A few engagements at a time, and only work that holds up when a reporter checks it.

Most of what comes through this office is one of three things.

Data and research

Public datasets, rankings, tools and analysis, launched with the method written down so a newsroom can test the number before it prints it. This is most of our work and the part we like best. For a publisher that refreshes a list every month we run the calendar, from the monthly reading to the single figure that becomes a story the day it lands.

Local findings

A number about one city or one state, brought to the metro, business and real estate reporters who cover that place, and nobody else. A Boise number goes to Boise. We keep our own list of who covers what, and we would rather it be right than long.

Records and reporting

Filings and documents read closely and turned into something a reporter can use the day it arrives, with the page number. Work that needs the editors who will take it seriously, with the documents behind every claim in the same note.

What we won’t do

Volume. We don’t buy lists, we don’t run drip sequences, and we don’t dress paid placement up as coverage. We don’t take work we think is untrue or unimportant, and we say so in the first conversation rather than the last.

What it costs

Engagements are priced by the month against the work in hand, and we say the number in the first call, in dollars, before anything starts.