Matthew Steeples: Akin to “A Cross Between the Huffington Post and Private Eye”

Akin to “a cross between The Huffington Post and Private Eye,” The Steeple Times was conceived as an online news title in 2012. We seek to share wit and wisdom in equal measure.

Published daily and known for groundbreaking work on stories including the convictions of Ghislaine Maxwell, Rolf Harris and Max Clifford and the ongoing sagas of royals including Prince Andrew and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the news title also covers stories about English and American society as well as topics including the arts, classic and supercars, food and drink, horse racing and prime property.

Tell us about yourself?

Inspired by the likes of the investigative minds of great print journalists such as the late Dominick Dunne, I saw a lack of such in the online space.

I have a passion for helping to expose injustice and having worked with the mainstream media to highlight corruption in the charitable sphere, I decided to set up The Steeple Times.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

Dig deeper and deeper into any story. Most are rabbit holes and the further you go, the more you will discover.

What problem does your business solve?

The Steeple Times seeks to share mainstream news with a unique twist that enthuses our readership and also other relevant news that the mainstream media chooses to most unfortunately ignore also.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

The Steeple Times seeks to fill the void that exists in the online space between gossipy titles and more intellectual publications – amongst them The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Mail Online and Private Eye.

• The online arena is the future of news and journalism.
• The Internet provides a forum where opinions can be more easily expressed and shared than via traditional print and broadcast media.
• The Internet is a space in which information can be shared rapidly and efficiently.
• The Internet allows readers to engage with the news and topics that interest them.
• The publication thrives because of its editorial independence and integrity.
• Our content is intellectually stimulating and provokes discussion.
• Our readers are loyal followers and value the free content model that we offer.

What is your magic sauce?

Journalist Kate Mulvey – who writes for The Times and Daily Mail – once remarked of The Steeple Times: “For me, like a British New Yorker. It’s a paper about the beautiful people, but also about ones who’ve got opinions. It is a Zeitgeist and is a cut above the rest.”

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

As we expand, with the help of new investment, Patreon supporters and our loyal readers and contributors, we intend to increase our daily content, cover a wider array of topics and expand into producing podcast and video content. We aim to reach a wider audience with the help of social media in not only our primary markets of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and mainland Europe, but also in territories beyond.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

When we established in 2012, our focus was primarily on luxury and the arts, but we quickly realised that taking a different take on big news stories was the route to grow our audience.

Our detailed coverage of such stories as the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell – where we broke major exclusives on several occasions that were subsequently taken up and quoted on by the likes of the Daily Mail – have catapaulted us into a different sphere and anything we write about the woman formerly known as Meghan Markle also attracts more traffic than anything else. Our inquisitive readers – some of whom have left hundreds of comments – are our guiding force and their recommendations and story ideas have helped shape our path.

Challenges for me and my team arise daily and the ever altering realms of how the Internet in general and Google in particular operates truly takes up much more time than I originally foresaw.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

We welcome relevant content suggestions and contributions from those with stories that strike a chord with our readership. If you have such to share, please email editorial@thesteepletimes.com

We offer a platform for businesses to advertise and competitive rates for such. If you wish to advertise, please email advertising@thesteepletimes.com

If you wish to follow us on Twitter, our handle is @SteepleTimes