While investigative journalists immerse themselves in minutiae to identify waste and fraud, Elon Musk’s team has taken a chainsaw approach to spending based on cursory examinations. That might help explain some of their well-publicized stumbles.
Historians have hindsight when they look into the past; journalists have the facts on the ground and context to help them look ahead. That means we can sometimes be surprised by how prescient a story turns out to be.
A “survey of our niche audience for our niche audience” was the source for the claim that only 6% of federal employees are working full time in their offices. The number isn’t true. Why do administration and elected officials keep relying on it?
As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy prepare for their roles as co-heads of the Department of Government Efficiency, they might look at the wasteful practices and spending by federal agencies ProPublica reporting has surfaced.
We’ll be devoting a significant part of our staff to detailing what are expected to be dramatic changes in the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans.
As investigative journalists, we focus on the substance of issues, the process of elections and the behind-the-scenes forces that stand to benefit from particular outcomes.
ProPublica’s mission statement encourages “using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing.” Recently, that impact has been significant — and a bright spot in a dark media landscape.
After we wrote about a suspected cartel donation to the Mexican president’s 2006 campaign, he’s gone on the attack against reporter Tim Golden. Golden won’t be attending AMLO’s press conferences, but here, we respond to some of his questions.
ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg on the challenges and urgency of examining the final days of the war in Afghanistan, even as new conflicts demand our attention.
When ProPublica compared the richest Americans’ wealth gains to the taxes they
paid, we found a system that benefits billionaires. White House economists
recently used a similar method to calculate tax rates, revealing stark
inequality.
In 1985, covering a remarkable case of Chinese espionage left a lasting impression on editor Stephen Engelberg. Here, he recalls the trial in light of a new investigation that has the twists and turns of a spy novel.
We are disclosing the tax details of the richest Americans because we believe the public interest in an informed debate outweighs privacy considerations.
Most sex workers are trying to feed their families and avoid homelessness. The city’s preferred solution, counseling sessions, didn’t help them. And NYPD’s “crackdown” conveniently resulted in very few white people being arrested.
Jeff Kosseff wrote the book on Section 230, the law that gave us the internet we have today. He talks with ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg about how we got here and how we should regulate our way out.
The most important thing journalists can do as they think about covering and investigating government and politics in election years is to not assume any outcome.
