Dear Friends of The Intercept,
I am proud to share The Intercept’s 2024 impact report. The last year has demonstrated the vital importance of our mission: investigate powerful institutions and expose injustice, cutting through partisan politics to reveal the facts. As we enter a new political landscape, the stakes have never been higher. The Intercept remains steadfast in our commitment to producing journalism that helps people make informed decisions, stand up for civil liberties and free speech, and play an active role in fighting for democratic principles.
Our coverage of the war in Gaza, the widespread suppression of dissent on college campuses and beyond, and the powerful forces influencing elections underscores the urgent need for journalism that is not beholden to corporate interests or billionaire backers who will bend to the Trump administration. Our reader-funded newsroom is taking on the most challenging and underreported issues of the day by providing trusted, substantive reporting driven by facts and context, not sensationalism.
Your support makes this essential work possible. As an independent nonprofit, The Intercept depends on readers who share our belief that powerful journalism can change the world. At a time when media outlets face unprecedented legal challenges designed to silence brave reporting, your continued partnership ensures we can pursue investigations that speak truth to power.
Thank you for making our shared vision a reality.
Annie Chabel,
CEO
Reporting Highlights
In 2024, The Intercept honored its decade-long tradition of courageous, adversarial reporting. As Israel’s war in Gaza fueled a rapidly expanding humanitarian crisis, we provided extensive coverage and analysis, amplifying the voices of Palestinians caught in the violence through dozens of news stories. Our reporting offered a critical perspective often lacking in mainstream media coverage. Our Gaza analysis was cited in letters from Human Rights Watch addressed to President Joe Biden and EU officials, underscoring the influence and reach of our work. And, after we published a story exposing flaws in the New York Times’s October 7 reporting, the prominent newspaper was compelled to issue an update addressing our findings, which debunked a central claim used to justify Israel’s attacks.
Our reporting has led to direct, immediate results. The Intercept’s inquiry into former U.S. attorney Duane “Dak” Kees’s improper workplace conduct resulted in his resignation from a state judicial ethics commission. Our coverage of the crackdown on dissent on university campuses led to charges being dropped for some students and drew national attention to tenured professors ousted for their pro-Palestine speech.
Following President Donald Trump’s reelection, we reported on the existential threat of H.R. 9495, dubbed the “nonprofit killer bill” — so named for the sweeping powers it would grant the Trump administration to unilaterally shut down nonprofits deemed to “support terrorism.” Our reporting sparked a wave of action and advocacy that nearly led to the bill’s defeat in the House, setting the stage for a contentious battle in the Senate and raising significant awareness and public outcry.
The Intercept’s reporting punches above its weight, playing a critical role in shaping public discourse, grassroots advocacy, policy, and legal outcomes. Our readers — including more than 55,000 members who support The Intercept with generous donations — are independent, critical thinkers deeply connected to communities at the heart of our reporting. The impact of the stories contained in this report is a testament to your support.
AIPAC investigation: In October, we published a comprehensive analysis of AIPAC’s electioneering influence campaign, tracking every red cent the organization spent in the 2024 elections.
“There are few congressional races that AIPAC sat out this year. Of the 469 seats up for reelection this year, AIPAC has spent money on more than 80 percent: 389 races in total. AIPAC has sought influence over 363 seats in the House and 26 in the Senate. All 129 AIPAC-backed Democrats who have had their primary races in 2024 have won.”
You can download a PDF of the report here.
The Intercept’s Coverage of Gaza
At the heart of our mission, we strive to tell the stories of our time through the lens of those directly affected. Even before the outbreak of this most recent conflict in the Middle East, our coverage of Israel and Palestine has highlighted the experiences and perspectives of those on the ground. Our readers share and amplify our stories, reaching advocates and activists who, armed with the facts, can fight for justice and an end to the cycle of violence.
