The Marshall Project

U.S. center-left (criminal justice reform)

Background

The Marshall Project was founded in November 2014 by Neil Barsky, a former hedge fund manager, with veteran New York Times editor Bill Keller as its first editor-in-chief. It is named after Thurgood Marshall, the civil rights lawyer who became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The outlet launched with an explicit mission to create 'a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system' through journalism rather than advocacy. In its early years it won a Pulitzer Prize and built a reputation for investigative work on prison conditions, racial disparities, wrongful convictions, and incarcerated youth. By 2019, it had become an influential model for single-subject nonprofit news organizations. The outlet has faced criticism from some conservative commentators for not disclosing the ideological leanings of its major donors — notably the Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros. In early 2025, longtime editor-in-chief Susan Chira and president Carroll Bogert both stepped down; Katrice Hardy was named CEO and Geraldine Sealey became acting editor-in-chief. Despite calling itself nonpartisan, the outlet's founding premise — that the criminal justice system is unjust and in need of reform — orients its editorial focus toward systemic critique, and its major funders are primarily progressive or liberal-leaning philanthropies.

Sources

1. The Marshall Project – Wikipedia
2. The Marshall Project – Media Bias/Fact Check
3. The Marshall Project – AllSides Media Bias Rating
4. The Marshall Project – Influence Watch
5. About The Marshall Project
6. A decade of justice – Editor and Publisher
7. How DOJ and Criminal Justice Have Changed in Trump's Second Term – The Marshall Project
8. The Marshall Project turns five – Nieman Journalism Lab

Profile compiled 2026-07-07; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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