The Marshall Project

History

The Marshall Project began as an idea of Neil Barsky, a former hedge fund manager, in November 2013. When writing an op-ed in the New York Times, Barsky thought it might be a good opportunity to plug the idea, so he included a brief description of the project and the website URL in his byline. Within a few weeks, he was contacted by several criminal justice organizations that offered funding support. In February 2014, the New York Times reported that Bill Keller, who had been executive editor at the New York Times from July 2003 to September 2011, was going to work for the Marshall Project.

The Marshall Project publishes journalistic and opinion pieces on its own website, and also collaborates with news organizations and magazines to publish investigations. Its first two investigations were published in August 2014 (on its own website and in the Washington Post together) and in October 2014 (on its own website and in Slate Magazine).

The project officially launched in November 2014.

Organization and funding

As of February 2015, the Marshall Project had a staff of 21.

The Marshall Project is funded 100% by donations from foundations and individuals. In July 2014, Capital New York quoted Barsky as saying that the project would have an annual budget of $5 million, the budget was close to half-committed for the first two years, including three major institutional commitments that Barsky declined to specify, plus individual donors including himself. In November 2014, the Huffington Post reported that Barsky was responsible for 20% of the project's funding.

As of May 2015, the founding partners listed on the website include the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, Timothy and Michele Barakett Foundation, Neil Barsky and Joan S. Davidson Foundation, Charles K. Edmondson, Jr. Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Other supporters listed on the website include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Rockefeller Family Fund, and many more.

Readership

As of February 2015, 10,000 people were receiving its daily email updates.

Critical reception

Joe Pompeo wrote of the Marshall Project that it had had a great start due to a mix of good initial publicity and association with high-profile names.

The Marshall Project has also been identified as part of a new and experimental nonprofit journalism format. It has been compared with ProPublica, the Center for Investigative Reporting, InsideClimate News, and The Texas Tribune and also with recent for-profit journalistic experiments such as Vox and FiveThirtyEight.

The Marshall Project has also been praised for its timely launch given current bipartisan interest in criminal justice reform in the United States.

The Marshall Project has been compared with the Innocence Project, but distinguishes itself because its focus is not merely on innocent people ensnared by the criminal justice system but also on guilty people whose rights to due process, fair trial, and proportionate punishment are violated.

Awards and honors

In 2016, the Marshall Project, in partnership with ProPublica, won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting "for a startling examination and exposé of law enforcement's enduring failures to investigate reports of rape properly and to comprehend the traumatic effects on its victims."

In 2017, the Marshall Project won a National Magazine Award for general excellence in the category of Literature, Science and Politics. This was the website's first National Magazine Award.