Verite News

New Orleans, Louisiana · Founded 2022 · Black-led nonprofit newsroom · "Truth. Facts. Fairness."

Overview

Verite News is an independent, non-profit news journal. Founded in 2022 by David Francis — a New Orleans native and former publisher of the Times-Picayune — and led editorially by Terry Baquet, who served as Page 1 editor and managing editor at the Times-Picayune, it operates as a division of Deep South Today, the regional nonprofit news network that also encompasses Mississippi Today and The Current (Lafayette). Its tagline, "Truth. Facts. Fairness.," reflects both a journalistic standard and an explicit corrective to coverage patterns the founders identify as having distorted or ignored Black New Orleans communities: overrepresentation of Black men in crime coverage, underrepresentation of Black perspectives in civic and cultural affairs, and the absence of information relevant to communities facing the racial wealth gap in health care, housing, and education.

Approximately 64 percent of New Orleans is Black. Verite's founding premise is that those communities have been inadequately served not only by news coverage that misrepresents them but by the absence of a news outlet with the editorial depth, institutional legitimacy, and community trust to cover them on their own terms. The organization pursues that mission through two parallel programs: producing civic and investigative journalism across its core beats, and training and developing the next generation of journalists of color through a fellows program and university partnerships.

Coverage Beats

HealthEnvironmentEducationGovernmentJustice / Criminal JusticeHousingCultureCommunityLouisiana RedistrictingICE and ImmigrationHurricane preparedness

Journalism Training and the Fellows Program

Alongside its news operation, Verite runs a journalism development program targeting aspiring reporters of color, operating through partnerships with local universities and community organizations. Fellows receive hands-on reporting experience in the field alongside Verite staff, covering assigned beats and producing published work. The program addresses a structural gap the founders cite explicitly: fewer than 3 percent of employees in majority newsrooms nationally are people of color, a figure that Verite's training pipeline is designed to move. Alumni of the fellows program have gone on to reporting positions at other outlets.

Deep South Today and the NYT Investigative Center

Verite News joined the Deep South Today network in 2022 as part of a regional expansion of nonprofit journalism infrastructure across Louisiana and Mississippi. In January 2026, Deep South Today launched an Investigative Reporting Center in collaboration with The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship — led by former Times executive editor Dean Baquet — and Big Local News, employing investigative reporters in both Louisiana and Mississippi whose work appears in Deep South Today member outlets and in The Times. Joseph Cranney joined the center in March 2026 as the Louisiana-based investigative reporter, based in the Verite newsroom in New Orleans.

Funding

Verite News is supported by foundation grants, individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and advertising. Documented institutional funders include the American Journalism Project, Arnold Ventures, the Ford Foundation, and Liberty Bank. A complete donor and sponsor list is published at veritenews.org/who-funds-us/. As a division of Deep South Today, it operates under that organization's 501(c)(3) status; all donations are tax-deductible.

Verite News · veritenews.org
New Orleans, Louisiana · division of Deep South Today (EIN 47-2158741)

Founder: David Francis (former publisher, Times-Picayune) · Editor-in-Chief: Terry Baquet (former managing editor, Times-Picayune)

Network: Deep South Today — Mississippi Today · Verite News · The Current (Lafayette)

Donate / newsletter: donate.veritenews.org · veritenews.org/newsletters/