Truthout is a

non-profit 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 ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...

organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues". Truthout's main areas of focus include mass incarceration, prison abolition,

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, militarism,

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

and labor, LGBTQ rights and

reproductive justice Reproductive justice is a critical feminist framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the righ ...

. Truthout's Executive Director is Ziggy West Jeffery and the Editor-in-Chief is Britney Schultz.

Notable reporting and projects

Controversial reporting on Karl Rove

On May 13, 2006, after

Jason Leopold Jason Arthur Leopold (born October 7, 1969) is an American senior investigative reporter for ''BuzzFeed News''. He was previously an investigative reporter for ''Al Jazeera America'' and ''Vice News''. He worked at ''Truthout'' as a senior edit ...

posted on Truthout that Karl Rove had been indicted by the

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a p ...

investigating the Plame affair, Rove spokesman

Mark Corallo Mark Corallo (born February 8, 1966) is an American political communications and public relations professional, who is the co-founder and co-principal of Corallo Comstock.Paul Singer and Tory Newmyer, ''K Street Files'', Roll Call, April 11, 2007 ...

denied the story, calling it "a complete fabrication". Truthout defended the story, saying on May 15 they had two sources "who were explicit about the information" published, and confirmed on May 25 that they had "three independent sources confirming that attorneys for Karl Rove were handed an indictment" on the night of May 12. The grand jury concluded without returning an indictment of Rove. In his memoir, ''Courage and Consequence'', Rove addressed the Leopold article, writing that Leopold is a "nut with Internet access" and that "thirty-five reporters called ove's defense attorney Luskin or Corallo to ask about the Truthout report." According to Rove, " pecial Counsel Fitzgerald got a kick out of the fictitious account and e-mailed Luskin to see how he felt after such a long day." Jason Leopold continued to write investigative pieces for Truthout through 2014; he joined '' Vice News'' that year.

Safety issues at BP

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

'' cited a report published at Truthout as a source for its May 16, 2010 episode about the

BP oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, consider ...

and the

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

who warned about a possible blowout at another BP deepwater drilling site. Digital Journal wrote up the story. CNN's Randi Kaye in an article cited a report by Truthout as the first article on BP Alaska employee Mark Kovac's inside knowledge about the safety concerns at the

Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people, up from just five residents in the 2000 census; however, at any give ...

, Alaska BP oil field. On July 14, 2010, the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing in the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials. The hearing titled "The Safety of Hazardous Liquid Pipelines (Part 2): Integrity Management", cited an investigative report by Truthout as a document for the committee's investigation.

Offshore fracking

In 2013, Truthout journalist Mike Ludwig unearthed with 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 with the Interior Department revealed that fracking technology was being used on offshore oil rigs in the ecologically sensitive Santa Barbara Channel. Coastal conservationists were alarmed, and environmental groups sprang into action, generating protests and broad public discussion about offshore fracking. At one point, lawsuits filed by environmental groups forced federal officials to place a moratorium on offshore fracking in the Channel while regulators reviewed the practice and their rules for making it safe. In 2014, the

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

issued a new rules requiring offshore drillers to disclose fracking chemicals they dump into the ocean off the California coast.

Illegal Navy training

In 2016, Dahr Jamail and Truthout released

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

documents outlining plans for combat training exercises along vast non-military areas of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

coastline. The documents showed the areas the Navy was prepared to utilize, without the mandatory risk assessments, medical plans, surveys of training areas and coordinating their activities with local, state and federal law enforcement officials. The release of these documents forced the Navy to postpone this training for at least 2 years. It caused commotion within the Washington state government, as they were not aware of the Navy's plans.

Awards

Donald F. Erickson Synapses Award

In 2022, the Crossroads Fund presented The Donald F. Erickson Synapses Award to Truthout, for independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues.

2021 Izzy Award

The thirteenth annual Izzy Award was awarded to nonprofit news outlet Truthout, journalist Liliana Segura, senior reporter at The Intercept and journalist Tim Schwab, writing in The Nation.

2018 Izzy Award

Dahr Jamail was awarded the 2018 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for his reporting on climate change and other environmental issues. The judges wrote: "There is an urgency and passion in Dahr Jamail's reporting that is justified by the literally earth-changing subject matter. And it's supported by science and on-the-scene sources, whether covering

ocean pollution Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The majori ...

, sea level rise, deafening noise pollution or Fukushima radiation." Jamail's monthly wrap-ups of the latest climate research and trends – "Climate Disruption Dispatches" – have become an essential resource for scientists and fellow journalists.

San Francisco Press Club Journalism Awards

A joint Truthout and Earth Island Journal investigation "America's Toxic Prisons" by Candice Bernd, Zoe Loftus-Farren, and Maureen Nandini Mitra won awards in two categories of the 2018 San Francisco Press Club Journalism Awards. The investigation won second place in the Magazines category for environment/nature reporting and investigative reporting.

Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism

In 2012, Truthout journalist Gareth Porter was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism for his work uncovering the Obama administration's military strategy in Afghanistan. "In a series of extraordinary articles, Gareth Porter has torn away the facades of the Obama administration and disclosed a military strategy that amounts to a war against civilians." Amongst Porter's award-winning stories were 'How McChrystal and Petraeus Built an Indiscriminate "Killing Machine,"' and 'The Lies That Sold Obama's Escalation in Afghanistan.'

Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Awards

Maya Schenwar Maya Schenwar (born November 10, 1982) is the editor-in-chief of Truthout and a writer focused on prison-related topics. She is the co-author of ''Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms,'' author of ''Locked Down, Lock ...

, currently the editor in chief of Truthout, was awarded in the 2013 Online Column Writing category by the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

s for her columns on mass incarceration, the death penalty, and solitary confinement.

History

In 2011, Truthout suffered a hacking breach in which ten days of articles were deleted. Freelancer and Truthout writer Aaron Miguel Cantú was one of six journalists faced with felony rioting charges after covering the inauguration of Donald Trump. In July 2018, all charges against Cantu and many of the other protestors were dismissed.

Staff

Truthout's Executive Director is Ziggy West Jeffery and the Editor-in-Chief is Britney Schultz. Truthout's Board of Directors is made up of

, McMaster University Professor and educational theorist Henry A. Giroux, policy director Robert Naiman, and Lewis R. Gordon. Truthout's Board of Advisors includes Mark Ruffalo, Dean Baker, Richard D. Wolff, William Ayers, Mark Weisbrot. Howard Zinn was formerly a member of the advisory board.

References

External links

* {{official website American political websites American news websites 501(c)(3) organizations Alternative journalism organizations Creative Commons-licensed websites Organizations established in 2000 2000 establishments in California