Hi Reader,
ProPublica’s spring member drive begins today. For the next two weeks, we’ll be checking in with you, explaining how we operate as a newsroom, highlighting some of our best stories and hopefully convincing you to join us with a donation to support our critical work.
We’re living through very intense times right now. President Donald Trump’s second administration is rapidly reshaping the government and its mission, with staggering consequences for the country and the world. ProPublica is committed to helping readers understand this pivotal moment in our nation’s history, and to chronicling the effects of what promises to be a drastic change in the role of the federal government in all of our lives.
Just days into Trump’s second term, our harrowing story on the U.S. Agency for International Development made clear the effect the cuts in foreign aid were already having on people around the world. The headline said it all: “People Will Die.” Our story “Four Years in a Day” explained the breadth of the changes in immigration law that occurred on Trump’s first day back in office. We revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency is backing away from its promises to protect “sacrifice zones” — communities living downwind of industrial facilities that emit unsafe amounts of toxic air pollution. And because little was known about who was working behind the scenes, we assembled in one place the backgrounds of “Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew” at the Department of Government Efficiency, a database that has continued to generate critical insights into DOGE staffers and lawyers, the agency’s funding, and its plans for the Social Security Administration.
This administration’s actions may be unprecedented, but ProPublica does unprecedented well. Over the past 17 years, we have closely covered the actions of the federal government, from disaster rebuilding programs that inadvertently punished poor people to the failings of regulators to curb the presence of formaldehyde even though it causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant. As we have done for each presidential administration since our founding, our reporters will keep getting answers to the fundamental questions about new government policies: Who is benefiting? Who is suffering? What are the unintended consequences?
As someone who values ProPublica’s journalism and its impact, I’m asking you today to invest more deeply in this work by making a donation of any amount. With a gift to ProPublica, you’ll be joining over 70,000 members who help power our journalism and the real-world change it creates. Your support will immediately be put to good use, paying for the investigations we’re knee-deep in right now.
There is a critical need for more independent, investigative journalism — the kind that demands accountability, protects the vulnerable and ensures that powerful institutions serve the public, not their own interests. It’s the kind of journalism we have been producing for nearly two decades. In these unprecedented times, we are ready to meet the moment. Stand with us.
Thanks so much,
Jill Shepherd
Proud ProPublican
