GraveSite fills the deep reporting hole that exists around death. Because it comes for us all, it’s political, and many Americans are finally ready to talk about it.

Following in the footsteps of other journalist-led, beat-focused publications — 404 Media, Defector, and homegrown Hell’s Gate — GraveSite is an independent media brand that aims to demystify death and life in its shadow.

There’s a hole: In a $20B+ deathcare industry, there are just over 100 media and comms workers and no national news outlets dedicated to death. It’s gaps like these that leave so many of us ill-prepared for the inevitable. Only 37% of adults in the U.S. have a completed advance directive, and grief literacy has atrophied — even as some 57% of people in the country grieve a recent loss, and one in four Americans is a baby boomer nearing later or end of life.

Death is political: Inequities are growing around how, when, and why people die. The U.S. falls short of other countries when it comes to health outcomes, life expectancy, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, among other measures — a reality that’s now also mired in abortion bans, ICE detentions, and the still-untold fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Over 1.1 million Americans have died from COVID-19 as of 2023, and for each of those deaths, nine individuals on average are bereaved. Health disparities also grew during the pandemic, with higher infection rates among BIPOC and Latine communities.

Americans are ready to talk: “The COVID-19 pandemic reduced stigma and encouraged discussions about loss and grief; and concurrently increased the need for services, especially in under-resourced communities and communities of color.”
—Grief experts in 2023 report to HHS

Enter rigorous national death reporting: Journalistic and storytelling modalities, such as narrative therapy, are proven to help fill some of these gaps, while investigations often become fuel for systems change. By investing in deep, actionable reporting and stigma-wresting storytelling, GraveSite will help make these tools and insights accessible at scale.