[2][3][4][5][6] States Newsroom grew out of NC Policy Watch, a progressive think tank founded in 2004 by Chris Fitzsimon, who said it "is sort of the model for the news sites we support".

[16][17][18][19] Lyman was recognized "[f]or brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

[21] Given its history of "dark money" funding and left-leaning editorial boards, some have questioned the partisanship of States Newsroom's journalism.

[23][3][9] But in 2021 after accepting a $1 million donation from the progressive Wyss Foundation, NewsGuard said their journalism was "bought by people with a political agenda".

[24] In June 2024, Axios called States Newsroom "one of the more strategic" of the "politically motivated websites masquerading as independent local news outlets.

"[19] In April 2024, Cameron Joseph wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review that the outlets "are nothing like the 'pink slime' organizations that pass off partisan propaganda as local news.

Many of the journalists running the local newsrooms... had previously been at major state newspapers" and that reporters and editors were largely autonomous from the national operation.