Major Update: The Southlander Website is Live!
We’re building the region’s first worker-led investigative newsroom to provide in-depth reporting of the Southland.
Hello Southlandians (we're still workshopping that one),
We’ve reached a major milestone in launching The Southlander: Our website is now live! Check out the Team page to learn about the people behind The Southlander and the About page to read about our mission and the underlying principles of our newsroom.
In the past few weeks we’ve been transitioning from organization-building mode to editorial mode. That means we’ve got public records requests moving, data being crunched, and stories cooking. Stay tuned :)
In the meantime, you can help shape our future work by giving your feedback and suggestions via our community input survey. Please share the survey with your networks and encourage anyone who cares about the Southland and the shortage of investigative news to sign up for our newsletter.
And if you’re a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. We are still in a critical stage of seed fundraising. We need to hit a goal of $2,000 in monthly subscription revenue to be able to fund stories. We are about a quarter of the way there! If you need more convincing, it’s our Co-Founder Erin Foley’s birthday today. 🎂
Why are we building The Southlander?
Local investigative journalism across the greater LA region is on the brink of extinction. Once the purview of metro newspapers and scrappy weeklies, this time-consuming work is now seen as more of a luxury, often worked on by reporters in spare time between regular assignments. But in a region where political corruption, bloated police budgets, and abusive landlords wreak havoc, our communities can’t afford to consider investigative reporting a luxury. Just this month, the LA Times laid off another 6% of its newsroom staff, the fourth round of layoffs since 2024, turning the paper into “a shadow of its former self.” With fewer and fewer reporters scanning through campaign finance disclosures, city budgets, and legal filings, the Southland has become a hotbed for corruption, waste, runaway police budgets, price-gouging landlords, and corporate abuse.
Last year, Long Beach media collective FORTHE and a group of journalists formerly at Knock LA came together to create The Southlander—the only worker-led nonprofit newsroom in the region. We are focused on bringing a critical eye to the region’s slumlords, polluters, politicians, cops, and corporate crooks. We are also making it a priority to stay connected to communities across the Southland and build resources that provide access to critical information.
What Does it Cost?
We are committed to growing responsibly and being transparent about where every subscription dollar goes. We’re close to covering our monthly operating costs, which encompass our digital infrastructure and website expenses. Every dollar past covering operating costs will go toward paying for journalism and the labor it takes to produce it. Below is a detailed breakdown of our current expenses.
| Expense | Monthly Cost | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Ghost | $115.00 | Website hosting |
| Muckrock | $60.00 | Public records request tracker |
| Slack | $88.00 | Team communication |
| Bitwarden | $80.00 | Password manager |
| Proton | $149.00 | Encrypted Email |
| Total | $592.00 | |
| Subscription Revenue | $480.00 | |
| Balance | -$112.00 |
Here’s how you can support us
Reaching our initial goal of $2,000 in recurring monthly donations ensures that we can dive into the work we want to do, as well as commission articles from freelancers. You can support us by signing up to one of our monthly subscription options on our website. If you are looking to donate a larger amount and would like to receive a tax write-off for it, please reach out to us so we can connect you with our fiscal sponsor, Report For America.
If you cannot sign up for a paid subscription at this time, a share goes a long way. A direct share to people you know, with some of your own words, goes an even longer way.
Worker-led investigations and resource sharing
Our powerhouse collective of reporters, editors, photographers, and data experts are based in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Orange County, and together we are proud members of Report for America’s Newsroom Accelerator program. After reaching our fundraising goal, we will also aim to become a freelancer hub dedicated to providing access to toolkits and training to strengthen investigative journalism in the Southland. We are committed to always sharing and never gatekeeping. Publishing stories is only part of what we want to accomplish. We also want to empower our audience, celebrate local artists, and help train the next generation of investigative journalists. Keep a lookout for events or workshops hosted by The Southlander team in the near future. If you are a freelance writer or photographer with a pitch, contact us!
-Co-Founder and Fundraising Coordinator Erin Foley
Recent work by us
Check out these stories written by various members of The Southlander team that were recently published in other outlets.
Recommended reading
- Q&A: Alec Karakatsanis on the Media’s Role in Spreading ‘Copaganda’
by Yona TR Golding for The Columbia Journalism Review
Alec Karakatsanis, author and civil rights attorney, released a new book, Copaganda, this month. His interview with the Columbia Journalism Review outlines what copaganda is and how journalists can stop spreading it.
- Inside the Plan to Use Trans Student-Athletes to Push Voters to the Right
by Cerise Castle for Capital & Main
A local look into how right-wing actors is using school boards and transphobia to push their agenda onto voters.