In 2023, the Guardian published stories revealing injustices across the globe, from attacks on voting rights in the US to worker exploitation in Saudi Arabia and the reach of the fossil fuel industry’s influence throughout the world.
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Here are just a few of the stories reader support helped fund in 2023.
The fight for democracy
The Guardian has relentlessly reported on sweeping attacks on voting rights and election integrity, even before Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Our reporting has been cited by numerous voting rights groups for revealing how state legislatures are passing laws that in practice severely limit minority groups’ ability to vote. In one explosive story by Sam Levine, the Guardian was the first to release police body camera footage depicting a man in Florida accused of illegally voting being arrested at gunpoint as part of the state’s supposed voter fraud crackdown.
Charges against a New Orleans priest
Following an ongoing investigation by the Guardian into abuses by Catholic priests against minors, and the extreme measures taken by the archdiocese of New Orleans to cover them up, one such priest was indicted on criminal charges. In documents obtained by the Guardian and in an on-camera interview in partnership with WWL-TV, Lawrence Hecker admitted to multiple instances of sexual abuse and pleaded not guilty after turning himself in. More stories revealed the lengths at which the New Orleans archdiocese went to conceal the numerous accusations of sexual assault against more priests.
Abuse in the US prison system
Sam Levin’s reporting has revealed widespread abuse in prisons across the country, including stories about inmates dying after being left in solitary confinement for weeks and prisoners being turned over for potential deportation after coming forward with accusations of abuse. His investigations have been cited in support of federal inquiries into incarceration conditions, in lawsuits against the US government and bureau of prisons and by leading advocacy groups for survivors of violence in prison.
Exposing the influence of fossil fuels
With natural disasters mounting in 2023, the Guardian has led the conversation on how the fossil fuel industry is exacerbating the climate crisis and blocking a meaningful global effort to stem the damage. We have reported extensively on the severe limitations and overstated claims of the carbon offset market, affirming in story after story that these offsets do not in large part reduce carbon emissions in the way companies claim. And following our reporting connecting US oil and gas field contractors to Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (Moge), a key revenue stream for the junta who seized control of Myanmar, the US imposed new sanctions on the company.
Around the world
Shocking revelations of worker abuse
The Guardian is deeply invested in labor reporting at a time when very few national publications have dedicated coverage of this beat. An investigative series we published linked US companies – including Amazon, McDonald’s and Chuck E Cheese – to possible labor trafficking and exploitation in the Middle East, and our reporting on Nike was cited by law firms working on class action lawsuits on behalf of the potentially thousands of misclassified temporary workers.
Israel-Gaza war coverage
As a global news organization, the Guardian is dedicated to explaining the interconnected nature of the world’s biggest stories. Since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, our non-stop coverage has consistently broken through the swirl of this rapidly changing war, carefully vetting new developments in a story vulnerable to misinformation from bad faith actors. As the war continues, we’ll continue to publish live blogs with all the latest developments, on the ground reporting, crucial explainers and analysis of how this moment is playing out domestically, and opinion columns from a diverse range of viewpoints.
The cost of the crown
In the lead-up to King Charles’s coronation, the Guardian believed that more scrutiny of the royal family’s finances was warranted. An ensuing investigation into Britain’s ties to the transatlantic slave trade revealed previously unseen documents from the 17th century showing King William III’s stake in a slave-trading company. The revelation drew a rare public statement from King Charles and Buckingham Palace signaling support for further research into the royal family’s ties to slavery.
A kidnapping plot to silence a journalist
After journalist María Teresa Montaño Delgado was kidnapped at gunpoint while investigating suspicious government contracts awarded by the state of Mexico, the Guardian partnered with Montaño and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) to continue her work. Our investigation implicated several key political figures, including the candidate for state governor, Alfredo del Mazo Maza, in an apparent corruption scheme. Following our story, Maza went on to lose his re-election bid, ending his family’s three-decade reign in the state and the Institutional Revolutionary party’s 94 years in power.
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