This is a picture of a motocross stunt cyclist at the Orange County Fair. It is basically an invention of Photoshop, since the raw picture is almost completely black to the naked eye with the exception of the six floodlights. However, by playing around with the lighting and the exposure curves and so forth, eventually you can sometimes get an interesting picture out of nothing.

One of them, anyway. The other couple of dozen I took were hopeless no matter what I did. But you only need one.

July 13, 2018 — Costa Mesa, California

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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