NEW YORK – Oct. 7, 2016 – ProPublica announced today the relaunch of its Data Store, both expanding access to data and creating a new platform for other media organizations to sell the data that powers their reporting work. The relaunched Data Store includes a new partnership with Investigative Reporters and Editors.
First launched in 2014, the ProPublica Data Store is a clearinghouse for the data behind many of ProPublica’s investigations. Users can access free-to-download data that reporters have received as the result of public records requests or from government websites; premium data sets that have been created or augmented by ProPublica reporters, which are available for purchase; and all of ProPublica’s APIs, which allow developers to integrate ProPublica’s reporting data into their own web and mobile tools.
As part of the relaunch, ProPublica also announced a partnership with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) to manage sales of data sets produced by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR), a program of IRE and the Missouri School of Journalism. ProPublica will begin marketing five of IRE’s most popular data sets to its broad range of commercial, academic, and journalism customers.
ProPublica will also work with IRE/NICAR to provide custom analysis for premium data customers. NICAR’s custom data support will allow ProPublica to provide customers with a faster, more affordable, and secure way to access specific data and insights they need for their own work.
The ProPublica Data Store is also now open for other news organizations to sell their own data on the site. News organizations can submit unique data sets that have been cleaned, analyzed, documented and used in published reporting. ProPublica will manage sales, marketing, and fulfillment of data sets to customers on behalf of partner news organizations.
“Sharing and collaboration are key principles for ProPublica, and the Data Store is an extension of those values,” said Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica editor-in-chief. “The underlying data from our stories – from drug company payments to health care providers, to contributions and expenditures made by political campaigns – has always been available for all. We’re thrilled to open up even more information not only from our own newsroom, but also from the tremendous work of our colleagues.”
The first partner data set, from the New York Daily News, is available in the Data Store at launch. Additional data sets from other news organizations will be added in the coming months. Interested news organizations can contact ProPublica at https://www.propublica.org/datastore/sellers.
“The Data Store has helped ProPublica to generate new revenue to support the important, in-depth work of investigative journalism,” said Celeste LeCompte, ProPublica director of business development. “In a time when traditional revenue sources for media organizations are on the decline, this effort can help other newsrooms to discover new ways of capturing the value of their journalism, as well.”
The relaunch of the ProPublica Data Store comes nearly three years after it was first introduced. Free data sets have been downloaded from the site more than 4,500 times, and premium data sets have been used by a broad range of companies, researchers, and journalists, including Yelp, Harvard University, Case Western Reserve, and the Boston Globe.
Contact ProPublica Celeste LeCompte Director of Business Development 917-512-0270 [email protected]
