About Field Notes Press
OUR MISSION
Field Notes Press exists to bear witness.
We go to the places that are easy to ignore — the flooded hollers, the police lines, the occupied streets — and we report what we find there. Our journalism is visual, on the ground, and direct. We don't summarize from a distance. We show up.
We are funded entirely by our readers. No corporate sponsors. No advertising. That independence isn't a business model — it's a prerequisite for the journalism we do.
WHO WE ARE
Field Notes Press is a small, independent, online-only news outlet founded by Tom Hudson and based in Virginia. We cover the stories that matter most when they are hardest to cover — and we believe the best journalism happens when reporters are present, not peripheral.
We are also a home for new voices. Some of the most important journalism being made today is coming from reporters who have never had a major platform. We intend to change that. Field Notes Press is committed to publishing and developing journalists who are early in their careers, unknown to mainstream audiences, and
doing extraordinary work.
HOW WE WORK
We are a visual-first outlet. Photography and video are not illustrations for our stories — they are the stories. Our reporters bring cameras as well as notebooks, and our editors treat imagery as primary journalism, held to the same standards of accuracy and fairness as the words that accompany it.
We do not publish from press rooms or aggregate from wire services. Our reporting is original, sourced from the field, and produced by journalists who are present for what they cover.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
Field Notes Press is reader-funded, which means we answer to our audience and no one else. We will never let an advertiser, a sponsor, or a financial backer influence what we cover or how we cover it. We do not sell your data. We do not chase traffic at the expense of truth.
In return, we ask for your trust — and we intend to earn it, story by story.
If our journalism matters to you, please consider subscribing. Every subscription goes directly toward putting reporters in the field.
CONTACT & POLICIES
Founder & Editor-in-Chief: Tom Hudson
Editorial: editor@fieldnotespress.com
Tips & Leads: tips@fieldnotespress.com
Subscriptions: subscribe@fieldnotespress.com