Editor's note: Who we are and what we do

APM Reports, formed in November 2015, is a collection of investigative journalists and documentary producers, editors, researchers and digital producers dedicated to producing high quality reporting on issues that are often shrouded from public view. The leaders at American Public Media decided to invest in investigative journalism and combine it with our documentary reporting for a number of reasons. Most important, immersive, fact-driven journalism is a critical public service. When Americans are more fully informed and insist on meaningful change, our democracy can work more reliably. Furthermore, APM Reports fills a void. The past 15 years have seen a drop-off in investigative reporting from news organizations, primarily because many face increasing financial pressures and are unable to devote resources to time-intensive reporting projects. Finally, it's never been more needed. Today's divisive and complex climate in America requires thoughtful, in-depth reporting across a range of issues — money in politics, ineffective schools, compromised health care, a fragile environment, exploitive employers, widespread social disparities and police brutality. Digging deeply into these issues on behalf of the public is a role we take seriously at APM Reports.

Why us? Our regional stations — Minnesota Public Radio and Southern California Public Radio — have delivered excellent investigative work, and we believe we can produce similar work nationally. APM Reports includes journalists from Minnesota Public Radio and from the former American RadioWorks, which produced award-winning documentaries about many topics from around the country and overseas for more than 15 years. We'll continue the American RadioWorks tradition of carefully crafted narratives that explore ideas, explain new research, uncover systemic problems and document solutions. We have no partisan agenda or ideological targets. Our reporting, like all great reporting, will be a journey through facts and without bias. As a result, our stories can come from anywhere and take an audience anywhere. Many times those stories will come from data, news and trends. Other times they will come from people with an exclusive view of something.

Typically, APM Reports will be exploring the intersection of ordinary Americans with the institutions that are significant in their lives — voters and their government, for example, or social media users and technology companies. And we'll be continuing our commitment to documentary reporting about education. But no matter the focus, at the heart of every important story we pursue will be a critical larger question — about systems or accountability within institutions — that Americans deserve to have answered with depth and commitment. We'll do that.