2023 Impact at the Landing
Our mission at Houston Landing is to strengthen democracy and improve the lives of all Houstonians one story at a time.
Since the Landing launched its daily news website June 7, we have seen more than 2 million page views by over 1.3 million users. We have published more than 500 stories covering over eight counties including Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller.
Our readers learned more about their neighbors, their leaders, their public institutions. We deeply believe no matter what issues in Houston you care about the most, the solutions will come from informed, engaged residents. Houston Landing is dedicated to this work.
Thank you for your readership and support as we help solve big problems, tell untold stories, hold the powerful accountable and transform our communities for the better.
Editorial Coverage:
Story Series
The Landing currently has two education reporters, Miranda Dunlap and Asher Lehrer-Small. Houston Landing’s HISD coverage has frequently been republished and shared by other news outlets. One of the top stories by Miranda Dunlap – “Houston ISD superintendent eliminating over 500 positions from central office” — was republished by national news organizations such as Yahoo! News and MSN.com; the education site The 74 million; statewide organizations such as the Texas Tribune; local news sites such as Fox 26; and hyperlocal sites such as the Gilmer Mirror.
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Editorial Coverage:
10 Most Viewed Stories of 2023
These numbers prove that the audiences Houston Landing is reaching are best served with stories that explain complicated topics, dive deep into hyper-local Houston issues, and hold local leaders accountable.
Most viewed story
Our coverage of the story was picked up by one of our news aggregators and sent nationally, which skyrocketed page views and made the story more visible to readers outside the Houston area.
Editorial Coverage:
10 Most Engaged Stories of 2023
Most Engaged stories by Date Published
Defining Impact
Tracking the Influence
Impact Tracker
The Landing’s impact tracker is an internal data source that measures the reach and impact of published journalism. Since the soft launch in February 2023, there have been more than 233 entries, surpassing the annual goal of 200. By August there were 111 entries, 3 months after the official launch in June.
Media mention entries in our tracker
This is where other media have cited our content in their stories.
Impact entries that fall under government action
Newsletter mention entries
This is where other media newsletters have cited our stories.
Media republished entries
This is where other media outlets have republished our stories.
Copycat entries
This is where other media have duplicated our story.
Accountability and Exclusives
We had 132 entries in our accountability and scoop tracker, which measures the number of accountability stories we have produced and the number of exclusive stories we have written. Scoops are what we call the stories no other newsroom has written before. We also published stories that led the way in local coverage that would have gone untold if not for Houston Landing.
Another accountability story, written by Monique Welch, examined the effectiveness of METROLift at picking up riders on time for appointments. Houston’s paratransit service offers people with disabilities affordable transportation whenever they need it. This story explored the shortcomings of Houston’s transit system, the impact it has on residents, and who’s to be held accountable for the issues.
Before the story was published, Houston ISD shared that it was removing a controversial PragerU video from its curriculum that mocked climate change. From the story: “HISD will discontinue the use of PragerU content going forward, Chief Communication Officer Leila Walsh said Tuesday in response to questions from the Landing.”
The Landing’s series of “Lost Appeals” stories by Clare Amari have shocked many readers. The subject of several of those stories was Syed Rabbani, a Bangladeshi immigrant from Houston on death row whose court appeals had essentially been forgotten for 30 years. Rabbani’s brother in Bangladesh reached out to Amari after reading one of her stories, saying the family had lost contact with Rabbani and wanted more information about the case. Lawyers for Rabbani highlighted Clare’s story in their filing with a judge to have their client paroled and reunited with his family. In the most significant development to date, Rabbani was finally taken off of death row.
Columnist Maggie Gordon wrote multiple columns on the Houston Library’s decision to stop accepting cash at its branches. As her columns pointed out, this harmed people who were unbanked – who didn’t have credit or debit cards. After her first column posted the library changed policy and said it would accommodate patrons who didn’t have credit or debit cards. But this decision was not advertised in the libraries – something Maggie talked about in a subsequent column. That column also produced an impact. The library decided to post a flier making note of the policy change.
There have been numerous exclusives written within Houston Landing’s Houston ISD coverage. One of those exclusives included Asher Lehrer-Small’s story on how Houston ISD replaced half of employees this year at overhauled schools. The 28 campuses under Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System saw dramatic staff turnover this year, a Houston Landing analysis shows.
The Reach of Our Work
Audience growth x the numbers
The Landing strategically set up partnerships with several news aggregators, established multiple social media flagship accounts, created distribution channels via SMS texting services, and led with SEO best practices, which all produced dividends in expanding our reach.
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Membership at the Landing
The Ecosystem of Accessible, Equitable Journalism
More specifically, membership is at the heart of giving at the Landing.
We engage our members to join a community of like-minded individuals who want to support journalism, who want to improve their neighborhoods and support community resources. Houston Landing is grateful to have supporters join the journey to strengthen democracy and improve the lives of ALL Houstonians, one story at a time.
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Across the City: Houston Landing Members X Zip Code
We engage our members to join a community of like-minded individuals who want to support journalism, who want to improve their neighborhoods and support community resources. Houston Landing is grateful to have supporters join the journey to strengthen democracy and improve the lives of ALL Houstonians, one story at a time.
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