Hundreds of protected areas are under pressure from Scotland’s massive deer herd. Most agree deer numbers must be controlled to protect the environment, but are split on what should be done.
Edinburgh University students were “interrogated” by police at their desks over posters featuring Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, prompting dozens to complain.
Unsafe levels of faecal bacteria were recorded at dozens of Scotland’s best beaches this summer. Swimmers and paddlers could be at risk, but officials insist water quality remains high.
Our journalism changes things.
The aim of our journalism is not to generate clicks. Change that comes when we hold the powerful to account – whether that’s to government policy or positive impacts on people’s lives – is what we’re all about. So tracking the impact of our investigations is crucial to us.
The awards we win along the way are a bonus. Our work has been recognised at the Scottish Press Awards, Amnesty Media Awards, British Journalism Awards and many others.
Impact is part of our origin story. A decade ago, our first major investigation tackled fracking, the controversial method for extracting underground gas. The crowdfunded series helped to ensure the controversial industrial practice was ruled out by the Scottish Government in 2019.
Since then our investigations have helped drive positive change across a range of issues, from highlighting preventable deaths in the homeless system, which prompted National Records of Scotland to start publishing annual statistics, to a seven-month undercover investigation into neo-Nazi group Scottish Dawn, which led to it being banned under UK terror laws.
Our investigations have also resulted in better protections for the marginalised. In 2024 we investigated the rise in suicide attempts by asylum seekers in hotels, work that sparked questions in the Scottish Parliament.
And we are community focused too. One Highland community recently saw a Norwegian multinational row back on plans for a fish farm on a loch in a marine protected area following our reporting. Our journalism is tenacious and we don’t give up easily.
In July 2025, the Scottish Information Commissioner ordered the government’s Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to release files it had been withholding about Scotland’s nuclear bases.
It meant that after a six-year battle we could finally reveal that Long Loch on the Clyde had been contaminated by radioactive waste, a fact that would otherwise have remained hidden.
Often our investigations are long-running and global in scope. Our stories on Ithaca, the energy company owned by Israeli company Delek, helped spark an international campaign calling on Equinor to pull out as its partner in the Rosebank oil field. In September 2025 the Scottish Government finally announced that grants to firms supplying Israel would be halted, an issue we have investigated for many years.
We get results and often work in partnerships, including sources from within communities around Scotland, campaign groups or other investigative teams such as The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Investigative Reporting Project in Italy.
Our work is sometimes co-published by the mainstream media and broadcasters including The Guardian and the BBC, allowing our journalism to reach more people, and helping us make a real and lasting difference. Because that’s what matters.
You can help us make even more impact. Join us for just £5 per month.
