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Greetings.
We strive to do unique stories you can’t get anywhere else. Stories that zero in on the actions of the most powerful people and institutions around. Stories that drill deep into issues that you care passionately about.
This past year, we just may have had our best year yet. We uncovered fresh secrets and forced positive change on the most pressing issues of our time: inequality, family separation, the opioid crisis, climate change, #MeToo and the behavior of tech CEOs.
And we launched a bunch of new projects designed to help address one of the biggest problems in our own world, the decline of local news.
Let’s get into the details.
In 2018, our stories …
Revealed how racial disparities in home loans fuel the nation’s wealth gap
Major national banks, including JPMorgan Chase and TD Bank, have opened branches in underserved neighborhoods after being cited in our story detailing racial disparities in home lending in 61 cities nationwide. Attorneys general in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Washington and the District of Columbia have launched investigations. The Philadelphia City Council passed a $100 million affordable housing measure to provide down payment assistance to underserved communities. Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill that would provide billions of dollars in federal down payment assistance to homebuyers in redlined neighborhoods.
Uncovered horrifying conditions children faced after being separated from their parents at the border
As a result, a federal judge ordered Shiloh Treatment Center in Texas to stop drugging children without consent, and ordered all children removed from the center. A defense contractor, MVM Inc., also stopped using an Arizona office building to hold children overnight.
Held Elon Musk accountable for the coverup of dangerous conditions on Tesla’s factory floor
Tesla and its peers are building the future. But our reporting shows how Tesla’s factory floor looks an awful lot like the past. As a result, California lawmakers passed a bill strengthening workplace-injury enforcement. Cal/OSHA and the California Medical Board are investigating. And the state of California, which has given Tesla more than $200 million in tax incentives, grilled company officials about the story, pledged to probe further and threatened to cut off future tax benefits.
Forced the Trump administration to stop censoring climate change from National Park reports
The Interior Department couldn’t keep the censorship secret after we obtained drafts of a major report showing park service officials had deleted every mention of humans causing climate change. Following our story, the National Park Service restored the references in the report that it put out to the public.
Investigated how rape continues to go unpunished in modern America
Now, the FBI is promising to fast-track changes that would dramatically reshape what we know about crime and crime victims in America. And the city of Austin, under pressure from residents, has asked the state of Texas to review how it has handled rape cases.
Exposed a new twist in the Catholic Church abuse scandal
The Gonzaga University community is up in arms over our investigation from late last year showing that Jesuits sent abusive priests to retire in the heart of campus, without any warning to students. The university president responded in December with a letter to students, staff and faculty conceding he knew of the arrangement. But his statement left a lot of unanswered questions, and we’re staying on it.
Showed how the response to the opioid epidemic is being corrupted by major companies and rehab operators
At least 10 criminal and regulatory probes have been launched in response to our latest investigation into rehab work camps across the country. “This is a horrific scheme that preys on people at their lowest,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Regulators have demanded rehab participants stop being sent to work without pay in assisted living facilities. Former rehab participants have sued for back pay.
Gave local reporters data, tips and training to pull off big investigations in their hometowns
Last year, we developed an exciting model to extend the reach of our stories and empower local journalists to do deep investigative reporting. We share our data and tips with local reporters across the country, and give them training on how to do their own stories. Last year, we saw local outlets do more than two dozen investigations into modern-day redlining, rehab work camps and problematic rape investigations. We also launched Reveal Local Labs to help guide collaborative investigations in four cities across the country, and continued our Reveal Investigative Fellowship, which provides a year of funding and mentorship to reporters in newsrooms nationwide.
Inspired lawsuits that obliterated government secrecy and censorship
Yes, we have public records laws and the Freedom of Information Act, which allow the public to inspect their governments’ records. At least in theory. But often it takes a lot more than just asking for the records. It takes suing recalcitrant agencies to get them to cough up the public’s business. Last year, we filed 15 suits. We got the government to release never-before-seen numbers on diversity in Silicon Valley. And we’re working on a bunch of new stories based on fresh documents we’ve won as a result of our aggressive legal strategy.
Gave us purpose.
Thanks for supporting this work by subscribing, sharing or donating. No matter how long and hard the work can get, we’re so lucky to be doing something we care about deeply.
Together, we can uncover more injustice in 2019.
Andy Donohue
Managing Editor
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