TruthOut

Truthout is a 501(c)(3) US-based nonprofit news organization that describes itself as a type of journalism in pursuit of justice. Some of Truthout's main areas of focus are mass incarceration, social justice and climate change. In 2009, Truthout became the first online-only publication to unionize.

Truthout's editorial team is led by editor in chief Maya Schenwar, and managing director Ziggy West Jeffery.

Notable reporting and projects

Truthout has published several pieces which have impacted local and national policy.

Movement Memos Podcast

Movement Memos is a weekly podcast hosted by activist and Truthout journalist Kelly Hayes. Started in 2020, Hayes uses interviews with activists and organizers to call listeners to action and document movement work and mutual aid efforts around the U.S.

Illegal Navy training

In 2016, Dahr Jamail and Truthout released Navy documents outlining plans for combat training exercises along vast non-military areas of Washington state 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.

Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?

Truthout and Haymarket Books collaborated in 2016 to release a collection of essays and articles from Truthout about police violence against minority communities. The book, entitled Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States, included work from Truthout staff writers as well as outside contributors. In 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the book was made free for download.

Offshore fracking

In 2013, Truthout journalist Mike Ludwig unearthed with a Freedom of Information 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 issued a new rules requiring offshore drillers to disclose fracking chemicals they dump into the ocean off the California coast.  

Safety issues at BP

60 Minutes cited a report published at Truthout as a source for its May 16, 2010 episode about the BP oil spill and the whistleblower 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, Alaska BP oil field. On July 14, 2010, the United States House of Representatives 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.

Veterans' issues

Truthout has closely followed issues affecting Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Coverage has especially focused on veteran health care and post-traumatic stress disorder. An ongoing Truthout investigation has claimed widespread neglect within the Veterans Health Administration of veterans with PTSD.

Awards

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, 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, currently the editor in chief of Truthout, was awarded in the 2013 Online Column Writing category by the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Awards 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. He was among 230 individuals detained in a mass arrest, with no court documents indicating any personal participation. He faced a maximum of 10 years prison and $25,000 if convicted. Charges against four of the other journalists were dropped. Explanations for this were not provided. Cantú was indicted on eight felony charges by a grand jury. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sent a letter of support for Cantú. In July 2018, all charges against Cantu and many of the other protestors were dismissed.

Staff

Truthout is led by Editor-in-Chief Maya Schenwar, and Managing Director Ziggy West Jeffery.

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.