When we’re deciding which stories to commission at Type Investigations, we look for three things: originality, feasibility, and the potential for impact. We’re proud that so many of our stories help shift public perception and result in real-world change. As we get ready for 2023, here are a few highlights from the past year:
Fugitive emissions captured by an infrared camera at the Elk Hills Power Plant in Kern County, California.
In a two-part series, Type Investigations reporting fellow Aaron Miguel Cantú reported on the San Joaquin Valley’s emissions trading system, which experts say fails to adequately track pollution from oil and gas fields. The day after Cantú’s series ran, three people representing clean air and environmental justice interests resigned from an environmental workgroup advising the district, citing his series.
Type Investigations reporting fellow Sarah Posner wrote about an exemption to Title IX that has allowed religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Her story focused on Andrew Hartzler, who is challenging the exemption as part of a class action lawsuit and was recently invited by President Biden to attend the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act.
Jaeah Lee’s investigation with The New York Times explored the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases. By exposing a pattern of racial bias in such cases, she helped build momentum around state and federal legislation, including a California bill that passed this fall, restricting the practice.
Last summer, Washington’s incarcerated population was left to suffer in temperatures above 100 degrees during a record-breaking heat wave, reported Sarah Sax in partnership with High Country News. Her story was republished by Mother Jones, InvestigateWest, and Crosscut, and Sax won a top reporting award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York.
Rachael Lorenzo, one of the co-founders of Indigenous Women Rising, a Native-led reproductive justice collective.
Ida B. Wells fellow Adreanna Rodriguez’s deep-dive audio piece with Vice News Reports showed how federal funding restrictions hinder access to abortion in Native communities. Her story forced the Indian Health Service to produce data it hadn’t published in years, and is cited in a forthcoming article in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender.
We can’t produce stories like these without you, so please give. For a limited time, your donation will be matched. By supporting us, you are helping fund more investigative reporters and their groundbreaking work in 2023 and beyond.