| The Lever | |
| Creator: | David Sirota |
| Commercial: | No |
| Type: | News website |
| Language: | English |
| Predecessor: | The Daily Poster |
The Lever is an American reader-supported investigative news outlet founded by David Sirota, a speechwriter and former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders. The name The Lever is inspired by a quote from the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who said, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
As of April 2024, The Lever had more than 112,000 active free and paying subscribers, and a staff of nineteen.[1] The Levers mission, according to founder David Sirota, is to "hold power accountable."[2] According to managing editor Joel Warner, The Levers "bread and butter" reporting and "core area of success" is reporting on "how corporate power is making everything worse for the rest of us".[1]
The investigative reporting from The Lever has been cited by other news outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, Politico, Al Jazeera, Rolling Stone, and The Baltimore Sun.[1]
Founder David Sirota launched an earlier version of this news outlet, called The Daily Poster, on Substack in April 2020.[3] In May 2021, The Daily Poster moved from Substack to an independent website.[3] In March 2022, the site was expanded and renamed as The Lever.[4]
In 2023, The Lever's website received almost two million visits, and its reporting was seen more than 14 million times through platforms like Apple News and Google News.[1]
Following the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023, The Lever reported on the "railroad industry's history of fighting stricter safety regulations."[5] Based on this reporting, reporters from The Lever were interviewed on Democracy Now!,[6] On The Media,[7] The Problem with Jon Stewart,[8] [9] and other news outlets.[10]
Following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, The Lever broke the story that the president of the bank had lobbied for less regulatory scrutiny.[2] The Levers story, "SVB Chief Pressed Lawmakers to Weaken Bank Risk Regs," was cited by The New York Times the day after it was published.[2] [11] [12]
Journalist David Cay Johnston praised The Levers reporting on corrupt practices at The Boeing Company, following an incident on January 5 when a door panel blew out mid-flight on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.[13] According to The Lever's reporting cited by Johnston, the root cause of the incident (and other safety issues with Boeings aircraft) "is the corrosive effects of stock buybacks and government subsidies, elevating executive and corporate director greed above aviation safety."[13] Johnston states:
The Levers coverage [of this story] should prompt significant safety and financial reforms. Its reporting on this story is worthy of the top honor in American journalism, the Pulitzer Gold Medal for public service.[13]
Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in April 2024, The Lever reported that "eight months prior, the Labor Department sanctioned the cargo giant for taking action against a sailor who previously reported unsafe working conditions while aboard a Maersk-operated boat."[14] [15] This reporting was cited by Rolling Stone[14] and The Washington Post.[16]
The Levers related reporting on Maryland governor Larry Hogan, who (according to The Lever) touted megaships and ignored safety warnings before the Key Bridge disaster, was spotlighted on NPR's Morning Edition[17] and cited by the New York Times Dealbook.[18]
In March 2023, The Lever received an Izzy Award from the Park Center for Independent Media "for outstanding achievement in independent media."[19] [20] [21] The award was for a four-part series published in August 2022 by Andrew Perez of The Lever in partnership with ProPublica, titled "Inside The Right's Historic Billion-Dollar Dark Money Transfer".[21]
In March 2024, The Lever received an Honorable Mention in the category "Breaking News-Small Division" in the "2023 Best in Business Awards" from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.[22]