Why This Matters
Facts are and must be the coin of the realm in a democracy, for government “of the people, by the people and for the people” requires an informed citizenry. But these days, finding “just the facts” and the unadorned truth has become much more complicated, with a blizzard of information and disinformation from hundreds of millions of websites, blogs, thousands of cable TV channels, etc. And those in power, in government and in the private sector, have become much more sophisticated and skilled at obscuring or sugar-coating the truth. Of course, it doesn’t help that there are now four times more public relations professionals shaping and molding public perceptions than professional paid journalists trying to find the unvarnished facts about those in power; half a century ago, the proportion of p.r. professionals to journalists in America was even, 1-1.
“inewsource is one of the hottest, most respected investigative reporting news organizations in the United States today.”
More than ever before, we need to be fearless, nonpartisan truth-tellers to ferret out the overtly obscured or merely inaccessible facts about the decisions, policies and practices that affect our daily lives. We need investigative reporters, with their unusual, forensic approach to amassing and analyzing volumes of disparate information, over days, weeks and even months, with their otherworldly patience, steadfast perseverance, and razor-sharp incisiveness. And we need editors and publishers to literally create the time and space for this crucial work and the wisdom and judgment to effectively and responsibly shepherd these salient truths to the public.
inewsource is one of the hottest, most respected investigative reporting news organizations in the United States today. How hot? We have won 15 national and local journalism awards in just the past two years alone. Our founder, Executive Director and editor, Lorie Hearn, a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, is nationally known and respected within journalism, ferreting out the facts and truth for decades. She began inewsource in 2009 after a 35-year reporting and editing career in newspapers, most notably the San Diego Union-Tribune, where she was a reporter, Metro Editor and the senior editor for Metro and Watchdog Journalism.
About Charles Lewis:
The Encyclopedia of Journalism cited Charles Lewis as “one of the 30 most notable investigative reporters in the U.S. since World War I.” Lewis is executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University School of Communication in Washington D.C. A national investigative journalist for nearly 30 years, Lewis is a bestselling author who has founded or co-founded four nonprofit enterprises in Washington, including the Center for Public Integrity.