Reveal / The Center for Investigative Reporting

History and Founding

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) was founded in 1977 by journalists Lowell Bergman, Dan Noyes, and David Weir, making it the first nonprofit investigative journalism organization in the United States—and the first nonprofit tax-exempt entity in American journalism dedicated exclusively to producing investigative reporting. The founding came in the immediate aftermath of a defining moment in the profession: in 1976, Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was assassinated while investigating land fraud connected to organized crime. Bergman was part of the reporting team that traveled to Arizona in response to Bolles' killing, a collective effort that simultaneously gave rise to Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the profession's leading training and advocacy organization.

At the time of CIR's founding, Bergman was working as an associate editor at Rolling Stone magazine. He went on to become one of American journalism's most decorated investigative reporters — a producer at ABC News and one of the original producers of 20/20, then a senior 60 Minutes producer at CBS News for 14 years — before his investigation into the tobacco industry became the subject of Michael Mann's 1999 film The Insider, in which he was portrayed by Al Pacino. Bergman later joined The New York Times as an investigative correspondent and founded the investigative reporting program at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, where he taught for 28 years.

CIR began producing television documentaries in 1980, and over subsequent decades produced more than 30 documentaries for PBS's Frontline and Frontline/World, along with reports for ABC News, NBC News, and other broadcasters. In 1982, CIR reporters worked with Mother Jones magazine on an investigation of consumer product testing fraud that won Sigma Delta Chi and Investigative Reporters and Editors awards — a collaboration that would eventually come full circle more than four decades later.

In 2012, CIR received the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, a $1 million prize from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, recognizing organizations that have demonstrated exceptional creativity and effectiveness. That same year, CIR created The I Files channel on YouTube with support from the Knight Foundation. In 2015, CIR launched Reveal as the nation's first one-hour investigative reporting public radio show and podcast, co-produced with PRX (Public Radio Exchange). The Reveal brand — encompassing the radio program, podcast, website revealnews.org, and social media channels — became CIR's flagship distribution platform, reaching an audience of more than one million listeners weekly on air and approaching one million podcast downloads per month.

In February 2024, CIR merged with Mother Jones, completing a union between two of the country's oldest and most respected progressive investigative media organizations. Under the merger, Monika Bauerlein became CEO of the combined organization — she had previously been CEO and co-editor of Mother Jones — and Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones' editor-in-chief, leads the combined newsroom. Al Letson continues as host of Reveal. The two organizations secured $21 million in initial funding commitments over three years to implement the merger, which created a combined audience of approximately 10 million monthly readers, listeners, and viewers. Robert J. Rosenthal, CIR's longtime CEO, moved to the role of CEO emeritus.

Coverage and Content

Reveal's journalism has focused on accountability reporting across a consistent set of beats: government fraud and waste, corporate misconduct, environmental degradation, human rights, immigration, racial disparities, labor conditions, and threats to public safety. The outlet's model has emphasized collaboration, prioritizing impact over exclusivity, and distributing investigations through partnerships with public radio stations, print outlets, and other newsrooms.

Among Reveal's most significant investigations in the podcast era:

"Kept Out" (2018) examined modern-day redlining by analyzing 31 million mortgage loan records, finding evidence that major banks continued to discriminate against Latino and African American homeowners across the country. The investigation won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, a George Peabody Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting.

"The Disappeared" (2020) investigated migrant children held in long-term U.S. government custody, including a lawsuit Reveal filed against the federal government to obtain evidence. The investigation found the government had held nearly 1,000 migrant children for longer than one year since fall 2014, including one girl held for more than six years even though her family was available to receive her. It won the IRE FOI Award and the Hillman Prize for Web Journalism.

"Mississippi Goddam" (2021), a serial podcast, uncovered new details casting doubt on the investigation into the 2008 death of Black teenager Billey Joe Johnson Jr. The podcast was included in Rolling Stone's "The 10 Best Crime Podcasts of 2021" and Spotify's "Best Episodes of 2021."

"The Grab", a documentary film examining efforts to control the planet's supply of food and water, was among the projects carried into the merged entity with Mother Jones.

The Reveal radio show and podcast has won two George Foster Peabody Awards: in 2013 for "The VA's Opiate Overload" and in 2018 for both "Kept Out" and "Monumental Lies." The documentary film Heroin(e), examining the opioid epidemic in West Virginia and produced by CIR Studios, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short in 2018. Broader CIR honors include the Gerald Loeb Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Hillman Prize, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Batons, George Polk Awards, Emmy Awards, Scripps Howard Awards, Sigma Delta Chi Awards, and numerous IRE Awards.

The Reveal radio show airs on public radio stations across the United States — 520 stations as of the merger announcement — and is hosted by Al Letson, a writer, performer, and journalist known for both his narrative storytelling and his ability to conduct candid accountability interviews. The New Yorker described the program as "a knockout … a pleasure to listen to, even as we seethe." Following the Mother Jones merger, Reveal expanded its audio presence with a second podcast, More to the Story with Al Letson, featuring shorter-form interviews with journalists, advocates, and public figures.

CIR Studios, the documentary film arm, continues to produce documentary films and news reports under the merged organization.

Access and Funding

Reveal content is freely accessible at revealnews.org and through all major podcast platforms. The radio program airs on public radio stations nationwide without charge to listeners. CIR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and is funded by a combination of foundation grants, individual donors, and institutional supporters.

Documented funders have included Arnold Ventures, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the Emerson Collective, the Ford Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Park Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, among others. The merged organization with Mother Jones secured $21 million in initial three-year funding commitments at the time of the 2024 merger.

Reveal / The Center for Investigative Reporting
Emeryville, California

Website: revealnews.org
Newsletter: revealnews.org/weekly
Podcast: Reveal on Apple Podcasts
Donate: revealnews.org/more

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Metadata

Categories: Nonprofit News Organizations · Investigative Journalism · US News Organizations · Public Radio · Podcasts and Audio Journalism · Documentary Film · California News

Mission: To engage and empower the public through investigative journalism and groundbreaking storytelling in order to spark action, improve lives, and protect democracy.

Year Founded: 1977

Description: Reveal is the flagship publication and broadcast platform of The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), the nation's first nonprofit investigative journalism organization, founded in 1977. Operating as a website, weekly public radio program, and podcast co-produced with PRX, Reveal reaches more than one million listeners weekly and has won two Peabody Awards, a MacArthur Award, and multiple duPont, Emmy, and IRE honors. In 2024, CIR merged with Mother Jones, creating a combined investigative newsroom with a monthly audience of approximately 10 million.

URL: https://revealnews.org