We run Polygraph with the purpose of sustaining our work on The Pudding. This allows The Pudding to operate in a purely journalistic space, giving us full creative autonomy on our articles. There’s no brand or client or advertisement contract controlling our Pudding projects, nor are we beholden to what gets the most page clicks. We just do what we think is interesting.
Basically, the wall between The Pudding and Polygraph is a business model embodiment of the editorial/advertising wall in journalism. The Pudding cannot exist without Polygraph, and Polygraph would have no need to exist without The Pudding.