Brian Howey is a Hoosier reporter and editor of Howey Politics Indiana.
Howey Politics Indiana, the political news website of Hoosier journalist Brian Howey, has been sold to New York City-based State Affairs LLC, a subscription-based digital media startup that seeks to fill gaps in the coverage of state reports across the country.
Howey, who announced the sale last month in a letter to subscribers, said joining forces with a company passionate about quality journalism will allow him to appoint a successor, ensuring the publication continues without him.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
“As my career came to an end, I wondered about my legacy — whether HPI would continue, who would lead it, and where would Indiana be if it was just gone,” Howey, 66, told IBJ. “I am convinced that State Affairs offers the best legacy platform for me.”
State Affairs was launched in 2020 by Evan Burns, a native of Jasper, Indiana, who founded Olympia Media Group, which publishes The Odyssey, a crowd-sourced publishing platform, while a student at Indiana University, and Jamie Seltzer, venture capitalist and fellow. -owner of the Philadelphia Union, a Major League Soccer team. State Affairs has a local
“Our mission is to provide weekly commentary and investigative reporting that holds state governments accountable and tells these stories through the lens of readers,” said Alison Bethel, editor-in-chief of State Affairs. “We aim to inform and empower communities and the people who live in them through truthful, well-informed, non-partisan investigative coverage.”
Launched in 1994 as a weekly print publication, Howey Politics Indiana will move to the State Affairs website and add another full-time reporter and an intern to its staff.
Howey’s syndicated newspaper column will continue to run in more than 30 newspapers and television station websites across the state.
The acquisition comes three months after States Newsroom, a Chapel Hill, N.C.-based nonprofit news organization with a similar mission, launched the Indiana Capital Chronicle, a free online publication with three reporters covering the state government. The company announced plans last year to expand its footprint to 40 states.