The impact of our reporting extends beyond our readers. In July, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the EU citing our Gaza analysis, and later referenced our work in a September letter to the Biden administration urging a ceasefire and an end to weapon sales to Israel. Our reporting plays a vital role in shaping public discourse on the war in Gaza. Below are a few examples of our most impactful stories:
77 Groups Worldwide Back Genocide Lawsuit Against Biden in U.S. Court
IDF Sent in Handcuffed Prisoner to Evacuate Hospital, Then Killed Him When He Left
Hundreds of Palestinian Doctors Disappeared Into Israeli Detention
Israel’s New Air War in the West Bank: Nearly Half of the Dead are Children
Israel Falsely Warned It Would Bomb a Media Office. The Actual Airstrike Killed Journalists on a Nearby Street.
Palestinians File German Complaint on Media Giant Axel Springer’s Business in Israeli Settlements
The White House Gave Israel Coordinates to Save an American’s Family. Then Israel Bombed Them Again.
Universities Crackdown
In the wake of a chemical attack on campus, Columbia University initially blamed pro-Palestinian students for holding an unsanctioned event. After our reporting, university administrators banned the suspected perpetrators from campus.
When students in solidarity with Palestine held a “Divest Now” rally on Columbia University’s campus, they were attacked with a chemical agent popular with the Israeli military known as “skunk.” Dozens of students reported an array of symptoms, such as burning eyes, nausea, headaches, abdominal and chest pain, and vomiting. Rather than holding the perpetrators of the attack accountable, the university blamed the students for holding an “unsanctioned” campus event. Some students, members of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, had already been suspended for “holding unauthorized events” while protesting. The chemical attack left many students feeling unsafe and penalized for peaceful protest. Despite having multiple witnesses and photographic evidence, local law enforcement officials were reluctant to pursue serious investigation, and police questioned the victims’ credibility. But upon the publication of our report, university administrators publicly acknowledged the attack and banned the suspected perpetrators from campus, pending a legal investigation.
Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
This story was produced in partnership with Responsible Statecraft, the online magazine for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Two students faced criminal charges after distributing a satirical newspaper at Northwestern University. In response to our story, charges were dropped.
At Northwestern University, student protesters involved in an act of political satire found themselves facing bizarre criminal charges. It began when the students distributed a parody newspaper satirizing the university’s stance on Gaza. The parodic “Northwestern Daily” featured satirical content including fake quotes, accusations of Israeli war crimes, and a provocative Birthright Israel advertisement with the tagline “One man’s home is another man’s former home!” The newspapers were strategically placed around campus, often wrapped in copies of the real student newspaper, the Daily Northwestern.
The university’s response was swift and aggressive. Local prosecutors brought criminal charges against two Black students under a little-known statute originally designed to prevent Ku Klux Klan recruitment materials. The students faced up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for “theft of advertising services” — an unusual charge befuddling legal experts. The incident prompted a wave of campus activism, with over 70 student organizations pledging to boycott the Daily Northwestern, and more than 5,000 students signing a petition alleging targeted overpolicing of Black students. After The Intercept’s story was published, all criminal charges were dropped.
Photo: Kirby Lee via AP
When the law students who edit the Columbia Law Review refused to withdraw an article by Rabea Eghbariah establishing a novel legal framework for the Nakba, the board took down the journal’s website. After our investigation, the website was reinstated, along with Eghbariah’s 100-page legal scholarship.
Our reporting highlighted the Columbia Law Review board’s extensive efforts to suppress human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah’s scholarly work on the Nakba, the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. The journal’s board of directors took the unprecedented action of taking down the entire website after Eghbariah became the first Palestinian legal scholar published in the Review, effectively attempting to censor a 100-page legal essay about the Nakba as a legal concept. We first reported on Eghbariah’s work in November 2023, after the Harvard Law Review killed his commissioned, edited, and fact-checked piece before it was scheduled for publication.
Our story exposed internal tensions at Columbia Law Review, revealing how student editors supported the essay’s publication and resisted the board’s attempts to disclaim or suppress the article. By documenting the board’s interventions, our story illuminated what Eghbariah called a “Palestine exception” to academic freedom.
Photo: Fatih Akta/Anadolu via Getty Images
Holding Mainstream Media Outlets Accountable to Truth
Our analysis revealed that mainstream outlets consistently framed their coverage to align with Israeli government narratives while downplaying Palestinian suffering.
