Popular political news website RawStory.com announced today it has partnered with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston and DCReport.org as part of a major push into investigative reporting.
Johnston won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in beat reporting for his work at the New York Times exposing inequities in the U.S. tax code. Johnston has written seven books, including two about Donald Trump—most recently It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America. Johnston and David Crook, a former Wall Street Journal editor, co-founded DCReport, a non-profit news organization, in 2017.
“Raw Story sees its future in original, reader-supported journalism,” said Raw Story founder and owner John Byrne. “We cannot sit still, and watch publishers abandon their watchdog roles. Advertising alone won’t pay the costs of beat reporting, but that’s not an excuse for publishers to sit on their hands.”
“Partnering with Raw Story promises to provide DCReport with the resources we need to expand our hard-hitting investigative reporting,” says Johnston. “I’m excited about this, and I’m looking forward to reaching many more readers.”
DCReport’s team of journalists will produce content for RawStory.com’s new ad-free subscription program. In return, Raw Story will raise money from readers to fund DCReport’s investigative reporting. Raw Story will host some content exclusively but will make most reporting free for any publisher to use with attribution after 72 hours.
RawStory.com, and a second site, AlterNet.org, will share the cost of reporting with readers in a hybrid model that pairs paid memberships with advertising revenue to support government oversight. Raw Story’s owners purchased AlterNet.org in 2018.
“Journalism needs re-invention,” said Raw Story Editor and Publisher Roxanne Cooper. “Democracy is under siege. For-profits should support nonprofits in their role as guardians of good government.”
DCReport will produce original stories on financial regulation, taxes, energy, the environment, worker safety and corruption, under the overall title of DCReport@RawStory. Articles will also continue to appear on the DCReport.org website.
RawStory.com and its related sites make up the largest collection of independent, LGBT-owned news websites on the Internet. Roxanne Cooper serves as the Raw Story’s Editor and Publisher.
