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Independent investigative journalism covering matters of public interest across Texas. 100% funded by readers. No ads, no sponsors.
How to Help.
Contributions underwrite the full scope of Watchtower’s work: public records requests, document analysis, interviews, on-the-ground reporting, municipal consulting, governance training, recovery work, travel between communities, business and legal expenses, and the infrastructure that keeps everything running. No paywalls, no ads, no sponsors. Readers fund all of it.
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By the Numbers
Why Your Support Matters
Watchtower’s work spans investigative journalism, consumer and public safety reporting, municipal compliance consulting, financial oversight, governance training, recovery work, whistleblower investigations, civil rights reporting, and forum moderation. Every part of this is resource-intensive: filing public records requests, attending public meetings, traveling between communities, analyzing contracts, building investigations from primary-source documentation, engaging counsel on business and legal matters, and sustaining the operating infrastructure a statewide effort requires.
None of it is sold. No ads, no sponsors. Every service offered to Texas cities, counties, and special districts is free of charge. Reader contributions are the only way this work happens.
That is the whole point of the model. Support is a contribution toward the work, never a purchase of influence over it, and nothing gets softened to keep the lights on.
Ways to Support
One-Time Contribution
A single contribution in any amount. Funds are applied directly to public records request fees, document analysis, interview and consulting travel, on-the-ground reporting, business and legal expenses, and the publication of Watchtower’s work.
ContributeMonthly Support
Recurring monthly contributions provide predictable operating funding. Sustained support enables long-range investigative planning, multi-month consulting and recovery engagements with specific cities, timely processing of public records requests, and the legal and business infrastructure that holds the operation together.
Subscribe MonthlyRecent Reporting Your Support Makes Possible
These are the investigations readers like you have funded. Every story started with a public records request.
The City of Italy Fired Officer Kevin Oginski. A Councilmember Found Out From a Citizen.
Two members of the Italy City Council said publicly this afternoon that nobody told them an officer had been terminated. One of them learned about it from a resident, two hours after asking the city administrator directly.
Italy Paid $44,800 to Fix a Pump It Was Quoted $15,730 to Fix
Five weeks before the vote, the Italy City Council ordered staff to bring back competing bids and a priced breakdown. One bid came back, the breakdown never did, and the council approved the higher number anyway.
Who Runs Hawk Cove? Not the Council, According to the Council
Hawk Cove has an agenda item called Public Comments that nobody was allowed to comment on, a federal lender its own attorney says is done being patient, and a council whose members say on the record that they do not know what their own city is doing.
A Town of 1,400 Is Suddenly Moving Millions
Tens of millions are moving through Hubbard, Texas, a town of 1,400: data-center money into city government, a $7.6 million school bond, and municipal borrowing, with one man near the top of it all.
Where Your Money Goes
- Public records requests -- filing fees, copying costs, and labor charges assessed by government bodies under the Texas Public Information Act
- Document analysis -- tools and time spent reviewing contracts, financial records, meeting minutes, audits, and public filings across every service line
- Interviews and source work -- speaking with community members, public officials, witnesses, whistleblowers, and subject-matter experts to build complete, accurate accounts of what happened and why
- On-the-ground work -- attending city council meetings, conducting consulting visits, moderating forums, documenting conditions in covered communities, and being physically present where the work is
- Travel -- vehicle expenses, fuel, and overnight stays in the cities, counties, and special districts Watchtower covers, consults with, and serves across Texas
- Business and legal expenses -- business attorney fees, entity and regulatory compliance, pre-publication review, insurance, and counsel engaged to defend the right to report on public bodies
- Infrastructure -- website hosting, email hosting, secure document storage, a dedicated phone line, and the communication tools we rely on to coordinate with sources, officials, and the public
Watchtower is a private company. Payments are not tax-deductible charitable contributions. Your support is a payment to a private entity in exchange for sustaining independent journalism operations. Payments are processed securely by Stripe.