With the support of our community of writers, editors and donors, 2015 was a benchmark year for the Public Press. We won awards, surpassed our summer fundraising goal and spurred regional policy conversations.
Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom that does not reply upon — or even have — advertising, we don’t measure the success of a story by pageviews or clicks. We care about meaningful change — read more about our impact. But we do track which stories catch your eye.
Here are the five most-read stories on the Public Press website this year.
“As Parents Get More Choice, S.F. Schools Resegregate”
San Francisco designed its school assignment system to boost diversity, but officials admit that those very mechanisms led to one-fourth of schools being “racially isolated.” Reporter Jeremy Adam Smith won a 2015 Excellence in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter for his data-driven expose of a what one school board member coined the “story of unintended consequences” of school choice.
“San Francisco 2015 Nonpartisan Election Guide”
Housing costs. Airbnb. Gentrification. San Francisco’s November 2015 ballot presented choices about the city’s most burning questions. Our nonpartisan election guide was a hub of voter resources for each ballot measure and candidate race.
San Francisco’s waterfront land rush has enriched developers and brought millions in tax revenue to the city. Yet Public Press reporters found sea level rise could flood many of these megaprojects in the coming decades — and local governments are years behind in climate adaptation planning. The investigation touched off widespread media coverage and discussion about the implications of sea level rise for the Bay Area.
“Maps Show Where Thousands of Cyclists, Pedestrians Hurt or Killed”
San Francisco launched the Vision Zero project in 2014 with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths in the next 20 years. Reporter Noah Arroyo’s coverage of Vision Zero maps showing pedestrian and cyclist strikes was a graphic look at how far the project has to go.