Through close examination of over 1,000 articles from major U.S. newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, we documented how these outlets disproportionately emphasized Israeli deaths while minimizing Palestinian casualties; used emotionally charged language almost exclusively for Israeli victims; and largely ignored the unprecedented toll of the war on Palestinian children and journalists. Our analysis showed that for every Israeli death, Israelis were mentioned eight times; for every two Palestinian deaths, Palestinians were mentioned only once — a 16-fold disparity in coverage per death. Terms like “slaughter,” “massacre,” and “horrific” were used almost exclusively for Israeli victims, while Palestinian deaths were described in neutral or passive terms. Our analysis also exposed how mainstream media gave disproportionate attention to antisemitism over Islamophobia in coverage of hate-fueled incidents in the U.S., demonstrating how editorial choices shape public understanding of the conflict and manipulate its domestic impact.
Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Our investigation exposed CNN’s policy requiring all Israel–Palestine coverage to be vetted through its Jerusalem bureau, which operates under Israeli military censorship.
This article revealed how this policy, combined with specific language directives from CNN management and the hiring of a former member of the Israel Defense Forces’ Spokesperson Unit, has systematically shaped the network’s war coverage to favor Israeli narratives. Through internal documents and interviews with CNN staff, The Intercept revealed how terms like “war crime” and “genocide” were effectively banned, and Israeli military claims were fast-tracked while Palestinian sources faced heightened scrutiny.
By exposing CNN’s internal directives requiring reporters to label Gaza’s Health Ministry as “Hamas-controlled” while minimizing Hamas statements as “propaganda,” and documenting how Israeli bombings were described as passive “blasts” until confirmed by the Israeli military, we demonstrated how editorial policies can systematically skew coverage.
Photo: Andrew Thomas/NurPhoto via Getty Images
After we revealed foundational errors in the New York Times October 7 exposé, the Times published an update refuting a key piece of testimony supporting claims of systematic sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7.
Our reporting exposed significant sourcing issues with the New York Times’s influential December 2023 article “Screams Without Words,” which alleged that Hamas perpetrated systematic sexual violence in the October 7, 2023, attack. Our extensive investigation, including an analysis of a Hebrew-language podcast interview with article co-writer Anat Schwartz, revealed that Schwartz had no prior reporting experience, harbored strong anti-Palestinian views, and struggled to find concrete evidence to support the story’s central claims of systematic sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas, despite months of investigation.
The reporting crucially documented how — despite finding no forensic evidence and facing numerous dead ends in the investigation, including no reports of sexual assault at hospitals, rape crisis centers, or trauma facilities — the Times proceeded with publishing a front-page story that helped justify Israel’s military campaign in Gaza at a critical moment when international opposition was mounting. The Intercept’s investigation showed how the Times relied heavily on witnesses with documented histories of making false claims, failed to mention these credibility issues, and published accounts with significant inconsistencies. Beyond exposing these journalistic failures, The Intercept’s reporting highlighted how the Times story became a pivotal piece of Israeli government messaging about the October 7 attacks, with serious real-world consequences for Palestinians in Gaza, while internal resistance at the Times went unheeded.
Photo: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Our Stories on the American Justice System
In response to our exposé, a former U.S. attorney resigned from his new, five-year appointment to the Arkansas Judiciary’s Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.
Our investigation revealed that Duane “Dak” Kees, who had been quietly appointed to the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, had resigned from his previous position as U.S. attorney amid a misconduct investigation involving an improper relationship with a subordinate. The reporting exposed not only the details of Kees’s misconduct — including allegations of using his power over promotions to pressure a subordinate for sexual favors — but also how he prioritized keeping the relationship secret over the proper functioning of his office, including blocking the termination of another employee to prevent his behavior from being exposed.
The impact of our story was immediate: After publication, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office confirmed to The Intercept that Kees would resign from the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, where he had been appointed to oversee judicial ethics until 2029. The reporting revealed that Griffin had been unaware of the Justice Department’s findings when making the appointment, exposing gaps in the vetting process for such sensitive positions. Thanks to our report, a person with a documented history of ethical violations could not continue to oversee the very standards he had failed to uphold.
