Truthout is an American

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

progressive

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues". Truthout reports news from a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

perspective, with its main areas of focus including mass

incarceration Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

and prison abolition advocacy,

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and labor, U.S. 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 senior leadership team is composed of Executive Director Ziggy West Jeffery and Editor-in-Chief Negin Owliaei. The organizations annual operating budget is approximately $2.2 million as of 2021.

History

Founding

Truthout was founded in 2001 in the aftermath of the

2000 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 2000. Republican Party (United States), Republican Governor George W. Bush of Texas, the eldest son of 41st President George H. W. Bush, ...

. By 2006, the organization had thirty employees.

Controversial reporting on Karl Rove

On May 13, 2006, after

Jason Leopold Jason Arthur Leopold (born October 7, 1969) is an American investigative reporter who writes for ''Bloomberg News''. He was previously an investigative reporter for ''BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed News,'' ''Al Jazeera America,'' and ''Vice News''. He work ...

posted on Truthout that

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...

had been

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

by the

grand jury A grand jury is a jury 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 person to testify. A grand ju ...

investigating the

Plame affair The Plame affair (also known as the CIA leak scandal and Plamegate) was a political scandal that revolved around journalist Robert Novak's public identification of Valerie Plame as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer in 2003. In 2002, ...

, 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 Fitzgerald may refer to: People * Fitzgerald (surname), a surname * Fitzgerald Hinds, Trinidadian politician * Fitzgerald Toussaint (born 1990), former American football running back Place Australia * Fitzgerald River National Park, a nati ...

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 Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's alternative current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice Ne ...

'' that year.

Reporting on Bush administration's interrogation techniques

A 2009 report by ''Truthout'' on the Bush administration's use of

enhanced interrogation techniques "Enhanced interrogation techniques" or "enhanced interrogation" was a program of systematic torture of detainees by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and various components of the U.S. Armed Forces at ...

was cited by Countdown with Keith Olberman and by

Carl Levin Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a List of United States senators from Michigan, United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (U ...

, chairman of the

U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services The Committee on Armed Services, sometimes abbreviated SASC for Senate Armed Services Committee, is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defens ...

Unionization

In 2009, Truthout became the first online-only news website to unionize. Truthout staff have worked remotely since the organization's founding in 2001 – a fact that stymied traditional union organizing and certification processes that take place in a physical workplace. Truthout held the first virtual

card check Card check, also called majority sign-up, is a method for employees to organize into a labor union in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards", stating they wish to be represented by the union. Since ...

in the U.S. on August 27, 2009, using faxed images of each employee's signature to verify their signed union cards. Truthout's board of directors recognized the union on the same day. About a dozen Truthout employees became members of the

NewsGuild-CWA The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practic ...

Local 36047, and Truthout remains a unionized workplace today.

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 distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

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

BP oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill was an environmental disaster off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico, on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. It is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum ...

and the

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

who warned about a possible blowout at another BP

deepwater drilling Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drilling rig for oil extraction under the deep sea. There are approximately 3400 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico with depths greater t ...

site. Digital Journal wrote up the story.

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

'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 town located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 1,310 people, down from 2,174 residents in the 2010 census, and up from just 5 residents in 2000; however ...

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

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

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.

2011 hack

In 2011, Truthout suffered a hacking breach in which ten days of articles were deleted.

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 (United States) of 1966 * F ...

request with the

Interior Department An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

information that revealed that

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...

technology was being used on offshore oil rigs in the ecologically sensitive

Santa Barbara Channel The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Southern California Bight and separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the Oxnard Plain in Ventura Co ...

. 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 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 Dahr Jamail (born 1968) is an American journalist who was one of the few Embedded journalist, unembedded journalists to report extensively from Iraq during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He spent eight months in Iraq, between 2003 and 2005, and prese ...

and Truthout released

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

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

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

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.

2017 riot charges

Freelancer and Truthout writer Aaron Miguel Cantú was one of the 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.

Content and partnerships

Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism

In 2023 Truthout launched the Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism, a program that offers assistance to small and emerging progressive news organizations in order to “help grow the critical media ecosystem necessary to build grassroots power.” Truthout provides these organizations with guidance on growth and sustainability, consults on editorial and business strategy, and provides access to resources such as development databases. Maya Schenwar, Truthout's editor-at-large and former editor-in-chief, serves as the center's director. Explaining why Truthout founded the center, Schenwar explains, “ want to exist as a publication, but we can’t do it alone. We don’t want to be anyone’s sole news source. We want to have this vibrant ecosystem of different publications that are helping enrich people’s understanding of the world, and propel them toward action on all these different fronts.” Through the center, Truthout also collaborates on editorial projects with other progressive news organizations, including Zealous,

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

, Inquest, and Deceleration. A 2023 series created in collaboration between Truthout, Zealous, and Teen Vogue about alternatives to incarceration won a 2024 Anthem Award.

