On our 15th birthday, we’re still looking to innovate

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Light the candles. Today’s our 15th birthday!

On Nov. 3, 2009, a staff of 17 flipped the switch on The Texas Tribune’s website and started a revolution in journalism. Local and national news publications were shrinking at the time. Information about our state government was growing scarce. People were worried that there was no viable business model for news. The Tribune emerged as something new — a nonprofit founded under the belief that, as our co-founder John Thornton says, journalism is a public good. To participate in our democracy, people need reliable information about what their elected officials are doing (or not doing) on their behalf. Smarter Texans make a better Texas.

Fifteen years later, we’ve helped prove that there is a way forward. When we launched, we had 1,300 supporting members. This year, we reached 13,000. We now have 150,000 newsletter subscribers and around 2.5 million monthly readers. Our journalism has demystified the voting process for new voters and lifted up the stories and experiences of ranchers in the Panhandle, teachers in Houston, voters in the Rio Grande Valley and many more. It has unearthed scandals, led to the rewriting of laws and won national awards. Legislators have talked about the “Trib effect,” noting how people in power act differently when they know someone is watching. In the journalism world, we’re known as innovators. Inspired by our success, dozens of other nonprofit news organizations have launched. We helped many of them get off the ground by sharing advice and lessons learned.

As we celebrate 15 years, we recognize that another revolution is needed. The financial challenges for journalism have only gotten worse. Today, partisan-backed websites designed to look like impartial news outnumber daily newspapers. Trust in media is at an all-time low. Many Texans, especially young Texans, get the bulk of their news from social platforms where misinformation and sensationalism reign. We can’t sit back and wish those problems away. We believe the Tribune can take a lead role in solving those problems, too.

To do that, The Texas Tribune is changing. We will experiment with formats and approaches to reach new readers. We will ensure that people of all backgrounds and political persuasions feel respected and heard in our work. We’ll try to get closer to communities that need or are skeptical of journalism.

Over the next 12 months, we’ll launch new newsrooms in Waco and Austin to address the growing crisis in local news. We’ll experiment with ways to responsibly incorporate artificial intelligence in our work. We’ll redesign our website. Appear in new social media platforms. And double down on the work that’s made us successful in the first 15 years: thorough coverage of Texas politics and public policy, deep investigations, engaging storytelling, data analysis and useful explainers that help our readers become more active and engaged citizens.

To mark this milestone and help to lead the next innovation for the Tribune, our board chair Trei Brundrett will match the first $5,000 in donations we get for our birthday. Will you tell The Texas Tribune “happy birthday” with a gift of $15, $150, $1,500 or more? It’ll show us — and Texas — that you care.