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De-Tangle-ing the news

Nieman Reports · last updated

Isaac Saul grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — a bellwether county in a swing state where politics was part of daily life. Surrounded by friends and family with a wide range of political views, Saul developed an early appreciation for ideological diversity.

As he began his career in journalism, he noticed that conservative and moderate voters weren’t well represented in mainstream media coverage. Frustrated by the country’s increasing political polarization, Saul launched Tangle News in 2019, a daily newsletter designed to get Americans “out of their political bubbles.”

Tangle is an independent, non-partisan, and subscriber-supported media organization that covers the biggest political stories of the day by summarizing arguments from the right, left, and center — followed by a candid “My take” from Saul or a member of his team. Today, Tangle reaches over 300,000 readers in more than 55 countries.

Speaking with the 2025 class of Nieman Fellows, Saul discussed why transparency matters more than neutrality, how word choice can make-or-break trust with readers, and what it takes to build a newsroom that has genuine ideological diversity. Edited excerpts:

 

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