Media Against Apartheid and Displacement

In March 2024, through its Center for Grassroots Journalism, Truthout co-founded Media Against Apartheid and Displacement (MAAD), a website that serves as a hub for articles published by progressive media organizations about the

Israel-Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts dating back to the 20th century, it follows the wars of 200 ...

and about Palestinian resistance to the

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

. Reporting and analysis is from an

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

perspective. The project includes articles published by Prism, Truthout,

In These Times In These Times may refer to: *In These Times (magazine), ''In These Times'' (magazine), an American monthly magazine of news and opinion *In These Times (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), ''In These Times'' (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), a 2004 album b ...

Mondoweiss ''Mondoweiss'' is a news website that began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on ''The New York Observer'' website. It subsequently developed into a broader collaborative venture after fellow journalist Adam Horowitz joined it ...

Institute for Palestine Studies The Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) is the oldest independent nonprofit public service research institute in the Arab world. It was established and incorporated in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1963 and has since served as a model for other such ins ...

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is an American non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago and emphasizing works on left-wing politics. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had ...

The Real News Network The Real News Network (TRNN) is a news organization based in Baltimore, Maryland, that covers both national and international news. It includes both for-profit arm and non-profit organizations. History TRNN was founded by documentary producer ...

, The Forge, Waging Nonviolence, The Dig, The Kansas City Defender, Briarpatch,

Baltimore Beat ''Baltimore Beat'' is an American nonprofit media outlet based in and focused on Baltimore, Maryland. History Brandon Soderberg was editor-in-chief of the ''Baltimore City Paper w''hen Baltimore Sun Media Group announced that it would close the ...

, Hammer & Hope,

Scalawag In United States history, scalawag (sometimes spelled scallawag or scallywag) was a pejorative slur referred to white Southerners who supported Reconstruction policies and efforts after the conclusion of the American Civil War. As with the t ...

, Convergence Magazine, and Analyst News.

Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize

The Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism coordinates the Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize for personal essays by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated authors. The prize is named after Truthout's editor-at-large and former editor-in-chief Maya Schenwar’s sister, who was incarcerated on and off over the course of 14 years before she died of an overdose in 2020. Keeley Schenwar wrote for Truthout about her incarceration, including giving birth while in prison. Each year, two winners are awarded prizes of $3,000 each, and the essays are published on Truthout’s website. The prize was first awarded in 2021.

Awards

Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism

In 2012, Truthout journalist

Gareth Porter Gareth Porter (born June 18, 1942) is an American historian, investigative journalist, author and policy analyst specializing in U.S. national security issues. He was an anti-war activist during the Vietnam War and has written about the potenti ...

was awarded the

Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, named for the war correspondent, Martha Gellhorn, was established in 1999 by the Martha Gellhorn Trust. The Trust is a UK-registered charity. The award is founded on the following principles: The award ...

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 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, lette ...

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.

San Francisco Press Club Journalism Awards

A joint Truthout and

Earth Island Journal The Earth Island Institute is a non-profit environmental group founded in 1982 by David Brower. Located in Berkeley, California, it supports activism around environmental issues through fiscal sponsorship that provides the administrative and orga ...

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.

2018 Izzy Award

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 majo ...

, sea level rise, deafening noise pollution or Fukushima radiation." Jamail produces a monthly wrap-up of the latest climate research and trends – "Climate Disruption Dispatches".

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.

Donald F. Erickson Synapses Award

In 2022, the

Crossroads Fund The Crossroads Fund is a Chicago-based public foundation that supports community organizations working for social and economic justice in the Chicago area. It is a member of a national network of grantmakers called the Funding Exchange ww.fex.org ...

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

2024 Anthem Award

A 2024 Anthem Award in the category of News & Journalism was awarded to “Remaking the Exceptional”, a series of explainer videos made through a collaboration between Truthout, Zealous, and

about myths about and alternatives to policing and incarceration.

Staff

Truthout's executive director is Ziggy West Jeffery and the editor-in-chief is Negin Owliaei. Truthout's Board of Directors includes Maya Schenwar,

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

professor and educational theorist Henry A. Giroux and

Lewis R. Gordon Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohea ...

. Truthout's Board of Advisors includes

Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor. He began acting in the late 1980s and first gained recognition for his work in Kenneth Lonergan's play ''This Is Our Youth'' (1996) and drama film ''You Can Count on Me'' (2000) ...

Dean Baker Dean Baker (born July 13, 1958) is an American macroeconomist who co-founded the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) with Mark Weisbrot. Baker has been credited as one of the first economists to have identified the 2007–08 United S ...

, Richard D. Wolff, William Ayers,

Mark Weisbrot Mark Alan Weisbrot is an American economist and columnist. He is co-director with Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C. Weisbrot is President of Just Foreign Policy, a non-governmental organization ...

. The late

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian and a veteran of World War II. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn ...

was a member of the advisory board. The late William Rivers Pitt was Truthout's senior editor and lead columnist.

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 Progressivism in the United States Left-wing advocacy groups in the United States