The Young Turks Hires 3 New Staffers As Crowdfunding Campaign Hits $1.5 Million

After launching a crowdfunding campaign last December to fund four new investigative teams, digital progressive news network The Young Turks (TYT) has announced three new hires in honor of surpassing $1.5 million of its $2 million goal.

Jonathan Larsen (above l.), who previously served as the senior executive producer of politics for Al Jazeera America, has been named managing editor of TYT — a newly created role. Additionally, former MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan (c.) and David Sirota (above r.), an investigative editor for the International Business Times — and who will remain on staff there — have been tapped as news commentators for TYT.

In his role as managing editor, Larsen will oversee all editorial and programming for investigative journalists and commentators. He previously produced Countdown With Keith Olbermann, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, ABC World News Now

, and Anderson Cooper 360. Ratigan is a sustainability entrepreneur who resigned from MSNBC in 2012, and Sirota’s work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Wired, Vice, and CNN.

They join four hires previously announced as part of the crowdfunding campaign, which kicked off late last year after President Obama denied the final Dakota Access Pipeline permit. These hires include: investigative reporters Michael Tracey and Nomiki Konst and commentators Ryan Grim and Shaun King. TYT will hire one more group of reporters and commentators when the campaign hits $2 million, the company said.

TYT counts 173 million monthly views across all platforms. The network’s shows have been viewed a total of 6 billion times since its online launch in 2005.