Dear Reader,

I’m thrilled to share ProPublica’s newly released 2023 Annual Report. The work showcased is striking in its scope — from our series on health care denials, which revealed a system that allows its doctors to instantly reject a claim on medical grounds without so much as opening the patient’s file, to a graduate student who discovered the largest known slave auction in the U.S.

And we are proud to share the impact our reporting has spurred. For example:

• The Supreme Court announced in November that it had unanimously adopted the first ethics code in its 235-year history, following months of reporting on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong relationship with Republican megadonor Harlan Crow and, separately, Justice Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Republican donor Paul Singer.
• In September, the Senate unanimously passed legislation that ensures that federal maternal and child health dollars can be used for stillbirth prevention efforts. Members of Congress credited our reporting when discussing the bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing the number of pregnancies that end in stillbirth every year, which currently stands at more than 20,000. In May, this project was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the explanatory reporting category.
• After ProPublica and New York Magazine revealed how Columbia University ignored warnings about Robert Hadden, a former obstetrician-gynecologist who had sexually abused patients for decades while working at the school, Columbia announced a sweeping series of changes following outrage and protests, including a $100 million survivors’ settlement fund.

Our journalism is already producing significant real-world change in just the first few months of 2024, and it would not be possible without the support of our readers. I encourage you to read the full report to learn more about these stories and many, many more.

Thank you,

Robin Sparkman
President, ProPublica