Confront – investigating systemic industrial harm

Confront is an investigative journalism publication focused on industrial wrongdoings and their harms.

Why we created Confront

The worst harms of major industries pose enormous threats to people and the planet. Whether it is contributing to some of the leading causes of death worldwide (tobacco), transforming the climate and planet at an unparalleled speed (fossil fuels), or creating products that could lead to ‘extinction level’ threats (artificial intelligence), the collective impact of industrial power is indisputable.

How industries operate depends on choices. They are constructed, managed, and then regulated by people. The harms we are investigating are not inevitable by-products of technological progress, but calculated or foreseeable consequences from those prioritising private profit over the public good.

At the same time, the scale and volume of these harms are mounting, billionaires have been buying-out and then gutting the investigative journalism teams at legacy media publishers.

So given the stakes, Confront exists to be a space specifically to investigate these harms and think more deeply about industrial power.

How Confront works

What we want to know is the human impact that industrial wrongdoing has on different communities worldwide. What makes Confront different is that we don’t confine ourselves to any one industry or country.

Each year we select a new industry and then produce investigations, reports, and analysis related to that industry’s harms and impacts.

Industrial power transcends borders and governments. So does our reporting. We’re based in the UK, but will follow our stories to every corner of the world.

We pick the industry to investigate based on how we believe we can add value, and see impact and change from our stories. Wherever possible, we work collaboratively with other publications to obtain greater reach. So far our work has been picked up by various national newspapers and magazines in Europe and Africa.

Our first season is looking at the Asbestos industry, past and present. So far, we’ve published investigations on the ongoing impact of historic asbestos contamination across the UK, on the surviving asbestos trade in Asia and the Americas, and the devastation from asbestos mining in southern Africa.

Doing original, in-depth stories takes time and money. Confront depends on our readers to fund us, so if you are able to contribute once or set up a monthly subscription, it’s the best way you can help us to survive and grow.

Who runs Confront

Confront is an independent media organisation, founded and edited by Tom Quinn, who previously ran youth media platform newsPeeks.

Logo was created by Lee Hutchinson. See more of his work on Instagram.

Confront Power is a trading name of Systems Media Ltd, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee whose registered office address is 2nd Floor College House, 17 King Edwards Road, Ruislip, London, United Kingdom, HA4 7AE. Confront does not accept state or corporate funding.