2018 was a year of growth and accomplishment for WhoWhatWhy. We produced more stories than ever before. But we have even bigger aspirations, so here’s what we see on the horizon.
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Well, somehow, we all made it to another year. Despite the messes (and there were plenty), we here at WhoWhatWhy did what we could, and, thanks to your support, that was a lot.
We produced more stories than ever before. We added a whole bunch of talented, energetic folks to our team. We covered a wide range of critical issues, from the environment to human rights, and probed political and social developments the world over. And we always looked for the fresh angle, the deeper insight.
Our single biggest accomplishment was our extraordinary assessment of the integrity of our election system. We continued to probe the hidden dangers of electronic voting, an area in which we have excelled.
We also launched our most ambitious project ever: our Southern Vote Project. Hiring and sending a fulltime team to several southern states, we focused on the issue of voter suppression. Because we had more reporters covering this topic than any other news organization, we started breaking stories, and our work compelled the big legacy news outlets to begin covering it as well.
Our output included articles, podcasts, and videos — somewhere around 75 separate news items. As the election neared, we produced multiple daily reports, not just from the South, but from all around the country.
The growing impact of our work peaked just before Election Day when we published an exclusive report on insecure registration systems in Georgia. This story was picked up by more than 30 major news organizations, including the Associated Press and NBC — and we were credited by name.
So, what’s next? Glad you asked. We plan to stay on target, fighting to get the election system fixed, from right now through the 2020 presidential election. We’re also adding reporters to cover everything from the bloated and endlessly growing military budget to the precarious health care system, from gun-violence solutions to fresh approaches to climate change.
As always, we remain a nonprofit organization that accepts no advertising (that’s a big deal, folks!). To ensure that we’re not compromised in pursuing our mission, we rely entirely on public support.
We also rely on your tips and recommendations. What do you think we should be doing? Send us your ideas.
Best wishes for a terrific New Year!
Related front page panorama photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from Manhattan (Alex / Flickr – CC BY-NC 2.0).
