John K. Byrne

John K. Byrne (born March 24, 1981) is an American publisher and writer. He is co-owner of Raw Story Media and AlterNet Media, which publish the online progressive political news sites RawStory.com and AlterNet.org respectively.[1] Prior to Raw Story, he wrote briefly for The Boston Globe and McClatchy Newspapers and has been published in The Atlantic.[2]

John Byrne
Born (1981-03-24) March 24, 1981
New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Occupation
  • Publisher
  • Journalist
  • Writer
  • Founder, chairman & CEO of Raw Story
Alma materOberlin College (2003)

Early life and education

Byrne was raised in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts by Catherine and Jeffrey Byrne. Catherine Byrne is a circuit judge of the Massachusetts District Courts and Jeffrey Byrne is a retired family physician.[3][4]

Byrne attended Concord Academy and graduated from Oberlin College in 2003. At Oberlin College, he founded The Grape, which remains the college’s alternative student newspaper.[5] He was also editor of The Oberlin Review, where he wrote an exposé about steroid abuse on the football team.[6]

Career

During college, Byrne worked as a stringer for The Boston Globe Northwest, a since-discontinued suburban section of the newspaper, and for McClatchy Newspapers as an intern in Washington, DC.[7]

Byrne founded RawStory.com, which was first published on February 1, 2004.[8] The site was originally conceived as a liberal version of the Drudge Report.[6] In the early years, Raw Story focused on reporting on anti-gay political figures who were themselves closeted gays. Byrne founded Raw Story when he was 23.[9] In 2010, Byrne stepped down as editor of Raw Story. He remains the company's CEO.[1]

In 2018, Byrne and his business partner, Michael Rogers, acquired the progressive news website AlterNet from the nonprofit Independent Media Institute,[10] and The New Civil Rights Movement.[11][12]

In 2022, John Byrne was named to the Out 100, Out Magazine's compilation of the year's most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people.[13]

Outing of political figures

Byrne and Rogers outed as gay numerous politicians and political staff who voted or advocated against gay rights in the mid-2000s.[9] Among the first was former Republican Congressman Ed Schrock (R-VA).[14] Byrne was also involved in the outing of former Rep. David Dreier (R-CA).[15]

HIV prevention advocacy

In 2015, Byrne began advocating for the promotion of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) after a false positive HIV test.[2] His first campaign on Miami Beach was covered by The Miami Herald, “I AM PrEP,” which involved posters created for bars and clubs and brochures for health centers.[16] The campaigns were expanded into the Latinx community and developed from passing out brochures to using online 'peer navigators' (influencers) on social media.[17] In 2017, Byrne founded Prevention Access Campaign, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting PrEP in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.[18] It was renamed Prevention305 the following year.[19] In 2019, Prevention305 helped start a mobile clinic which does cancer screening and PrEP in partnership with a local cancer center and the University of Miami School of Medicine.[20][21]

References
  1. "Staff Bio: John Byrne". Raw Story. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  2. Byrne, John (1 December 2015). "When Condoms Aren't Enough". The Atlantic. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  3. "Catherine K. Byrne". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  4. Chelmsford Family Practice. "Jeffrey Byrne, M.D." ChelmsfordFamily.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  5. "The Grape". Issuu.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  6. Boeglin, Rosemary (25 April 2014). "John Byrne, OC '03, Former Editor-in-Chief of the Review, and Founder of The Grape and The Raw Story". The Oberlin Review. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  7. "Globe Northwest". Boston.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  8. Byrne, John. "The Editors' Blog". Raw Story. Archived from the original on 24 May 2004. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  9. Ireland, Doug (23 September 2004). "The Outing". LA Weekly. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  10. O'Reilly, Lara (10 April 2018). "CMO Today: Zuckerberg's Congress Hearing; P&G to Build Cross-Holding Company Creative Agency; Movie Theaters Go Upmarket". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  11. Raw Story Partners Announce Acquisition Of AlterNet.org And The New Civil Rights Movement, April 11, 2018, Business Insider
  12. About The New Civil Rights Movement
  13. Out100 2022: 24 LGBTQ+ Titans of Media and Entertainment, Out (2022)
  14. Johnson, Margaret (2010-09-16). "A history of political gay-baiting". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  15. Forced Hill Outings Continue, September 29, 2004, Gay City News
  16. Rothaus, Steve (13 November 2015). "Facebook album: 'I Am PrEP' HIV prevention campaign launches in South Beach". Miami Herald. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  17. PrEP: Group Uses Gay Dating Apps to Combat HIV, August 17, 2018, South Florida Gay News
  18. Florida Department of Health in Broward County (20 March 2017). "HIV Activist Becomes Advocate For PrEP". CBS Miami. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  19. Name search of corporations, Florida Division of Corporations
  20. They Found a Better Way to Get Latinx Miami on PrEP, May 29, 2019, HIVPlusMag
  21. RAPID Services — Mobile PrEP Program, Miller School of Medicine
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