About
ReddingNewsReview.com is home to radical media innovation and unbridled independent and award-winning reporting.
Redding News Review is the oldest black news aggregation Web site in the world. For 20 years, its award-winning staff is responsible for breaking some of the biggest news stories – from President Obama’s run being thwarted to opening a dialog about diversity in TV news. It is also the exclusive home of founder Rob Redding new talk radio show “Redding News Review Unrestricted”, the first and most successful stand-alone subscription-supported talk radio show, made possible by the black Web’s first subscription-subscription portal. UrbanInsite.com wrote in 2024 that he is “dominating Black news online with his podcast “Redding News Review Unrestricted.”
Redding started the groundbreaking black news site started as X-Political.com in 1999 and renamed Redding News Review on March 25, 2002 to complement his talk radio program while at WAOK-AM in Atlanta.
Since 2002, the Website’s stories have become a regular part of National Public Radio and Fox News Channel. Its comprehensive coverage of the black community became a resource for Fox News during the Don Imus “nappy-headed ho’s” controversy. Its reports have also been used by London’s Metro newspaper and Arutz Sheva, Israel’s Channel 7 news. Its scoops have also been acknowledged or linked to by ABC News, BET, MSNBC, The Hill, Roll Call, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Times, Huffington Post, Politico and The National Newspaper Association.
In 2017, The site garnered international attention when it broke news that Cover Girl James Charles had racist Instagram posts about blacks, Indians and Mexicans. The exclusive was reported in the Metro newspaper in London.
In 2014, the site broke news that Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy was near death. He died a week later.
In 2013, the site garnered international attention when it conducted an interview with Belgium recording artist Stromae. The MTV artist of the year talked frankly about race. The story has had more than 350,000 views and was the No. 1 story on Radio Television Belge Francophone or RTBF’s website.
In 2011, the site broke news that President Obama’s White House tried to save the life of Troy Davis. The White House commented on the report, along with the Huffington Post Politico and BET.
In 2008, the Web site – which has been called “an Internet clearinghouse for African-American news,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – was the first to report former Mayor and Ambassador Andrew Young‘s comments on Senator Barack Obama not being ready to be president. The site has also been called the “vanguard of Internet news sites” by AllAccess.com writer Perry Michael Simon.
In 2007, the Web site was credited by Editor & Publisher for breaking news of the harassment of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts by a white supremacist group. The Web site has also been recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists for its Hurricane Katrina coverage.
In December 2004, the site’s breaking news coverage prompted Brian Williams, NBC News anchor and managing editor, to apologize for saying there are “bigger problems” than newsroom diversity. The Web site’s coverage also spurred NBC News President Neal Shapiro to vow to redouble the company’s minority hiring efforts.
The Web site has also been considered a leader in news aggregation, due to winning numerous awards in the area. It won Black Web Awards in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Finally, it continues to lead the Internet by becoming the first black subscriber-supported Web site on Oct. 19, 2013. The move means all of its exclusives are still public, all information about the Web site and radio show of the same name are also public and some top news headlines are public. However, only Web site subscribers can view hundreds of up-to-the-minute researched headlines.