Today, we are launching ProPublica: The Magazine. Each month, subscribers to ProPublica: The Magazine will get a handful of hand-picked stories delivered to their iPhones and iPads, in an experience suited to reading them: one at a time, clean typography, strong images, and no unnecessary distractions. ProPublica: The Magazine is designed for focused reading at your convenience. Krista Kjellman Schmidt, who edits ProPublica: The Magazine, writes, “We hope we’ve made it an ideal way to read ProPublica’s journalism.” We hope so, too.
In its first five years, ProPublica has produced indispensable reporting on the key stories of our time: the financial crisis and its repercussions, Hurricane Katrina, America’s military efforts since 9/11, health care, energy, government surveillance. As a nonprofit that committed to investigative journalism just as others were backing away, ProPublica knows that in-depth reporting and great storytelling are not always enough. People need journalism that holds those with power accountable, and information that galvanizes change in government and society.
Subscriptions are free, and the free download comes with an issue featuring ProPublica coverage of guns and drones, plus an unforgettable series of stories, by Sebastian Rotella, about a boy that survived a Guatemalan military massacre. I first heard a version of this story on This American Life. To sit back and focus on the article, look at pictures of those involved, and read Rotella’s followup coverage gave me a fuller understanding of the personal and political dimensions of this story.
ProPublica: The Magazine is 29th Street’s first free subscription title. We are as committed as ever to finding ways for writers to sell subscriptions to their audience. Still, we think a free subscription fits the mission of many publishers and institutions. If you think it would help you, please drop us a note. And if you’ve been curious about 29th Street Publishing’s magazines but hesitant to subscribe, now you have no excuse. I can’t think of a more worthwhile publication to subscribe to than ProPublica: The Magazine.
