Hi Reader,
I’m thrilled to share ProPublica’s newly released 2022 Annual Report. The work showcased is striking in its scope — from groundbreaking stories, which revealed the algorithms that may contribute to spiking rental prices, to a project that recounted the legacy of the night raids carried out by CIA-backed Zero Units, which killed countless civilians in Afghanistan.
ProPublica also received many of journalism’s highest honors last year, including the RFK Journalism Awards’ Grand Prize; a News & Documentary Emmy Award; two George Polk Awards; and two Pulitzer Prize finalist designations.
But we are proudest of the impact our reporting has spurred. For example:
In April 2022, ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune revealed that schools and police were funneling students into a ticketing system that issued steep fines for minor infractions such as littering or swearing. Less than a month later, several schools dropped or reevaluated these policies. Last month, the Illinois legislature introduced a bill to amend the state’s school code to prohibit staff from involving police to issue citations to students for incidents that can be addressed through the school’s disciplinary process.
An August 2022 story reported with The Texas Tribune found that U.S. Army soldiers accused of sexual assault are less than half as likely to be detained while awaiting trial than those accused of offenses like drug use or disobeying an officer. Following the story, the Army said its rules are “currently under revision.”
In December, ProPublica and NBC News illuminated racial disparities in Phoenix’s child welfare system, finding that 1 in 3 Black children in Maricopa County faced a child welfare investigation over a five-year period. Weeks later, Arizona’s newly elected governor, Katie Hobbs, chose a new director of the state’s Department of Child Safety: Matthew Stewart, a community advocate highlighted in our story and the department’s first-ever Black leader. Hobbs’ office said it had read our work and wanted to take the agency in a new direction.
ProPublica’s 2019 reporting on how the tax prep software TurboTax used deceptive design and misleading ads to get people to pay to file their taxes — even when they were eligible to file for free — yielded new impact last year. In May 2022, the maker of TurboTax reached a $141 million settlement, which will pay up to $90 apiece to customers who were tricked into paying for the tax software.
I encourage you to read the full report, as well as a story out today outlining more recent impact spurred by ProPublica’s journalism. Our work — and our impact — is only possible because of the support of our readers. Thank you for believing in our mission. We couldn’t do this without you.
Robin Sparkman
President, ProPublica
