Our Model Explained

We commission work from journalists who have worked at places such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, and The Times of London. We also recruit veteran editors in part-time roles, giving them the opportunity to pass along their skills to earlier-career journalists working on important stories alongside them.

To increase quality, L.A. Reported strictly limits not just the number of stories we publish, but also the subject areas we cover. Our mission is not “do as good a job covering everything a local newspaper used to,” but rather “do a better job covering a small number of subjects that matter most.”
Our primary beats include housing, transportation, and criminal justice. As this model succeeds and demonstrates its ability to sustain itself, we can grow organically to add other important coverage areas.

We publish our material as a Substack newsletter, which allows us to keep operating costs low and meet readers where they’re already consuming news. Readers can subscribe for free or become paid subscribers for roughly $5 per month — the typical Substack rate. Our value proposition: for the same price as a typical one-person newsletter, you get a far better product backed by real editorial investment in every story.