Investigative journalism delves deeply into issues of public concern, asking tough questions and holding the powerful accountable. Today, investigative journalism is under siege, as government leaders restrict media access and attack the credibility of factual reporting for political advantage. This is a concern at the national level, as well as at the local and state levels, where smaller newsrooms struggle to maintain the reporting required to break stories exposing corruption, inequity, repression, and racism that have local and national impact.

Democracy Fund supports investigative journalism to help ensure Americans can count on a bold, trustworthy press that lays the groundwork for accountability and reforms.

 Our grants and partners work to:

• Support investigative outlets so they can research and report on issues of public interest that might otherwise be obscured
• Build the investigative capacity of local newsrooms so they can achieve and sustain rigorous grassroots reporting
• Develop newsroom staffing and leadership to better represent and respond to the diversity of community needs and experiences
• Create innovative tools and support policies that make information of high public interest more accessible

These powerful storytellers publish news articles and create documentaries, podcasts, data visualizations, and other media to share critical facts on topics ranging from maternal health to hate crimes and the opioid crisis. Their thoughtful, in-depth reporting reveals conflicts of interest and wrongdoing and results in much-needed remedies, including resignations, divestments, and policy change.

We adhere to a strict policy preserving the editorial independence of all our journalism grantees. In the instance of a grantee approaching a member of our staff for comment, we require them to go through our communications team — not a program officer — and we alert the reporter of the funding relationship. We also request that if they quote a member of our team they disclose our funding of their organization in any story produced.

In addition, the Democracy Fund communications staff does not send pitches to the nonprofit newsrooms we support, and we include language in our grant agreements that we won’t discuss editorial content with journalism grantees or otherwise seek to influence their coverage. However, we may alert newsroom leadership of Democracy Fund developments and news in the course of regular engagement with grantees.