Last Friday, we published a story in which Zainab Shah, the first U.S. employee of Dutch import The Correspondent, spoke out about the messaging and marketing around The Correspondent’s U.S. launch. “I felt like it was a betrayal, and we had raised funds on false pretense,” she said. The story also raised questions about The Correspondent’s use of the $1.8 million in “runway funding.”

Shah sharing her story had an impact. On Monday, two of the most prominent “ambassadors” for The Correspondent’s U.S./English-language launch — FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver and “The Wire” creator David Simon — tweeted statements that what The Correspondent “isn’t what I thought I was getting behind” and “is entirely disappointing,” respectively.

As someone who was an "ambassador" for The Correspondent—not a paid position, just someone who likes the ideas/people behind the publication and so helped to promote its crowdfunding campaign—I think you should read this. https://t.co/3d4LAIXF6b

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 29, 2019

FWIW, I had the same impression as @zainabshah: that they were "coming to the US". That can mean a lot of things; I don't care about a physical office. But an English-language expansion run from abroad with just 1-2 US correspondents isn't what I thought I was getting behind.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 29, 2019

Maybe my impression is/was wrong. But their first/only US-based hire (@zainabshah) had same impression. FWIW, I also communicated this to them privately a few weeks ago. I hope they'll find a better way to address people's concerns rather than just calling it a misunderstanding.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 29, 2019

I can speak for my own experience. I was recruited to endorse this project by Mr. Pfauth on the explicit premise of a US edition and his direct references to me about the opening of a New York office. This is entirely disappointing. https://t.co/YFsRhcIVCI

— David Simon (@AoDespair) April 29, 2019

And to be clear we were not discussing a physical office space so much as US-based reporting with the first hires being likely based in NY, with a holes for expansion thereafter. The US-based talent and voice was key for me, even if home-base was overseas.

— David Simon (@AoDespair) April 29, 2019

Those comments joined many statements from members of The Correspondent and others who felt duped or otherwise surprised by the news of a non-U.S. focus.

Feel like a dope for having backed @The_Corres after reading this:https://t.co/FA6D1QG6hQ

— John Carroll (@jpcarrolljr) April 30, 2019

Wow. This annoys me on many levels. You raise money on what you call the failures of the US media and then blame the US media for misleading funders about your intentions. https://t.co/3i9UhIgjh8

— Kelsey Dallas (@kelsey_dallas) April 30, 2019

If you were as excited as I was when I first heard about @the_corres, you should read this. It really makes me question how honest they've been with their readers, supporters & staff. How are we supposed to trust them now? https://t.co/gZqOJM2jX8

— Marta Martinez (@mart3es) April 29, 2019

.@zainabshah quit her global ops job at buzzfeed to build @the_corres u.s. newsroom. this account of their $2.5M crowdfund and subsequent reversal on U.S. strategy is jaw-dropping. Sad to see much-needed journalism resources going up in flames like this. https://t.co/azjGHnBWGp

— amanda zamora (@amzam) April 27, 2019

I believed the hype about ⁦@The_Corres⁩, made a donation and hoped the NY thing was a misunderstanding. This ⁦@laurahazardowen⁩ story is devastating. https://t.co/M3buE4NrlJ

— Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) April 26, 2019

IMO, not only did they damage their own reputation badly with this 'confusion' but they also damaged the industry at a whole at at time when credibility is its lifeblood. https://t.co/VZY6qXYrTd via @NiemanLab

— Linda Solomon Wood (@Linda_Solomon) April 26, 2019

These guys squandered a mind-boggling level of privilege. Not sure why @decorrespondent rather than the numerous other high impact media companies doing stellar work in the U.S., ended up featured on @Trevornoah who helped pitch their crowdfunding campaign!?!

— Linda Solomon Wood (@Linda_Solomon) April 26, 2019

Dutch site @decorrespondent was perceived as miraculous innovation in journalism – although only few read their stories. Its founders were rockstars at all journalistic conferences. Finally, overstated buzz is over and we have much more realistic picturehttps://t.co/gwL7ZhXLgr

— Filip Struhárik (@filip_struharik) April 27, 2019

Jay Rosen, the NYU professor who has been the project’s biggest American supporter, also tweeted Monday that he had “strongly advised The Correspondent’s leadership that they needed more financial transparency and they assured me they will do that.”

Hi, Dick. About the HQ decision and what happened during the campaign, my March post stands. https://t.co/UGQx3drRUT Over the weekend I strongly advised The Correspondent's leadership that they needed more financial transparency and they assured me they will do that. 1/2

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) April 29, 2019

The Correspondent and its founders Rob Wijnberg and Ernst-Jan Pfauth had been conspicuously silent on social media, not responding to or mentioning the story for more than three days. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, The Correspondent tweeted out an unsigned “unconditional apology” noting that “some of our early team members, prominent ambassadors, and members feel misled.”

