New York, N.Y. – June 16, 2011 – ProPublica today launched its new social aggregation feature, #MuckReads – a tool which allows users to read and share investigative stories online.
MuckReads exists on ProPublica’s website (www.propublica.org/muckreads) and is driven by user recommendations on Twitter. People can simply tweet their favorite investigations with the namesake hashtag to share some of the top accountability stories, interactive graphics, podcasts and video of the day. Users who don’t have a Twitter account are also welcomed to participate by emailing stories to [email protected]. ProPublica’s reporters and editors will filter through recommendations to ensure that the best and most relevant pieces are featured.
“We hope that by aggregating the best accountability reporting in one place, we can work together to help great journalism have great impact. We also hope to turn the flow of recommendations into an ongoing newsroom resource,” said Amanda Michel, ProPublica’s Director of Online Engagement. “Readers’ participation is key to making #MuckReads a success.”
In addition to the MuckReads feed, ProPublica will feature tweets and recommended stories on our homepage and in our daily e-mail newsletter.
MuckReads was inspired by Mark Armstrong’s @LongReads, a community-driven effort to aggregate the best longform journalism on the web. ProPublica has worked closely with @LongReads since its launch, which led to rethinking Investigations Elsewhere, the previous mechanism ProPublica used to highlight accountability journalism from around the Web.
"The Web is basically one big conversation and collaboration. #Muckreads is meant to be very much a part of both. And in the process, we want to bring attention to the great, hard-hitting journalism still being done nowadays across the board,” said ProPublica senior editor Eric Umansky.
Ultimately, ProPublica hopes to highlight the excellent accountability work local and state-level reporters are doing. News editors, radio & TV producers, bloggers and news consumers are all invited to contribute to #MuckReads.
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. In 2010, it was the first online news organization to win a Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, ProPublica won the first Pulitzer awarded to a body of work that didn’t appear in print. ProPublica is supported primarily by philanthropy and provides the articles it produces, free of charge, both through its own website and to leading news organizations selected with an eye toward maximizing the impact of each article.
For more information, please contact:
Mike Webb or Minhee Cho [email protected] 917-512-0233
