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ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
based in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
, for a piece written by one of its journalists''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', April 13, 2010
Pulitzer progress for non-profit news
ProPublica
Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting: Deadly Choices at Memorial
and published in ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
''
Sheri Fink Sheri Fink is an American journalist who writes about health, medicine and science. She received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting "for a story that chronicles the urgent life-and-death decisions made by one hospital’s exhau ...
, '' New York Times Magazine'', August 25, 2009
The Deadly Choices at Memorial
as well as on ProPublica.org.ProPublica, August 27, 2009
The Deadly Choices at Memorial
ProPublica states that its investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time investigative reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to news partners for publication or broadcast. In some cases, reporters from both ProPublica and its partners work together on a story. ProPublica has partnered with more than 90 different news organizations, and it has won six Pulitzer Prizes.


History

ProPublica was the brainchild of
Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...
and
Marion Sandler Marion Osher Sandler (October 17, 1930 – June 1, 2012) was the co-CEO (with her husband Herbert Sandler) of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank. In 2004, after 43 years running Golden West Financial Corporation, she w ...
, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, who have committed $10 million a year to the project. The Sandlers hired
Paul Steiger Paul Steiger (born August 15, 1942) is an American journalist who served as managing editor of '' The Wall Street Journal'' from 1991 until May 15, 2007. After that, he was the founding editor-in-chief, CEO and president of ProPublica from 2008 thr ...
, former managing editor of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', to create and run the organization as editor in chief. At the time ProPublica was set up, Steiger responded to concerns about the role of the political views of the Sandlers, saying on ''
The Newshour with Jim Lehrer ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the prog ...
'': ProPublica had an initial news staff of 28 reporters and editors, including
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winners Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber,
Jeff Gerth Jeff Gerth is a former investigative reporter for ''The New York Times'' who has written lengthy, probing stories that drew both praise and criticism. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for covering the transfer of American satellite-launch technolog ...
, and Marcus Stern. Steiger was reported to have received 850 applications upon ProPublica's announcement. The organization appointed a 12-member advisory board of professional journalists. The newsgroup shares its work under the Creative Commons no-derivative, non-commercial license. On August 5, 2015,
Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...
announced a partnership with the company to help improve their healthcare statistics.


Funding

While the
Sandler Foundation Sandler Foundation is a charitable foundation formed in 1991 with support from Herbert Sandler and Marion Sandler, co-CEOs of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank. In 2006, the Sandlers made a contribution of $1.3 billion to the ...
provided ProPublica with significant financial support, it also has received funding from the Knight Foundation,
MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
, Pew Charitable Trusts,
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
,
the Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...
, and the Atlantic Philanthropies. ProPublica and the Knight Foundation have various connections. For example, Paul Steiger, executive chairman of ProPublica, is a trustee of the Knight Foundation. In like manner, Alberto Ibarguen, the president and CEO of the Knight Foundation is on the board of ProPublica. ProPublica has attracted attention for the salaries it pays its employees. In 2008, Paul Steiger, the editor of ProPublica, received a salary of $570,000. Steiger was formerly the managing editor at ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', where his total compensation (including options) was double that at ProPublica. Steiger's stated strategy is to use a ''Wall Street Journal'' pay model to attract journalistic talent. In 2010, eight ProPublica employees made more than $160,000, including managing editor Stephen Engelberg ($343,463) and the highest-paid reporter,
Dafna Linzer Dafna Linzer (born October 21, 1970) is an American journalist who in March 2022 was named executive editor of ''Politico''. Since October 2015, she had been managing editor of politics for NBC News and MSNBC, with a role spanning broadcast and di ...
, formerly of the ''Washington Post'' ($205,445). Engelberg is a former ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' editor who co-wrote the non-fiction book '' Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War'', with ''Times'' reporter
Judith Miller Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator known for her coverage of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, which was later discovered to have been based on ...
.


