Monday, December 29, 2025

Which 2025 Rappler story and initiative made an impact on you?

29 December 2025	View in Browser

Hello,

As 2025 comes to a close, we take this opportunity to take stock of the year that was.

Because of partners like you and the Rappler community, we were able to bring facts to communities, and make ripples of change.

Your help and support helped fuel our reports and initiatives.

In 2025, we saw the unraveling of the public works corruption scandal. This was also where we saw the potential and power of journalism powered by community, as tips and leads poured in from partners and ordinary citizens.

This is the kind of impact we want to see more of. It’s not enough to publish facts, which by itself is getting harder and harder to do.

These facts have to make change happen, and move communities to action.

We count 13 ways, based on our metrics for impact:

A Rappler investigative report on justice undersecretary Jojo Cadiz leads to an Ombudsman probe and his resignation.
This report bolstered municipal fishers’ petitions to keep their fishing grounds away from commercial fishing operators.
We were first to report on Zaldy Co’s businesses, laying the foundation for a national conversation on public works corruption.
Our Politicontractors map brings secrets about conflict of interest, corruption into the national spotlight.
A series of Rappler reports uncovers the controversies behind the Villar business empire, leading to government sanctions.
Our report on Senator Chiz Escudero’s ties to contractor Lawrence Lubiano triggers a Comelec probe.
This investigation into the links between the Discayas and a firm owned by Senator Bong Go’s family aids in legal efforts for accountability.
The government gives assurances it is addressing cases of Filipino seafarers abandoned at sea, after a Rappler report.
We amplified Bangsamoro watchdogs’ concerns about the region’s electoral code, helping gain the attention of lawmakers.
Our FloodControlPH crowdsourcing sparks citizen monitoring and collaboration with journalists to report on anomalous public works projects.
Our kapihan sessions and town halls gave citizens a space to directly ask their local government leaders questions about community concerns.
The Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship helped talented campus journalists produce stories that prompted government action and sparked community discussions.
Our #ScamAlert roadshow trained hundreds in fact-checking and critical thinking to combat scams, and helped link government offices together for wider impact.

We’re gunning for even more impactful work in 2026. You can help make that happen today, by giving us your feedback.

Please let us know which of our 13 most impactful work resonates with you the most. Vote by tapping the button below.

Cast your vote!

You must be logged into your Rappler account to access this. You can register or log in, for free, here. Voting closes on January 2, 2026.

If you want to go even further and tell us WHY you voted for that particular story and initiative, you can send your explanation to the Volunteer Opportunities chat room on the Rappler app. Those who contribute the best explanation will win a limited edition Rappler x Linya-Linya #MabutiPa T-shirt.

Investigations and civic engagement work are costly and challenging.

Which is why our community of Rappler+ members is key to our accountability journalism and persistent citizen empowerment push. The more Rappler+ members, the more impactful our work becomes.

If you aren’t a Rappler+ member yet, consider signing up. If you are already a member, thank you! This holiday season, we hope you can invite your friends and networks to join.

May 2026 be a year of impact and change, for the better.

Courage On,

Rappler Team


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Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Capping off 2025 with new Gen Z report, big team announcement – The Nerve

17 December 2025	View in Browser

Dear reader,

We have a couple of big announcements at The Nerve, Rappler’s data forensics arm, to cap the year.

This December, we released our latest report aimed at decoding Gen Z and exploring how these digital natives navigate media, work, money, brands, and relationships. For all those looking to understand Gen Zs — or perhaps if you’re a Gen Z looking for insight into your generation’s behavior — we invite you to download the report here.

For this report, we ran online surveys and used Synth, The Nerve’s AI-powered online interview platform, to get key insights straight from Filipino Gen Zs. This study also used Probe, our forensic solutions for narrative and content analysis of online articles and social media posts, to complement the Synth results.

DOWNLOAD HERE

In other news, we’re thrilled to announce that Professor Julie Posetti is joining The Nerve as director of The Information Integrity Initiative (III). The III seeks to anchor action-oriented research, policy work, and product development at the intersection of disinformation, freedom of expression, gender, and public interest media, and Posetti will spearhead efforts to further the cause.

The III’s first major release is called “Tipping Point: The chilling escalation of violence against women in the public sphere.” It showed that 70% of surveyed women have experienced online violence in the course of their work, and that 41% of respondents reported offline harm linked to online abuse.

The report was produced by the EU-UN Women’s ACT to End Violence against Women program in partnership with researchers from The Nerve, City St George’s University, and the International Center for Journalists, in collaboration with UNESCO. You can download the free report on The Nerve’s website now.

DOWNLOAD HERE

As we end the year, we’d like to thank those of you reading and following The Nerve’s reports or attending our masterclasses. It warms our hearts to know we’re making an impact, and as we prepare for another year, we hope to see more people gaining insights and knowledge from our work.

Here are the other reports we published this year, for those catching up on reading over the holidays:

See you again next year!

The Nerve Team

The Nerve is a data forensics company that enables changemakers to navigate real-world trends and issues through narrative and network investigations. Taking the best of human and machine, we enable partners to unlock powerful insights that shape informed decisions. Composed of a team of data scientists, strategists, award-winning storytellers, and designers, the company is on a mission to deliver data with real-world impact.