Our New Story Map: Explore 20 Years of Pulitzer Center Reporting Around the World

As we celebrate the Pulitzer Center’s 20th anniversary this year, we are excited to launch the newest way to view Center-supported stories: our interactive Story Map. With the map, you can virtually travel around the world and view stories through the years, from 2006 to today.

How To Use the Map

Each blue circle represents the number of stories from a particular area. Click on the circles or zoom in to see red dots representing individual stories. Click on a red dot to see a story preview, and then choose “Read story” for the link. You can click and drag to rotate the map. You can also filter stories by year in the upper left corner. View the map in full screen here.

“We were guided by a simple but challenging question: How can we tell 20 years of journalism in one place?” said Pulitzer Center Data Specialist Federico Acosta Rainis, who created the Story Map. “For weeks, we tested different versions, with input from each team helping to define what to include and what to leave out, while respecting the spirit and context of each investigation. The biggest challenge was transforming that enormous volume of stories into a piece that invites exploration without being overwhelming.”

“The first time I saw it complete, I felt we had succeeded: a world (literally) of investigations just a couple of clicks away,” he said. “Hopefully, the map offers our readers a novel way to learn about our work and will continue to grow, adding new layers and details over time.”

A Global Organization

The Pulitzer Center supports breakthrough journalism and civic engagement that informs people and inspires action. While the Center was founded in the U.S., its reach and impact are global, with staff members in 19 countries and four regional hubs: South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the United States.

As our programming grows, so too is our ability to support quality reporting worldwide, partner with regional outlets, and engage local communities with the information they need. Our international journalism and outreach programs span our five focus areas: Climate and Environment, Global Health, Human Rights, Information and Artificial Intelligence, and Peace and Conflict.

20 Years of Stories

This map is a culmination of 20 years of journalism. For every story we publish on the Pulitzer Center website, our Publishing team adds latitude and longitude coordinates based on the main location of the story. Sometimes this is easy, such as when a location is named in the dateline, and sometimes it is harder, such as for ocean stories that follow illicit ships through international waters.

It's one of the most intriguing parts of the publishing process. Pinpointing the story on a map gives visual context and helps place the story within previous coverage. Seeing the diversity of stories coming from different regions shows a bigger picture and encourages common understanding.

The Pulitzer Center Stories page is a unique resource. We support and republish stories from a variety of publications around the globe, from local newsrooms in the U.S., to international wire services, to small journalistic startups in the Global South. Each reporting project is carefully selected by Pulitzer Center editors, leading to a curation of the most newsworthy stories on underreported issues. In a time of media bubbles and news avoidance, this diverse collection offers a way to find stories you might not have seen otherwise.

We hope that you, too, find the Story Map helpful in exploring and contextualizing our wide breadth of reporting. Stay updated on our work this year by visiting our 20th anniversary page, where we will share more impactful stories, reflections from our staff and leadership, and opportunities to get involved.