An Open IPO Window Will Save Investigative Journalism

In 2016, Mother Jones published an explosive account of what it’s like to work as a private prison guard. It was a classic piece of investigative journalism: four months of full-time under-cover work, leading to a polished, incisive piece that combined a smart 35,000 foot-view with plenty of harrowing on-the-ground detail.

It had a major impact, too: within months, the Justice Department announced that it would no longer contract with private prisons. (A move the current administration rescinded.)

This, you might think, is what journalism is for. But it’s certainly not what media companies are paid for. Per the editor:

Wow, a -6,900% profit margin! Series A, here we come!

OK, that was a cheap shot, but there is a financial angle here. Investigative journalism generally doesn’t pay very well. As media companies have lost their monopolistic traits and faced more market competition — as social media and search have unbundled them from a single publication into articles that get mixed into the Content Casserole — investigative journalism, with its subpar unit economics, has declined.