Petition: NYT, CNN, and WaPo Must Follow the Money

Massive amounts of outside money are flooding American elections, with industries tied to AIPAC, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and online gambling spending heavily to shape races while keeping much of their influence hidden from public view. These are not ordinary campaign donations—they are coordinated efforts by powerful interests to influence policy, candidates, and public debate while avoiding meaningful scrutiny.

Yet major outlets like The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, NBC News, and others too often treat elections as horse-race politics, focusing on polls, personalities, and campaign tactics while sidelining the enormous financial forces driving the campaigns themselves. When billions in dark money and industry spending shape elections behind the scenes, failing to center that reality leaves voters without a clear understanding of who is trying to buy influence and why.

We call on major news organizations to aggressively investigate and prominently cover the outside money flooding American elections—tracking who is spending, where the money comes from, and what those interests expect in return. Democracy depends on transparency. The public deserves reporting that follows the money as relentlessly as it follows the candidates.