Founding Truthout was founded in 2001 following the
2000 United States presidential election results. By 2006, the organization had thirty employees.
Controversial reporting on Karl Rove On May 13, 2006, journalist
Jason Leopold reported on
Truthout that
Karl Rove had been indicted by a grand jury investigating the
Plame affair. Rove's spokesperson, Mark Corallo, denied the report.
Truthout defended the story, stating that it was based on multiple sources which indicated that an indictment had been issued or presented to Rove’s attorneys. The grand jury later concluded its investigation without returning an indictment against Rove. Rove addressed the report in his memoir,
Courage and Consequence, criticizing the article and stating that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald regarded the account as inaccurate. Leopold continued to publish investigative reporting for
Truthout through 2014, and joined
Vice News later that year.
Reporting on the Bush administration's interrogation techniques A 2009 report by
Truthout on the Bush administration's use of
enhanced interrogation techniques was cited by
Countdown with Keith Olberman and by
Carl Levin, chairman of the
U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. Truthout staff have worked remotely since the organization's founding in 2001 – a fact that hampered traditional union organizing and certification processes conducted in a physical workplace. Truthout held the first virtual
card check in the U.S. on August 27, 2009, using faxed images of each employee's signature to verify their signed union cards. Truthout's board of directors recognized the union on that same day. About a dozen Truthout employees became members of the
NewsGuild-CWA Local 36047, and Truthout remains a unionized workplace today.
Safety issues at BP The CBS news program, 60 Minutes, cited a report published on Truthout as a source for its May 16, 2010, episode covering the
BP oil spill and the
whistleblower who warned about a possible blowout at another BP
deepwater drilling site. Digital Journal wrote up the story.
CNN's
Randi Kaye, in an article, cited a report by Truthout as the first article on BP Alaska employee Mark Kovac's inside knowledge about the safety concerns at the
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska BP oil field. On July 14, 2010, the
United States House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing in the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. The hearing titled "The Safety of Hazardous Liquid Pipelines (Part 2): Integrity Management" cited an investigative report by Truthout as a document for the committee's investigation.
2011 hack In 2011, Truthout suffered a hacking breach in which ten days' worth of articles were deleted.
Offshore fracking In 2013, Truthout journalist Mike Ludwig unearthed information through a
Freedom of Information Act request from the
Interior Department revealing that
fracking technology was being used on offshore oil rigs in the ecologically sensitive
Santa Barbara Channel. Coastal conservationists took note of this, and environmental took action, generating protests and broad public discussion about offshore fracking. At one point, lawsuits filed by environmental groups forced federal officials to place a moratorium on offshore fracking in the channel while regulators reviewed the practice and their rules for making it safe. In 2014, the
EPA issued new rules requiring offshore drillers to disclose fracking chemicals they dispose of into the ocean off the California coast.
Illegal Navy training In 2016,
Dahr Jamail and Truthout released
Navy documents outlining plans for combat training exercises in vast non-military areas of
Washington state's coastline. The documents showed the areas the Navy was prepared to utilize, without the mandatory risk assessments, medical plans, surveys of training areas, and coordinating their activities with local, state, and federal law enforcement officials. The release of these documents forced the Navy to postpone this training for at least 2 years. It caused commotion within the Washington state government, as they were unaware of the Navy's plans.
2017 riot charges Freelancer and Truthout writer
Aaron Miguel Cantú was one of the six journalists faced with felony rioting charges after covering
the inauguration of Donald Trump. In July 2018, all charges against Cantu and many of the other protesters were dismissed.
2025 acquisitions On June 11, 2025, Truthout acquired
Yes! Magazine's archive following its closure. On November 14, 2025, Truthout acquired the assets of
The Appeal, a criminal justice-focused news site. == Content and partnerships ==