Hi Revealer,

Well, if there ever was a year that needed investigative reporting, it was 2020. But don’t let your guard down. 

The United States faces a long-term struggle over core values that shouldn’t be partisan: democracy, truth, equality and humanity. These are under attack from a creeping movement that embraces authoritarianism, outright lies and even political violence. A new administration will need to be held accountable. A pandemic rages on. So do inequality and racism. 

On this Giving Tuesday, I’m here to remind you that investigative journalism will be even more important in 2021. 

To remind you, here are five crucial facts we uncovered this year:

1. Amazon isn’t telling you the truth about how badly its obsession with speed is injuring its workers – especially around Cyber Monday. In response to our reporting, senators are demanding answers from CEO Jeff Bezos, and we’ll be closely watching what he says. 
    
2. The U.S. government has held migrant children in custody for far longer than was previously known. Our legal team sued the government and wrested free a trove of data that, for the first time, exposed just how many children languish in shelters long term.
    
3. The rehab work camp phenomenon that’s exploiting people with addiction got its start in a violent cult. Because of our reporting, a federal judge ordered an Arkansas state senator’s company and a drug rehab to pay participants $1.1 million in back wages and damages for work they performed without pay. Additionally, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin are now seeking an investigation of the mandatory work requirements at the drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities receiving federal funding.
    
4. Because of a calculator rooted in racist practices, Black and Latinx women may have been getting cesarean sections they didn’t need. Partly as a result of our reporting, the calculator is being revised to take race and ethnicity out of the equation. 
    
5. The Trump administration aided the chemical industry’s 20-year effort to debunk the science around fetal heart defects. Spurred by our investigation, the New York Legislature passed a bill that bans this cancer-causing solvent and is awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s review.

Thank you for your support in 2020. We have even bigger plans for 2021, and we’re going to need your help to fight for democracy and facts.