How The Conversation helps the public make sense of these times

When I was an investigative reporter, my stories would take months of research to produce. I dug through obscure documents, found sources, read relevant academic studies and interviewed experts. And then I’d go through all my investigative documents, mark the crucial facts I wanted to convey with sticky notes and start writing. I could produce a few stories a year this way.

I once likened that process to my hobby of making jam, where you boil down a lot of ingredients and bottle the essence.

Now I edit politics stories at The Conversation, and every story our authors produce is like one of those investigative stories. The scholars who write for us have made a career of researching their subject. Altogether, they have vast knowledge of facts and  have conducted many studies. They know so much, and usually that knowledge is locked up in arcane scholarly journals. It’s our job to help them bring their deep knowledge and expertise to you. 

That process – working with scholars to boil down what they know into a neat, 800-word article – takes time and often a lot of effort. There are 23 editors at The Conversation who do this work every day. And what that means is you get access to a level of research and understanding that’s normally found in the best investigative journalism – except you get it every day. 

We provide these stories at no charge to you and readers everywhere as a public service.  We can only do this important work with your support.

Right now, your donation will go 3x as far – with a triple match from generous members of our board. They’ve pledged $25,000 to match donations received by the end of the year, so that $50 will become $150 and $100 will become $300.