The Next Journalism: Building Civic Power

Andrea Seabrook is an award winning journalist covering government and politics. She is known for her work as a long-time NPR Correspondent and Host, the Founder of DecodeDC, and Washington Bureau Chief of Marketplace. Seabrook is now the Managing Editor of Countable.

I have left public radio — again. I’ve joined the company that is the top player in a new kind of journalism: the civic-tech app & site Countable.

Here’s why.

The first time I left public radio, I was among NPR’s top Washington Correspondents, covering Congress and government from an office inside the U.S. Capitol building. It was the summer of 2012; Congressional leaders were threatening — for the 3rd or 4th time, I can’t remember — to shut down the federal government over budget disputes. And I had a problem: I was desperate to tell NPR’s brilliant, sophisticated listeners what exactly was happening in their government, and why.

Like every other journalist in the Capitol, though, I was shut-out of lawmakers’ closed-door wrangling. I hung around in the thick crowds of reporters outside the offices of the Speaker and Majority Leader. I went from office to office, searching for rumors, or rumors of rumors, about the status of negotiations between the Obama White House and the Republican Majority in Congress. Nada.

I remember thinking, ‘how can this be democracy? How can this be journalism?’

And so I was left with this novel journalistic dilemma: with every hour that passed, the United States drew closer to a total government shutdown; but no amount of hours brought any new information on how or even why the negotiations were so difficult. In other words, every day that NOTHING happened, SOMETHING BIG had happened. There just wasn’t anything to say about it.

That was the inflection point in my career. I remember thinking, “how can this be democracy?” “How can this be journalism?”

Then one day, I said to myself, ‘Screw This.’

Without thinking, without even calling my husband, I walked into the office of NPR’s Senior Washington Editor and resigned. I couldn’t do it any more. I gave two-months notice. (And I thank my lucky stars that my husband understood.)

But it slowly dawned on me: talking about it isn’t enough. That’s when I discovered Countable.

What happened next was a kind of existential winging-it: a new podcast aimed at deeper, more relevant journalism from Washington; a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign; the incredible support of a hungry audience; the acquisition of DecodeDC by the E.W. Scripps Company.

I’d hit a nerve. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one desperate to find a way in, to make Americans’ voices heard in Washington.

I spent several years telling this story: that Washington is broken, how Washington is broken, why Washington is broken. I went back to public radio, this time as DC Bureau Chief of Marketplace, hoping to shape an entire body of coverage around my experience.

But it slowly dawned on me: talking about it isn’t enough. That’s when I discovered Countable.

Everyone is hungry to know what their government is doing, and how to affect it. That is exactly what Countable gives them.

Countable is an app that makes it simple to follow what’s going on in Washington — from bills before Congress to Executive Orders from the President — and then gives people an instant, direct line of communication with their representatives. Its foundational belief is that every American should have easy access to their government.

Countable has an incredible wealth of free content: it explains bills and regulations, news and debates, and even explains the arcane rules that have come to make our government practically inaccessible. And it couldn’t have come at a more critical time.

The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States jolted Americans awake. Some feel the thrill of a new kind of leadership in Washington. Some feel shocked and angry with the new President’s early actions. But everyone feels something. Everyone is hungry to know what their government is doing, and how to affect it. That is exactly what Countable gives them.

As a journalist, I have rarely done such satisfying work. I’ve spent a lot of years in Washington with the personal mission to make this place accessible. Still, most days I’ve questioned the impact of my work, even among the tens of millions of sophisticated public radio listeners.

Now, at Countable, I can publish a simple article on, for example, the airport protests following President Trump’s travel ban, and watch as thousands upon thousands of people read it and immediately click through to voice their opinion to their Representatives in Washington.

I admit it: I had slowly become one of those jaded DC reporters. But joining the team at Countable and forging a new kind of civic engagement has given me incredible hope.

When Americans have simple, reliable and accurate reporting on their government, and instant access to it, lawmakers can’t hide behind those closed doors; they cannot mute the voice of the people they represent. And you know what that’s called? Democracy.