ProPublica

2021 Shortlist

Country/area: United States

Organisation: ProPublica

Organisation size: Big

With a team of more than 100 dedicated journalists, ProPublica covers a range of topics including government and politics, business, criminal justice, the environment, education, health care, immigration and technology. We focus on stories with the potential to spur real-world impact. Among other positive changes, our reporting has contributed to the passage of new laws; reversals of harmful policies and practices; and accountability for leaders at local, state and national levels.

One thing core to the work we do is the belief that data journalism is a key way in which we can hold power to account and shine a light into dark places. In 2020, we published a range of stories and interactive pieces that do just that.

Description of portfolio:

The projects we’re presenting were some of our most ambitious: we uncovered the activities of a secret Chinese propaganda network, exposed landlords who were illegally attempting to evict tenants during the pandemic, published long-secret NYPD disciplinary files, showed how climate change will devastate parts of the country and much more.

These stories, graphics and databases run the gamut from pieces that hold governments accountable to those that probe systemic harms brought by private companies and even the Catholic church.

Among them are some of our most popular projects, racking up millions of readers and some impact: companies stopped filing evictions, New York City is considering new NYPD reforms and senators wrote to debt collectors like Capital One asking them to stop seizing workers’ paychecks.