Houston Landing - American Journalism Project

Houston Landing provides essential and independent journalism to communities across Houston, powered by a team of veteran journalists passionate about accountability reporting and telling stories that reflect the region’s diversity. With more than $20 million pledged before its launch, Houston Landing is among the largest startups of its kind in a burgeoning industry of locally-focused nonprofit news sites nationwide.

Houston Landing derives its name from two important landings in the city’s history. Houston traces its founding to the 1836 arrival of city founders Augustus “A.C.” Allen and John Kirby Allen at the junction of Buffalo and White Oak Bayous at a spot now called Allen’s Landing. In the 187 years since, the city has evolved from a swampy outpost into a thriving metropolis, a vibrant economic engine and one of the most diverse communities in the nation. The second landing occurred in 1969, when American astronauts landed on the moon for the first time, propelled by NASA’s mission control center in Houston, solidifying the city’s reputation as Space City.

With that history as a predicate, the Houston Landing’s mission is to strengthen democracy and improve the lives of all Houstonians one story at a time. The Landing’s content will be free with no paywalls or subscription fees to ensure that its high-quality journalism reaches as many people as possible. It will also allow other news media to freely republish its content.

Leaders

Peter Bhatia

CEO

Peter Bhatia is the chief executive officer of the Houston Landing. He is a media industry veteran who has overseen Pulitzer-Prize winning journalism and digital advances at news sites across the country. He was previously the editor and vice president of the Detroit Free Press where he started in 2017, after two years as editor and vice president of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Bhatia previously was director of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State’s Cronkite School of Journalism. He joined the university in June 2014 as visiting professor in journalism ethics after a two-decade career at The Oregonian in Portland. He led newsrooms that won 10 Pulitzer Prizes, including six in Portland. He is a seven-time Pulitzer juror. He is the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S., running The Oregonian from 2010 to 2014.