We screwed up: pic.twitter.com/4x5ctdFmTQ

— The Correspondent (@The_Corres) April 30, 2019

The Correspondent will be “taking the time to carefully and precisely share” some additional information “in the coming weeks,” including:

• “Insight into how we plan to offer journalism that is relevant to all our members”
• “A detailed description of how we expect our correspondents and editors to work”
• “Financial transparency about our budget and how we intend to spend the $2.6 million that our founding members generously contributed”

Some elements that the statement (which doesn’t directly reference our story) doesn’t address:

• It pledges financial transparency about how The Correspondent plans to spend its new money, but it doesn’t mention the $1.8 million it has already spent to raise that $2.6 million. Our story reported Shah’s claim that she was not allowed to see updated budgets, and other employees’ concerns that spending had gone over budget, including the redirection of grant money originally intended for other purposes. The Correspondent also declined to say how much of the money went to Momkai, the design firm that shares a building and two co-founders with The Correspondent.
• If the issue was an internal decision that wasn’t properly communicated outside The Correspondent, why did the organization’s operations lead and first U.S. employee (Zainab Shah) and its paid U.S. campaign strategist (Baratunde Thurston) not know about the change?
• Why did it not try to correct any of the many news stories about the campaign that referenced the U.S. (“coming to America,” “bringing its ad-free journalism to the US,” or “‘unbreak’ U.S. news” or “it will launch a site in the U.S.”)?
• Who specifically is the “we” referenced throughout in the unsigned statement, given that “we” “poorly communicated [the change] to our early ambassadors and staff”?
• Did the evolving thinking about New York play a role in the pre-campaign decision not to hire for the site’s two highest editorial positions, editor-in-chief and managing editor, both of which were to be based in New York?

Speaking of Baratunde Thurston — who served as a part-time paid strategist for the campaign and was prominent in press coverage — he spoke out today as well.

But if anyone joined b/c of me AND a belief this org would operate a physical US office and feels duped or disappointed by that absence, i understand and offer my own apology. Request a refund from The Correspondent which they promise to process “right away” and lmk if they don’t

— Baratunde (@baratunde) April 30, 2019

I myself joined as member, ambassador, and part-time paid “campaign strategist” largely because a) I believe we need new organizing models for media and b) the stellar person that is @zainabshah. Working with her on the crowdfunding campaign was a joy

— Baratunde (@baratunde) April 30, 2019

So it’s very sad to see that she herself, the first US employee, feels duped. She thought a New York office was a given. So did I. We recruited many with that understanding. Now, in a testament to her own character and ethics, she’s shared her story https://t.co/K2t6EDAbfM

— Baratunde (@baratunde) April 30, 2019

There’s a chance for The Correspondent to recover from this & do the good things it promised. But trust is something hard to earn and easily lost, and this is not a good start. I hope the team there understands this and prioritizes living out its own good-sounding principles.

— Baratunde (@baratunde) April 30, 2019

Reaction to The Correspondent’s apology was mixed.

As someone who values forgiveness and presumes positive intent, I hate being the person saying, "Too little, too late," but…too little, too late. https://t.co/SoHukbqwQS

— Abigail Geiger (@abigailgeiger) April 30, 2019

This is a much better apology from @The_Corres and I'm glad they're now offering to refund members who feel misled. I still wish they'd launch the US-based publication many of us thought we were supporting. https://t.co/EXiKtGNRzw

— Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits) April 30, 2019

The first thing I looked for was to see who wrote this, or at least who signed their name(s) to it. Turns out: no one signed it! Man, come on already. https://t.co/YJgayRiVDr

— Tasneem Raja (@tasneemraja) April 30, 2019

Doesn't sound like "The Correspondent" is really going to deliver what it promised. Without a US presence, it has no skin in the game. So many promises. Nothing delivered. https://t.co/RKVilw1HAA

— cgerrish (@cgerrish) April 30, 2019

Because The Correspondent is powered radical new form of open participatory journalism, it only took them 34 days to acknowledge a basic fuckup that their founders insisted was a fake twitter non-story https://t.co/bf8PX4CDUb

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) April 30, 2019

The Correspondent says it will immediately process refunds for anyone who asks (members had already reported this was the case, but there hadn't been an official announcement as far as i know) https://t.co/ugZH8QeW57

— Allegra Hobbs (@AllegraEHobbs) April 30, 2019

Show us who (vendors) got paid what for doing what was done so far.

If you used that money to underwrite your operation in the Netherlands before you updated your community, your misappropriation is more than a mistake. https://t.co/2pE2o0I0Cn

— Vinny @ Snopes (@vinnysgreen) April 30, 2019