Report Local

We are eager to share some organizational news!

The GroundTruth Project is reorganizing to more deeply focus on our flagship programs, for America and for the World, which are surging in reach and impact and are urgently needed in democracies across the globe.

To sustain this momentum, The GroundTruth Project is moving away from its original news and editorial functions, and founder Charles Sennott is leaving the organization to establish a new, independent entity where he will continue to lead the award-winning journalism that distinguished The GroundTruth Project as a premier editorial brand.

“This is really the perfect moment to go all in on our service programs and make them the best they can be, and for me this is an opportunity to answer a call to develop more of my own writing and analysis with my own voice,” said Sennott.

Read more in our full announcement:

The GroundTruth Project announces reorganization to more deeply focus on flagship programming | The GroundTruth Project March 19, 2025 — The GroundTruth Project announces reorganization to more deeply focus on flagship programming Through an extraordinary decade of growth for The GroundTruth Project, the nonprofit news organization’s flagship programs Report for America and Report for the World have transformed i...

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news—our founder Charles Sennott’s GroundTruth newsletter has officially moved to Substack! This new platform will help Sennott raise greater awareness about the growing crisis in local journalism and build a coalition of supporters who believe in the importance of keeping local news alive.

“I see our transition to Substack as my next big reporting project and a chance to go beyond the standard newsletter format and create a space for deeper connection, sharper storytelling, and more meaningful dialogue. A place where we can meet you where you are—where ideas flow freely and communities are built around shared values. It’s a space for thoughtful conversation at a time when too much of the media landscape feels chaotic and fractured,” Sennott wrote.

Join Sennott’s GroundTruth newsletter on Substack as he continues his vital work of supporting local, on-the-ground journalism.

https://charlessennott.substack.com/

The Awajún people, the second largest Indigenous group of Peru, are facing violence and exploitation from illegal mining operations and the expansion of mining concessions to outsiders.

Report for the World newsroom partner Convoca went on the ground to uncover how the criminals' quest to mine gold from the riverbeds hinders the Awajún people’s ability to live in their ancestral territory free of contamination, violence, and exploitation and how they are responding to it—including organizing themselves into self-defense groups.

“We have no choice but to organize ourselves and not allow any more deaths of our
leaders”, Jammer Manihuari, vice-coordinator of the Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica (COICA), told Convoca. ‘Illegal mining works with hired killings, and since there is no state presence or police presence, no one can guarantee our lives.” In the last 11 years, 39 Peruvian environmental leaders have been murdered.

Pueblo awajún bajo amenaza: Nuevos focos de minería ilegal y 11 mil hectáreas de concesiones mineras sobre ríos Cenepa y Marañón Pueblo awajún bajo amenaza: Nuevos focos de minería ilegal y 11 mil hectáreas de concesiones mineras sobre ríos Cenepa y Marañón Ante el abandono del Estado, el pueblo awajún de Amazonas se organiza en autodefensas para protegerse de la minería ilegal y de las organizaciones criminales. En j...