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)

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]

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. 1 2 "Staff Bio: John Byrne". Raw Story. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  2. 1 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 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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