CQ WEEKLY
Sept. 11, 2015 – 12:20 p.m.
CQ's 70th Anniversary: A Reputation for Independence
By David Ellis, CQ Staff
Independence. It's a powerful word diminished by casual misapplication in the world of politics. A reputation for independence is rare, and must be closely attended: Indeed, there are legions of lawmakers in Washington who know how quickly respectability earned over the long run can be squandered in the wake of a major mistake.
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Since 1945, CQ has built and maintained its reputation for fair and accurate coverage, both about the personalities who shape legislation and the often arcane rituals through which those laws are shaped. CQ News — whether delivered via the web, smartphone alerts or the magazine you’re reading right now — is a trusted guide to the critical decision points of policy. We tell you not only what happened, but why it happened and what will happen next.
In a world of snap judgments, partisan positions and fact-free analysis, trusted sources of information are rare and valuable.
Seventy years ago, in the very first volume of what was then known as Congressional Quarterly, founders Nelson and Henrietta Poynter promised to “present the facts in as complete, concise and unbiased a form as we know how.”
“Unbiased’’ did not equal “uncontroversial’’ — more than a few lawmakers were uncomfortable with CQ’s spotlight on the back-room operations of Congress, and they were even less enamored that our reporting was published in local newspapers.
CQ drove a broader effort to bring more transparency to the workings of the legislative branch. Where many hearings and markups used to be held behind closed doors, that campaign forced open the mechanisms of lawmaking. Our customers can use CQ’s powerful legislative tracking tools to mine even greater details about how proposed legislation could affect their interests.
Today, legislative compromises may be mapped in smoke-free restaurants over salads, but those doing the talking still hate to be overheard.
When it counts, people turn to our analysis because saying “according to CQ’’ is Washington shorthand for “this is trusted information.’’ In August, New Jersey Democratic Sen.
CQ stands apart as an independent voice accountable only to its customers, an organization not controlled by billionaires who have political agendas or hold political office. In this we are fortunate in our association with the Economist Group, CQ’s owner since 2009, which operates under a corporate structure guaranteeing editorial independence.
The Economist Group’s purchase of CQ paired the premier source for information about legislation with Roll Call, the newspaper that tracks the personalities, priorities and policy moves of lawmakers, their aides and their influencers. Founder Sid Yudain started the publication 60 years ago to cover the people who make Congress work.
It’s a powerful combination of trusted media properties: Roll Call gives you knowledge about the people who pursue power, and CQ News tracks how power is wielded in office.
In the past few weeks, we’ve published some remarkable journalism that’s influenced legislative agendas and triggered conversations about accountability on Capitol Hill.
CQ's 70th Anniversary: A Reputation for Independence
Roll Call’s Hannah Hess has reported on the three separate occasions when members of the Capitol Police have left loaded firearms unattended, including a gun discovered by a child visiting Washington with his parents. We’ve covered the troubling institutional reaction to these incidents, as the police appear to be more aggressive in investigating leaks than proposing safeguards against such dangerous behavior.
In July, CQ reporters spied an 11th-hour amendment to a spending bill allowing the display of the Confederate flag at federal cemeteries. The firestorm of protest over the measure effectively brought the entire federal budget process to a halt, making real the possibility of a government shutdown this year.
Last year, CQ reporters noted calls for additional funding at separate appropriations hearings for the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. The reason: rising concern about the wave of some 100,000 child migrants from Central America arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. We brought the national implications of those underage solo travelers to the attention of the world weeks before most other news organizations noticed the emergency situation in Texas border towns.
Here’s what we’ve learned over the decades: Accurate journalism is impact journalism, once you pair congressional expertise with keen judgment of the impact of legislation on real lives.
As ever, we’re finding new ways to deliver this information to our readers, whether through the new-look CQ Weekly, our CQ+ report service, coverage of policy in the states, or Roll Call’s district-by-district campaign prognostications.
For 70 years, we’ve worked to uphold our founders’ promise to thrive as a private institution holding Congress accountable. With your support and trust, we’ll have many more decades of success.