term vision was to build a news organization that brought people of all political stripes under one roof — from Romney Republicans to Obama Democrats, Bernie bros to Trump diehards, and everything in between. I knew the only way to do that was to put a premium on balance, transparency, and nuance while leaning into topics other newsrooms shied away from. That principle informed our core formula: Explain a big news story in the most neutral terms possible, share a wide range of opinions on that story, and then tell readers what I thought without a partisan slant. The goal was to leave readers feeling well-versed in a range of perspectives about the animating topics of the day and well-equipped to form their own opinions about those issues. In other words, a news organization that you and a family member who holds opposing viewpoints could actually read together.
Today, Tangle has over 150,000 subscribers, and 40% of our audience identifies as liberal, 30% as conservative, and 30% as independent. Most importantly, over 95% of all our readers rate us as trustworthy. We’ve received “center” bias ratings from media watchdogs, and we’ve changed the way people consume and think about politics in the U.S.
Why trust us?
I understand why someone wouldn’t. Media outlets face all sorts of challenges today, from overt bias to corporate interests to the basic dereliction of good journalistic practices.
But we earn our readers' trust in a very simple way: By providing views from across the political spectrum in every single edition, and clearly labeling what is opinion and what isn't.
This is not "both sidesism" or giving equal weight to conspiracies and facts. Instead, we search the world for the best arguments we can about the debates of the day, and then we show them to you. Side-by-side. So you can decide.
Under the hood.
When I started Tangle, it was just me: a journalist with a newsletter. Today, Tangle has five full-time employees, part-time staff, and a cohort of interns. Tangle is funded entirely by subscribers and a small number of advertisements we place in the free version of the newsletter and the podcast. We have no investors, no outside influence. I’m learning on the fly on how to be a successful entrepreneur and how to scale this business. One of the most basic pieces of business advice I’ve gotten over and over again is “diversify your revenue.” About 90% of our revenue comes from subscriptions, and another 10% comes from advertising.
Why we are fundraising on top of subscriber revenue.
Though we structured our newsroom as a business, our missional focus was clear to our readers from the start. For example, despite our increasing subscriber revenue, over 80% of our content (that we work tirelessly to produce each day) is free! Recently, several readers approached me with the desire to make charitable contributions, both small and large. I politely declined, since Tangle was a for-profit organization. Eventually, a charitable foundation provided us with a “planning grant” to fund consultation with lawyers, philanthropic experts, and other advisors on how to launch a charitable funding arm. Ultimately, we teamed up with Journalism Funding Partners, a verified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission to “increase the depth, diversity and sustainability of local journalism by building and stewarding connections between funders and news organizations.”
From there, we launched a fundraising page in July 2024, with a goal to raise $150,000. Within the first three months, over 100 supporters contributed more than $11,000 toward that goal. That funding will support emerging projects like our new podcast series, a growing YouTube channel, and more live in-person events. These free offerings are positioned explicitly to bring in a younger audience — and we are hoping we can reshape the next generation by teaching them to engage with views they may not like in a healthy and productive manner.
How we’ll specifically use the money:
- Hire an additional editor for our YouTube channel
- Additional microphones, cameras, and software equipment to support the YouTube channel
- Fund on-the-ground journalism that requires travel and resources, including coverage of the DNC and November election
- Launch education-themed content: explainers and historical videos in the Tangle ethos designed specifically for use with high school and college students
How to donate.
We are grateful for donations of any size — whether it’s $5 or $50,000. And again, it’s tax-deductible!
You can make a credit card contribution on our Give Butter Crowdfunding Page. If you’d like to donate via check, or through a Donor Advised Fund, click here for more info, or email us at staff@readtangle.com.
If you would like to discuss your contribution individually, or know of a foundation that’s aligned with our mission and want to discuss a partnership, email me directly at isaac@readtangle.com.
Thank you.
The past year has been exciting, grueling, and life changing. The nonstop stream of emotionally charged news feels overwhelming to wade through, as I'm sure it is for many of you. But for us, it is also an opportunity — and a rather big one. Trust in the media is at an all-time low, and a recent poll found that voters believe media bias is worse than it has ever been. That means people are turning to independent outlets like Tangle looking for balance and nuance, which gives us the chance to chart a new path forward.
We’re able to do this thanks to our readers and supporters, who not only inspire us to lean into our mission but literally enable us to operate as a business. So thank you, from all of us, for your support and for considering a donation to support us in our next phase of growth.
Before I sign off, I want to leave you with a taste of what our audience and industry peers say about Tangle (if anything, just to show I’m not making it all up!). Enjoy.
What subscribers say about Tangle.
“Tangle is restoring my trust in news and media. Any good argument looks at both sides. Any good news source looks at both sides and digests an objective viewpoint for its viewers. Tangle does this in every report.”
— Alexis, Kansas City, Kansas
“My favorite read of the day. Tangle is reflective, nuanced, and self-aware. It challenges my beliefs and broadens my horizons. Reading Tangle makes me feel better informed about the country and world.”
— Adam, San Francisco, California
“Tangle is the rational, reasoned read that helps me focus on the signal of current events rather than the noise.”
— Michael, Buda, Texas
“As a right-leaning, Libertarian, Trump supporter I catch myself only listening to ideas I want to believe. I find the Tangle arguments that lean left are well reasoned and thought out, allowing me to broaden my thought processes.”
— Todd, Manchester, NH
“The Tangle newsletter is my favorite email of the day. When it arrives, I stop what I’m doing and dive in. For the first time in a long time I enjoy reading the news again.”
— Jennifer, Paducah, KY
“The political reporting you want. Good, not flowery, writing. Facts where the story is. Analysis in a separate place. Both sides presented without the spin makers doing the presenting.”
— Michelle, San Francisco, CA
“Dangerously close to becoming the highlight of my day.”
— Pranav, New York, NY
What industry leaders say about Tangle.
“Ike Saul’s bipartisan newsletter is so worth the subscription. I am always genuinely excited when it hits my inbox.”
— Jill Thaw, Senior Editor for The Athletic
"I truly believe that the more people read Tangle News, the less polarized and contemptuous of each other we’d be."
— Zach Elwood, author of How Contempt Destroys Democracy
“My friend and chronic comrade-in-arms Isaac Saul has built an incredible politics newsletter from scratch. It dives deep into 2020 (and the many narratives underpinning it) every day. All those hours and all that work have resulted in something special.”
— Cate Matthews, Senior Editor for TIME Magazine
“Talking politics without personal bias is tough. That’s why we let Tangle do it for us.”
— The Hustle
"Most of my news consumption makes me feel like I'm getting yelled at. Tangle reduces the temperature and gives me information in a relaxed, level-headed way from a variety of perspectives. It's pretty rare that reading the news makes me calmer. But Tangle makes me calmer. It makes me feel like I can take a breath."
— Will Leitch, Founding Editor of Deadspin, a contributing editor at New York Magazine
“Tangle is worth my time. Isaac catches me up on key national and political news stories percolating on the Internet, explaining the details that often pass me by when news is chaos.”
— Laura McGann, Politics Editor for Vox
“My new favorite newsletter to follow is @TangleNews by the wonderful @Ike_Saul. It helps me stay up-to-date with the day's big complicated story — and also encourages me to check my biases. Highly recommend.”
— Brendan Harvey, Founder of Good Good Good Newspaper
“Really love this idea from my friend @Ike_Saul. A smart political newsletter that's heavy on reader interaction and answering questions, and adds a dose of positivity to the political grind.”
— Jonathan Tamari, national politics reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer
