About Remapping Debate

Remapping Debate (or, as we now refer to it, Remapping Debate 1.0) launched in late 2010. For a period of about four years, a small staff generated what we believe was a great body of work. We’re particularly proud of our Original Reporting (pieces which routinely ran to 2,500 or 3,000 words or more); our Data Visualizations; our History for the Future interview series, and our Editorial Cartoons. (We don’t think that our Story Repairs, Commentary, and other work was shabby, but you can’t be particularly proud of everything.)

In retrospect, Remapping Debate 1.0 was too ambitious in terms of publication schedule; not very able in terms of self-promotion; and stuck with an editor who was very demanding (as several dissatisfied former reporters from that time will attest).

We are now privileged to undertake a reboot of the publication (Remapping Debate 2.0). We always had a small staff, now it’s even smaller. So expect low volume on an irregular publishing schedule, with what we hope will be a great batting average in terms of excellence and meaningful issues addressed.

We haven’t learned very much about self-promotion, so we’re going to have to rely on the kindness of readers and friends.

On the editing front, for better or worse, we still believe in developing a hypothesis (and in being willing to modify or abandon the hypothesis if the facts we find warrant it), but not in being diverted from the story we are interested in because sources want to push us away from questions they find uncomfortable. So the criticism “you think that journalism is akin to a lawyer conducting depositions” is pretty close to the truth. 

We really do take seriously the idea that the job of journalists is to question, to probe, and to illuminate. We think that sometimes what is not answered is as important to report out as what is answered.

Remapping Debate is sponsored by the Anti-Discrimination Center (ADC).  Remapping Debate covers the full spectrum of domestic public policy issues.  ADC is committed to the principle that Remapping Debate will follow the facts wherever they lead. Our editor is Craig Gurian; our associate editor is Lori Bikson.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.