David Eads

My Background

My mission is to uphold and sustain skepticism, rigor, and innovation in how we use criminal justice data in our reporting.

I have been trying to use data to communicate honestly and effectively for over two decades. Early in my career, I helped start the first iteration of the Invisible Institute, where I built The View From The Ground, one of the early digital investigative journalism outlets. I also had a major hand in creating FreeGeek Chicago, a community-based computer recycling organization.

In the early 2010s, I became a professional journalist and built innovative data products as a reporter and editor at the Chicago Tribune, NPR Visuals, ProPublica Illinois and The Chicago Reporter. I'm most proud of being part of a group of independent journalists who won the 2019 Premio Gabo for general coverage for our reporting on mass graves in Mexico.