Photo: Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images
One week after this article published, Saeed Bakhouch was released from Algerian prison on appeal.
Saeed Bakhouch was returned by the U.S. to Algeria after being imprisoned without charge for 20 years at Guantánamo Bay. Upon his return, he was sentenced by a court in Algeria to three years in prison on terrorism charges. Our investigation documented how Bakhouch was subjected to 12 days of intense interrogation upon his arrival in Algeria, despite his attorney’s explicit warnings to the State Department about the risks her client would face in Algeria, and the department’s assurances that he would be treated humanely. Under duress, he eventually began agreeing to the accusations made against him. Our analysis of the interrogation transcripts revealed that a mentally deteriorated former detainee was questioned without legal representation.
The Intercept’s reporting contributed to increased international attention, including intervention from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, though this ultimately failed to prevent Bakhouch’s imprisonment. However, a week after our story was published, an Algerian court released Bakhouch on appeal.
Photo: Ryad Kramdi/AFP via Getty Images
Confronting Legislative Threats:
Our reporting brought national attention to a bill orchestrated to quash dissent — especially targeting pro-Palestinian nonprofits — and led to a groundswell of activism and advocacy.
Shortly after Trump’s election, a bill that would give the incoming administration sweeping powers to crush nonprofit organizations was quietly moving through the House — until The Intercept stepped in. We first reported on H.R. 9495, colloquially dubbed the “nonprofit killer bill,” on November 10, just a few days before the bill was to be voted on under a “suspension of the rules,” a common procedure used to fast-track bills with broad bipartisan support. After our initial story, a wave of activism and advocacy slowed the bill’s advance, and it failed its first vote. The bill eventually passed the House, but with significantly less support. It now faces a contentious battle in the Senate.
The bill would allow the Treasury Department to immediately revoke the 501(c)(3) status of any nonprofit that runs afoul of the new administration, on a pretext of “supporting terrorism.” Critics of the bill say it was designed to be a cudgel for the Trump administration to wield against pro-Palestinian organizations and activists. As a nonprofit newsroom producing adversarial journalism that holds the most powerful individuals and institutions accountable, including those complicit in the war in Gaza, The Intercept is under direct threat by this bill — along with hundreds of other organizations across our country working in social justice, human rights, and democracy. The Intercept published several stories about the bill as it moved through the House, and discussed it on our podcast episode “Silencing Dissent: Attacks on Free Speech and Nonprofits Are Already Ramping Up.”
Congress Is About to Gift Trump Sweeping Powers to Crush His Political Enemies
Lawmakers Reject Bill That Would Let Trump Destroy Nonprofits
House GOP Moves to Ram Through Bill That Gives Trump Unilateral Power to Kill Nonprofits
Silencing Dissent: Attacks on Free Speech and Nonprofits Are Already Ramping Up
Newsroom Impact
We’re Suing OpenAI
The Intercept achieved a significant legal breakthrough when a federal court upheld part of our novel lawsuit against OpenAI regarding the unauthorized use of journalists’ work to train ChatGPT. Our innovative legal strategy, presenting a first-of-its-kind argument under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act about the stripping of copyright management information, successfully survived OpenAI’s attempt to dismiss the case, though claims against Microsoft were dismissed.
The Intercept’s lawsuit, filed in February, has broken new legal ground in the battle between news organizations and AI companies by focusing on a previously unexplored provision of the DMCA. According to The Intercept’s attorney Matt Topic, this ruling demonstrates that the DMCA can provide crucial protections for news organizations against AI companies’ unauthorized use of digital content, regardless of whether that content has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. This precedent-setting decision could pave the way for other media outlets seeking to protect their content from being used without permission in AI training data. The Intercept’s lawsuit, filed in February, has broken new legal ground in the battle between news organizations and AI companies by focusing on a previously unexplored provision of the DMCA. According to The Intercept’s attorney Matt Topic, this ruling demonstrates that the DMCA can provide crucial protections for news organizations against AI companies’ unauthorized use of digital content, regardless of whether that content has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. This precedent-setting decision could pave the way for other media outlets seeking to protect their content from being used without permission in AI training data.