Awards

In 2010, ProPublica jointly won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting (it also was awarded to another news organization for a different story) for "The Deadly Choices at Memorial", "a story that chronicles the urgent life-and-death decisions made by one hospital's exhausted doctors when they were cut off by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina." It was written by ProPublica's
Sheri Fink Sheri Fink is an American journalist who writes about health, medicine and science. She received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting "for a story that chronicles the urgent life-and-death decisions made by one hospital’s exhau ...
and published in ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'' as well as on ProPublica.org. This was the first Pulitzer awarded to an online news source. The article also won the 2010 National Magazine Award for Reporting. In 2011, ProPublica won its second Pulitzer Prize. Reporters Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein won the
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National. Li ...
for their series, The Wall Street Money Machine. This was the first time a Pulitzer was awarded to a group of stories not published in print. In 2016, ProPublica won its third Pulitzer Prize, this time for
Explanatory Reporting Explanatory journalism or explanatory reporting is a form of reporting that attempts to present ongoing news stories in a more accessible manner by providing greater context than would be presented in traditional news sources. The term is often a ...
, in collaboration with
The Marshall Project The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States. It was founded by former hedge fund manager Neil Barsky with former ''New York Times'' executive editor Bi ...
for "a startling examination and exposé of
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education ...
's enduring failures to investigate reports of rape properly and to comprehend the traumatic effects on its victims." In 2017, ProPublica and the New York ''Daily News'' were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a series of reports on the use of eviction rules by the
New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
. In 2019, Peabody Awards honored ProPublica with the first-ever Peabody Catalyst Award for releasing audio in 2018 that brought immediate change to a controversial government practice of family separation at the southern border. Also in 2019, ProPublica reporter Hannah Dreier was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high lite ...
for her series that followed immigrants on Long Island whose lives were shattered by a botched crackdown on
MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Ange ...
. In May 2020, ProPublica won the Pulitzer Prize in public service for illuminating public safety gaps in
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. In that same year, ProPublica also won the
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National. Li ...
for coverage of the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
and the collisions of the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) with civilian vessels in separate incidents in the western Pacific. The stories were written by
T. Christian Miller T. Christian Miller is an investigative reporter, editor, author, and war correspondent for ProPublica. He has focused on how multinational corporations operate in foreign countries, documenting human rights and environmental abuses. Miller has ...
,
Megan Rose Megan Rose (née McCloskey) is a criminal justice journalist. In 2020, Rose won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, with fellow journalists T. Christian Miller and Robert Faturechi, for her reporting of the United States Seventh Fleet acciden ...
and Robert Faturechi.


Notable reporting and projects


"An Unbelievable Story of Rape"

T. Christian Miller T. Christian Miller is an investigative reporter, editor, author, and war correspondent for ProPublica. He has focused on how multinational corporations operate in foreign countries, documenting human rights and environmental abuses. Miller has ...
of ProPublica and Ken Armstrong of
The Marshall Project The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States. It was founded by former hedge fund manager Neil Barsky with former ''New York Times'' executive editor Bi ...
collaborated on this piece about the process that discovered a serial rapist in Colorado and Washington state. The piece won a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. This piece was adapted into the 2019
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
series '' Unbelievable''.


IRS and conservative groups

In December 2012 and January 2013, ProPublica published and reported on confidential pending applications for groups requesting tax-exempt status. In May 2013, after widespread coverage of allegations that the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, ProPublica clarified that it obtained the documents through a
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
request, writing, "In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public." ProPublica reported on six of them, after deeming information within those applications newsworthy.IRS Office That Targeted Tea Party Also Disclosed Confidential Docs From Conservative Groups
, Kim Barker and Justin Elliott, ProPublica, May 13, 2013


Psychiatric Solutions

ProPublica conducted a large-scale, circumscribed investigation on
Psychiatric Solutions Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. was an operator of psychiatric facilities in the United States. They were bought out by Universal Health Services. Joey Jacobs and Bryce DeHaven, former executives of Hospital Corporation of America for over 20 years, ...
, a company based in Tennessee that buys failing hospitals, cuts staff, and accumulates profit. The report covered patient deaths at numerous Psychiatric Solutions facilities, the failing physical plant at many of their facilities, and covered the
State of Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...
's first closure of Manatee Palms Youth Services, which has since been shut down by Florida officials once again. Their report was published in conjunction with the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''.


