The Lever
 | |
Type of site | News website |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Predecessor(s) | The Daily Poster |
| Created by | David Sirota |
| Editors |
|
| URL | www |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | April 2020 |
The Lever (formerly known as The Daily Poster) is an investigative American news outlet founded by David Sirota.[1] The name The Lever is a reference to a quote attributed to Greek mathematician Archimedes, "give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."[1]
The Lever's staff includes journalists Andrew Perez, Julia Rock, Matthew Cunningham-Cook, and Rebecca Burns.[2] It also publishes investigative journalism from reporters who contribute to other news outlets, including Newsweek, Jacobin, and The American Prospect.[3] The Lever publishes several podcasts, including Lever Time and Movies vs. Capitalism.[4]
The investigating reporting from The Lever is frequently cited by other news outlets, including citations in the New York Times, The Guardian, HuffPost, and other outlets. For example, during the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, The Lever revealed that the bank had lobbied for less regulation, a fact which was later cited in The New York Times' newsletter DealBook.[1] The Lever was also among the first news outlets to report on the 2023 Ohio train derailment.[1] According to journalist Krystal Ball, The Lever's reporting on these topics "pushed the mainstream press to deal with the issues of political capture and deregulation that are at the heart of those crises... They beat the legacy press on both of those stories and shaped the mainstream coverage."[1]
In March 2023, The Lever received an Izzy Award from the Park Center for Independent Media “for outstanding achievement in independent media.”[5] In granting this award, the judges commented: “No news outlet is as thorough and relentless as The Lever in exposing the corrupting influence of corporate power on government and both major parties. From dark money influence on the Supreme Court to Medicare privatization to the dangers of deregulation to other topics, The Lever‘s investigative team is on the corruption beat day after day."[5]
Notable reporting and projects
Dark money influence on the U.S. Supreme Court
A four-part series published in 2022 by Andrew Perez of The Lever in partnership with ProPublica, titled “Inside The Right’s Historic Billion-Dollar Dark Money Transfer,” followed the money behind the architect of the conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court, Leonard Leo.[6] The investigation exposed Chicago businessman Barre Seid's $1.6 billion donation to Leo's political advocacy nonprofit in the largest known dark money transfer in United States history. The series won the 2023 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.[5]
2023 Ohio train derailment
Following the Ohio train derailment in Feb 2023, The Lever was the first news outlet to report on the "railroad industry’s history of fighting stricter safety regulations."[7] Based on this reporting, reporters from The Lever were interviewed on The Problem with Jon Stewart,[8] Democracy Now!,[9] On The Media,[10] and other news outlets.[11] The Lever reporting team was also invited to write an editorial on this topic for New York Times.[12][13]
The Lever's reporting on this topic was also cited by HuffPost,[7] The Guardian,[14] and other news outlets.
2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, The Lever broke the story that the president of the bank had lobbied for less regulatory scrutiny.[1] The Lever's story, "SVB Chief Pressed Lawmakers to Weaken Bank Risk Regs," was cited by the New York Times the day after it was published.[1][15][16]
Development of The Lever
Founder David Sirota launched an earlier version of this news outlet, called The Daily Poster, on Substack in April 2020. In May 2021, The Daily Poster moved from Substack to an independent website.[17] In March, 2022, the site was expanded and renamed as The Lever.[18]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Stelter, Brian (2023-03-18). "Politics by Other Means". Air Mail. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ "About The Lever". The Lever. 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ Kalinowski, Alice. "BRASS Business Guides: 2021 BRASS Program - Follow The Money: Investigative News Sites to Follow". brass.libguides.com. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ "Podcasts from The Lever". the.levernews.com. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ a b c "Izzy Award for Independent Media to Be Shared by The Lever, Mississippi Free Press, and Journalists Carlos Ballesteros and Liza Gross". Ithaca College. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ "How a Secretive Billionaire Handed His Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts". Propublica. 2022-08-22. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ^ a b Chris D'Angelo, "Ohio's Toxic Train Disaster Follows ‘Perfect Storm’ Of Cuts, Deregulation", HuffPost, Feb 15, 2023
- ^ "The Ohio Train Disaster: A Tale of Corporate Greed and Civil War-Era Brakes", The Problem with Jon Stewart
- ^ "Corporate Greed and Deregulation Fuel Threat of More Bomb Trains as East Palestine Demands Answers", Democracy Now, Feb 17, 2023
- ^ "An Ohio Train Derailment Reveals Structural Issues", On The Media, Feb 17, 2023
- ^ Andrew Perez, "Driving The National Narrative", The Lever, Feb 20, 2023
- ^ "The Lever got the media to cover the real story behind the toxic train disaster in Ohio". The Lever. 2023-02-20. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ "Over 1,000 Trains Derail Every Year in America. Let's Bring That Number Down". The New York Times. 2023-02-17.
- ^ "What do we know about the Ohio train derailment and toxic chemical leak?", The Guardian, Feb 15, 2023
- ^ Rebecca Burns, et al, "SVB Chief Pressed Lawmakers To Weaken Bank Risk Regs", The Lever, Mar 10, 2023
- ^ Andrew Ross Sorkin, et al, "Why Did Silicon Valley Bank Collapse?", New York Times, Mar 11, 2023
- ^ "Welcome To The Daily Poster's New Website". The Lever. 2021-05-06. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ "Introducing THE LEVER". The Lever. 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2023-03-20.