Photo: Associated Press
Newsroom Impact
Collaborating With Student Journalism
In the fall of 2024, we collaborated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to publish a series of stories from journalism students. By piloting the program in a swing state, we could publish topical election-related reporting from students who had critical insights into a key demographic often overlooked in political journalism.
Six students participated: three were students of color and two were first-generation college students. They came from a mix of rural and urban backgrounds and collectively spoke multiple languages.
By the end of the semester, we published a story about a homeschooler running for North Carolina’s top education post, and another about how the nation’s largest public universities are trying to stifle protests on campus.
Community Engagement
We sent 5,000 postcards to a Florida community to alert them about toxic contamination — exposed in our award winning reporting — at their local elementary school.
The Intercept investigated toxic chemical exposure at Joseph Williams Elementary School, an underserved school in Gainesville, Florida, adjacent to a trash dump since the 1950s. At the intersection of racial justice, environmental justice, and public health, this story reveals how children in neglected communities whose schools are built on contaminated soil suffer disproportionately from respiratory problems. Our investigation found that:
• The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has known about the site’s contaminated soil since 1987.
• The site’s ZIP code has the highest rate of child asthma in the state — nearly double the state average.
The Alachua County School District cleaned up some of the soil at the contamination site and told The Intercept the school was safe. With neither the county nor the state committing to a full cleanup and comprehensive study of the former dump’s impact on the school, we felt a responsibility to inform the local community what was happening at Joseph Williams Elementary. The above postcard was sent to 5,000 homes in Alachua County with key details about our story, contact information for the Alachua County School District, and a QR code linking to the full investigation.
The story will receive the 2025 Upton Sinclair Memorial Award at the American Industrial Hygiene Association conference in May 2025. The award is named after the late journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair, and has been awarded by the association’s social concern committee since 2000.
Partnerships
We develop partnerships to connect with communities at the front lines of our stories, as well as advocacy organizations, elected officials, and news influencers to maximize the impact of our reporting. We invest in storytelling across platforms and work with partners to reach key audiences.
Our story produced in partnership with Lux Magazine, “Undelivered:Drug-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Intercepting Abortion Pills in the Mail,” was widely shared across social media and appeared in the magazine’s print edition.
We partnered with 100 Days in Appalachia for our story “Not Just Coastal Elites: Here’s How Three Rust Belt Colleges Protested Israel’s War in Gaza.” The story was later promoted by the Columbia Journalism Review.
The Intercept, in partnership with the Invisible Institute, Illinois Public Media News, the Investigative Reporting Workshop, and the Illinois Times, published a series of stories about former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, now charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey. The story series revealed how Grayson was able to repeatedly find employment in Central Illinois police departments despite a history of misconduct and abuse.
Deputy Accused of Killing Sonya Massey Was Discharged From Army for Serious Misconduct
Past Employers Questioned Integrity and Conduct of Deputy Who Killed Sonya Massey
Cop Who Shot Sonya Massey Lied to Make a Drug Arrest. It Didn’t Hurt His Career.
100 Days in Appalachia
Amjambo Africa
Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism
Bolts
Balls and Strikes
Economic Hardship Reporting Project
Forbidden Stories
The Guardian
Illinois Public Media News
Illinois Times
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Investigative Reporting Workshop
Invisible Institute
Jewish Currents
Land & Climate Review
Lux Magazine
The Nation
New York Focus
Responsible Statecraft
Rolling Stone
Sahan Journal
Zeteo
Membership
The Intercept has one of the largest membership programs in nonprofit journalism, with more than 55,000 readers and listeners donating in 2024 — a number that has grown almost sixfold since the membership program launched in 2017. More than 400,000 people subscribe to our email newsletter, and we reach over 2 million users a month across our website, podcasts, and social platforms.
The Intercept is fueled by the generosity of our members and institutional supporters.
We couldn’t do this work without you. For more information on how to support The Intercept, please contact our development team at development@theintercept.com.
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systems of power such as governments, corporations, political parties, and the media writ large.”
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