Documenting Hate

In 2017, ProPublica launched the
Documenting Hate Documenting Hate is a project of ProPublica, in collaboration with a number of journalistic, academic, and computing organizations, for systematic tracking of hate crimes and bias incidents. It uses an online form to facilitate reporting of incide ...
project for systematic tracking of hate crimes and
bias incident A bias incident or hate incident is an act of hostility motivated by racism, religious intolerance, or other prejudice. A bias incident is different from a hate crime in that it does not necessarily involve criminal activity. Examples include graff ...
s. The project is part of their Civil Rights beat, and allows victims or witnesses of hate crime incidents to submit stories. The project also allows journalists and newsrooms to partner with ProPublica to write stories based on the dataset they are collecting. For example, the Minneapolis '' Star Tribune'' partnered with ProPublica to write about reporting of hate crimes in Minnesota.


Surgeon Scorecard

In 2015, ProPublica launched Surgeon Scorecard, an interactive database that allows users to view complication rates for eight common elective procedures. The tool allows users to find surgeons and hospitals, and see their complication rates. The database was controversial, drawing criticism from doctors and prompting a critique from
RAND The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is finan ...
. However, statisticians, including
Andrew Gelman Andrew Eric Gelman (born February 11, 1965) is an American statistician and professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University. Gelman received bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and in physics from MIT, where he was ...
, stood behind their decision to attempt to shine light on an opaque aspect of the medical field, and ProPublica offered specific rebuttals to RAND's claims.


Tracking evictions and rent stabilization in New York City

ProPublica has created an interactive map that allows people to search for addresses in New York City to see the effects of eviction cases. The app was nominated for a
Livingston Award The Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan are American journalism awards issued to media professionals under the age of 35 for local, national, and international reporting. They are the largest, all-media, general reporting prizes in Ame ...
.


Taxes paid by wealthiest Americans

In June 2021, after receiving leaked, hacked, or stolen
IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
documents, ProPublica published a report which showed that tax rates for the wealthiest Americans were significantly lower than the average middle class tax rate, when considering unrealized
capital gains Capital gain is an economic concept defined as the profit earned on the sale of an asset which has increased in value over the holding period. An asset may include tangible property, a car, a business, or intangible property such as shares ...
as being equivalent to
earned income The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit (EITC or EIC) is a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and couples, particularly those with children. The amount of EITC benefit depends ...
. ProPublica would later reveal that technology investor and political donor
Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...
legally earned over $5 billion in a tax-free
Roth IRA A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account (IRA) under United States law that is generally not taxed upon distribution, provided certain conditions are met. The principal difference between Roth IRAs and most other tax-advantaged retirement pla ...
account through his investments in private companies. On June 9, Attorney General
Merrick Garland Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since March 2021 as the 86th United States attorney general. He previously served as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of ...
told lawmakers that investigating the source of the release would be a top priority for the Justice Department.


Board members

File:Danielle Allen 2017.jpg, upright=0.5, Harvard University Professor Danielle Susan Allen File:Henry Louis Gates (14305391283) (cropped).jpg, upright=0.5, Public academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. File:Paul Sagan.jpg, upright=0.5, Businessman Paul Sagan File:JMS Portrait.jpg, upright=0.5, Business executive James M. Stone File:Donald Sussman.jpg, upright=0.5, Asset manager and philanthropist Donald Sussman


Criticism

ProPublica, along with other major news outlets, received grant funding from
Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 6, 1992), also known by the initialism SBF, is an American suspected fraudster, entrepreneur, investor, and former billionaire. Bankman-Fried was the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX ...
, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who was subsequently arrested for fraud. ''Reason'' argues the stronger claim that Bankman-Fried encouraged the media to support left-leaning perspectives, but subsequent reporting suggests that Bankman-Fried's political position did not have a clean partisan slant; see


See also

*


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Propublica 2007 establishments in New York City 501(c)(3) organizations American journalism organizations American news websites Crowdfunded journalism Investigative journalism Non-profit organizations based in New York City Organizations based in Manhattan Organizations established in 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Tor onion services Nonprofit newspapers