About Us

The 51st is a worker-led nonprofit local news source for D.C. We believe that all D.C. residents deserve a more equitable and just place to live, and our reporting is rooted in our conviction that local journalism is meant to make people’s lives better.

We pursue stories that hold leaders to account, demystify opaque city and civic processes, and celebrate the idiosyncrasies that make us proud to call D.C. home. Put simply, our mission is to make it easier – and more fun — to live in the District.

You can read more about our team members here. And we've might have answered any other questions you have about our organization here.

How we got here

The 51st was co-founded by six former DCist and WAMU employees. In February 2024, WAMU executives shut down the DCist website, laying off 16 talented journalists and other staff — and wiping years of D.C. history from the internet.

As we watched our former workplace join a growing list of news outlets ruined by C-suites, a team of alum started asking questions: What if a newsroom was run by…the people in the newsroom? What if journalists had the ability to pursue stories that truly engaged with the community’s needs? In July 2024, we launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to make The 51st a sustainable, worker-led nonprofit – and we’ve been growing ever since.

Editorial independence

We maintain full editorial control over the content we choose to publish, and we do not allow financial considerations – including support from individuals, businesses, foundations, or other sources – to influence our work. While we do accept financial support for particular areas of coverage (say an education-focused philanthropy funding reporting on D.C. schools), these funders do not decide what stories get covered or how we cover them. You can review our conflicts of interest policy here.

We will always strive to be fair, including a variety of perspectives (and ones that won’t always make our readers and sources happy). But we won’t pursue what some publications call “journalistic objectivity.” This type of coverage too often conflates “truth” with a narrow set of perspectives and experiences and is used to protect powerful interests.

Accountability to our community

We aim to be as transparent and approachable as possible. You can see who makes up our team here, and exactly how we’re funded here.

You can contact us here with questions, news tips, feedback – or just to say hello!

Our reporting will be accurate, ethical, and respectful. When we make a mistake, it is our policy to correct errors of fact quickly within the story and to transparently label the change in a note on the story. If you find an error, email corrections@51st.news.

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