ProPublica, Journalism in the public interest
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom of about 50 working journalists, dedicated to providing investigative journalism in the public interest. They exclusively focus on truly important stories, stories with “moral force” by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them.
ProPublica is headquartered in Manhattan. Its establishment was announced in October 2007. Operations commenced in January 2008, and publishing began in June 2008. It was founded by Paul Steiger, the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. It is now led by Stephen Engelberg, a former managing editor of The Oregonian and former investigative editor of The New York Times, and Richard Tofel, the former assistant publisher of The Wall Street Journal. They have had 127 publishing partners since 2008.
Investigative journalism is at risk. Today’s investigative reporters lack resources. New models are, therefore, necessary to carry forward some of the great work of journalism in the public interest that is such an integral part of self-government, and thus an important bulwark of our democracy.
One of Their missions is to bring journalists from a broad array of social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds into journalism, including African Americans, Latinos, other people of color, women, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. They are committed to diversity and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply.
They strive to be fair, listen to the response and adjust their reporting when appropriate. They aggressively edit every story they plan to publish, to assure its accuracy and fairness. If errors of fact or interpretation occur, they correct them quickly and clearly. They support each story they publish with an active and aggressive communications effort of their own, including regularly contacting reporters, editors and bloggers, encouraging them to follow-up on their reporting, and to link to their site and work. The idea is to make the site both a destination for their own journalism and a tool to promote good work in the field.
They are funded almost entirely through donations. The Sandler Foundation made a major, multiyear commitment to fund ProPublica at its launch in 2008. They have received other philanthropic contributions as well and they are constantly exploring possible new revenue streams, including the sale of data and ebooks, although philanthropy, in large gifts and small, will continue to be their principal source of income for the foreseeable future.
They began accepting advertising, and offering sponsorships of its emails, in 2011 and like all quality publishers of original journalism, maintains a clear separation between news and advertising content. Advertising that attempts to blur this distinction in a manner that, in ProPublica’s sole judgment, confuses readers will be rejected.
They have an annual budget of just over $13 million in 2016 and they spend about 75 percent of their total expenses on news, compared with about 15 percent for leading newspapers and magazines. A governing Board, which has fiduciary responsibility for ProPublica, hires the management team, oversees its members and sets their pay. They also have a Journalism Advisory Board that provides editorial advice from time to time to their top editors and they have a Business Advisory Council that advises primarily on questions of technology and other business issues.
ProPublica was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, two Emmy Awards in 2015 and a Peabody Award in 2013. These are just five of a number of honors of which they’re very proud, all received since they began publishing in June 2008.
General Info/Inquiries:
info@propublica.org
