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Do you have a story tip for LAist? Here's how to reach us
LAist wants to hear your story tips.
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Here at LAist, it’s our job to deliver news that holds powerful people and institutions to account, and we can’t do that without your help.
Some of our best reporting comes from tips and sensitive information from members of the community.
Here are just a few examples:
- Hidden city report finds LA council’s signature anti-encampment law is failing: The report, which said a key homelessness enforcement policy was failing, was provided to us by a trusted source. We were able to authenticate the report and publish the findings.
- Setting up a fierce debate, city-commissioned report recommends changes that would lower LA rent hikes: Information from a source allowed us to specify exactly where the record could be located in our public records request.
- ‘We f***ing started a fire’: Orange County records document missteps by officials leading up to devastating Airport Fire: We requested these text messages based on a tip from the community.
What should you send us?
Like the examples above, we’re looking for leads for stories and information not previously reported that are important for the public to know. In order to tell these kinds of stories, we need specifics. That means we need documents, communication or other pieces of hard evidence — or leads on who to ask or where to look. The more specific the better.
We’re looking for facts, not opinions.
What will we do with your lead?
A member of our news team reviews every tip that comes to us. Follow up may take weeks or even months. If the information you provide is time sensitive, be sure to mention that in your tip. We may not be able to speak with everyone personally. If you don’t want to be contacted further or named in our reporting, make sure to tell us that in your initial communication
How to reach us
Let's break some news.
For general feedback, get in touch with us here.
You can always send tips to tips@scpr.org. If it’s newsworthy, an editor will pass the tip on to a reporter.
That’s the easiest way, but not necessarily the most secure.
If you have information for us and you’re worried about security, we take that seriously and can help.
Here’s how you can reach us discreetly:
Signal
I edit our watchdog journalism team and you can reach me on Signal. My username is: Jbennett.18.
For instructions on getting started with Signal, see the app's support page. Once you're in the app, you can type my username in the search bar after starting a new chat.
Many of our reporters have listed their Signal usernames on their bios. Find them here.
Encrypting email
Using encryption allows you to pass us information that you don’t want read by other people. No one but us can read the contents of the email, but people can see that you’ve sent us a message.
Snail mail
Often the most secure way to get information to us is good old fashioned physical mail. Send us printed documents or files on a storage device such as a thumb drive, DVD or memory card. You can leave off the return address, but don’t forget to include how we can reach you with more questions inside the package.
Mailing address:
LAist
Attn: Jared Bennett
474 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
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