From tariffs to DOGE, reporting that had an impact in 2025
Tristan Spinski for NPR; Elissa Nadworny/NPR; Spencer Platt/Getty Images
As journalists, we measure success not just in clicks or conversions, but in what happens after a story makes its way into the world. Impact isn’t always immediate or easily quantified. It can surface quietly — in an email from a listener, a shift in public understanding, or a decision made differently because someone finally has the information they need. In a nonprofit newsroom, those moments matter as much as any headline.
For many listeners and readers, the impact was practical and validating: tools to manage debt, clarity about a confusing economy, or simply the feeling of being seen.
Extensive coverage of tariffs, the cost of living and affordability reflects NPR audience’s reality
Life Kit also created a month-long newsletter series (that you can still sign up for!) about how to pay down credit card debt. More than 100 people emailed us saying how much they appreciated the newsletter and how it helped validate the measures they were taking to pay off their credit card debt. “With helpful newsletters like this, I’m confident I can start and stay on the right path,” one subscriber said.
An investigation contributes to CDC lab scientists getting reinstated
When all 27 scientists in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Viral Hepatitis were put on administrative leave in April, they were in the middle of investigations in several states. No other lab in the world has the capacity to genetically trace hepatitis outbreaks — which can be spread in food or by sharing needles — to their source.
Reporting on DOGE leads to an independent investigation and new legislation
Jenna McLaughlin’s exclusive reporting on how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data quickly led to outcry from more than 50 lawmakers demanding an independent investigation into DOGE’s activities at the National Labor Relations Board, the Inspector General for the NLRB launching an investigation, and congressional demands that Microsoft provide information about DOGE’s use of code to remove sensitive data.
An exploration of the ethics of labeling AI-generated music helps lead to more transparency
“After an AI project posing as a group of human musicians blew up on Spotify over the summer, I wanted to understand how streaming platforms are responding to the rise of generative AI,” reporter Isabella Gomez Sarmiento says. She spoke with a professor of digital forensics, the research team behind an AI detection tool, and a journalist/author who investigated Spotify’s business practices. They all emphasized that transparency about generative AI usage is key to empowering both musicians and music fans. “A month later — and after I asked Spotify directly if they had considered implementing an AI tagging system — the company announced it would roll out a new AI spam filter on the platform,” Gomez Sarmiento says.
Reporting helps reinstate a grant that could save kids’ lives
Elissa Nadworny reported on a 4-year-old named Caleb who has a failing heart, and how a university researcher’s federal grant, which could help kids like him, was canceled. That story helped Cornell University make a deal with the White House, reinstating the doctor’s grant. “Calling Caleb’s mom Nora and telling her the good news was certainly a career highlight,” Nadworny says.
Caleb had a question after learning his story might help families like his. “Did I change the whole world?” he asked. Yes, Caleb. You might just have.
“Then, on Thanksgiving, I got more great news: Our story had led to changes in a clinical trial, which meant Caleb was able to switch to a different driver for his artificial heart,” Nadworny says. Instead of just 30 minutes running on battery, his new one can be unplugged for up to 8 hours.
An investigation leads to Congress calling for a crackdown on companies charging disabled vets
A group of 43 members of Congress have called for action against unaccredited companies that charge veterans for help filing for disability benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In an encrypted group chat, a group of National Guard members expressed worry over Trump’s deployments. NPR sat down with them to hear more
“During a year of President Trump’s extraordinary deployments of the National Guard to several cities around the country, this was one of the first times we heard in depth from several guard members about how they’re feeling and what they’re thinking about,” reporter Kat Lonsdorf says.
Telling their stories helped people with HIV get life-saving medication
A few months after President Trump abruptly dismantled USAID, a reporting team went to Zambia to investigate the impact. They found people with HIV whose U.S.-funded clinics, which had provided their daily medication to suppress the virus, had shut their doors without warning. Without the pills, people were getting sick and showing signs of HIV developing to AIDS.
After our stories ran, the Zambian government doubted our reporting — until they did their own investigation. They then worked with a local pastor we’d profiled to help people in the community get their life-saving medication.
We tracked the loss of thousands of jobs as corporate America moves away from DEI
Reporting on missing children in Syria who were likely being trafficked leads to arrests and other action
A steady stream of stories from Gaza kept a spotlight on the conflict
It has been difficult to chronicle the enormous losses to Palestinian families during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, one of the most destructive in recent history. An Israeli strike on a Gaza apartment building — one of the deadliest of the Israel-Hamas war — killed 132 members of one family last year. The few survivors documented the dead. Working with journalists in Gaza, we reconstructed what happened to this large family in a single moment.
Many people wrote in response to Planet Money‘s reporting on money falling apart in Gaza, saying that it represented the human day-to-day experience of life in Gaza and of being connected and wanting to help someone in the enclave. “Many listeners also tell us they donated to the characters in the piece as a result,” executive producer Alex Goldmark says.
We told stories of the chaos of the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce and the people impacted
Throughout all the twists and turns, labor and workplace reporter Andrea Hsu was there every step of the way covering developments to the federal workforce and speaking to people directly impacted. “We stayed on top of the story and reported on what ultimately happened in these cases, and the impact it had on people’s lives,” Hsu says.
Hsu shared stories from some of the 317,000 workers who are now out of the federal government throughout the year, interviewing military veterans who were summarily fired from their civilian jobs and dedicated civil servants who chose to walk away, among many others.
Reporting on a Trump administration citizenship tool finds U.S. citizens removed from voting rolls
Joffe-Block and Parks broke the first story about how the administration overhauled SAVE in June and have been on the story aggressively ever since, reporting on how states were being encouraged to run their entire voter lists through it and how close to 50 million registered voters have been scrutinized.
More recently, Joffe-Block found that U.S. citizens are being flagged by the tool, and told the story of one U.S. citizen who was removed from the rolls as a result. Their reporting has been cited in multiple lawsuits around the system.
From ICE to immigration judges, NPR continued to report on immigration issues
“My story explicitly calling out DHS for calling on DACA recipients to self-deport definitely caused a stir,” Bustillo says. “It’s in the vein of exclusive reporting on how other people who had some immigration process or deportation protection have seen that pulled away and the impact that has had on the ground.”