The Reporters’ Collective produces investigative journalism in collaboration with other newsrooms, journalists and subject experts. We came together because the legacy media was failing miserably to hold the powerful accountable to citizens.
Every month, we produce at least two deep-dive investigative stories. Often, this requires us to engage deeply with whistleblowers. They lead us to documents and evidence hidden in the labyrinth of bureaucracy.
We parse through hundreds of pages of data and reports to uncover connections and join the dots. We travel quietly to locations across the country when the need arises. From this work, we derive our evidence-based investigations. Each such investigation, sometimes written in a series, goes through rigorous edits and fact-checks before we publish it.
This rigor has helped us uncover facts that the powerful prefer to keep hidden from citizens. Our investigations have led to debates in Parliament, were presented as evidence in the Supreme Court and have forced the government to right the wrongs. We have provided hard irrefutable evidence of systemic corruption, communalisation of polity, denial of rights of citizens and misgovernance. Indian and international media organisations have cited, used and curated our investigative reports, which have been republished in more than ten languages. Our reports have been cited by academics writing on India’s economy, corruption and public health.
But today we are facing a severe financial crunch. Without your donations, we will not survive long.
Please donate to keep The Collective going.
We require a minimum of Rs 5 lakh a month in donations from citizens. More than 85% of your money goes to pay modestly (but fairly) to courageous and rigorous journalists. Every amount you donate, large or small, keeps us accountable, accessible, and independent. Our work remains free for all to read and is open to all media outlets to republish free of cost.Please enable us to bring rigorous journalism to you.
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- The Reporters' collective
A parliamentary standing committee questioned Facebook officials on its politically motivated algorithm.
Two months after our investigations into a Rs 4,600 crore pulse scam, the government discontinued the opaque auction process that helped millers make a killing.
The Collective’s investigation found that the government quietly mandated Aadhaar for children below six to qualify for nutrition benefits under the Union government’s schemes. This threatened access to subsidised food for nearly three-fourths of children in the age group.
Though the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare quickly dismissed The Collective’s report on Twitter, and PIB Fact Check amplified their false statement without verification, our investigation led to a revised circular a month later, guaranteeing that children would not be denied nutrition benefits.
A parliamentary standing committee questioned Facebook officials on its politically motivated algorithm.
Our investigation into a Madhya Pradesh tribunal that put a 12-year-old child on trial for the destruction of property during communal riots was followed up by multiple media organisations.
The Collective’s reportage revealed that the environment ministry had been planning to dilute tribal rights over forests, making it easier for companies to take over forest land by bypassing the need for consent from forest-dwellers.
Last financial year citizens donated about Rs 62 lakhs to the collective. About 75% of these funds went towards remuneration to the courageous and intrepid journalists (reporters and editors) who worked on the stories. We try to keep our overhead costs low to ensure the journalists get paid fairly for the arduous work they do. We will subsequently share our audited balance sheets with all our donors and citizens.
We at The Collective can not do our work without your support and donation. We keep saying, it takes a village to do good journalism. For us, you are a member of this village.