There’s an explanatory element to every piece of journalism. In some cases, that explanation is the sole purpose. “Explainers” are focused articles or videos that take complex or timely topics and break them down into essential elements that a reader or the broader public needs to know in order to have a more nuanced understanding of larger issues. Explainers can also be a leveling, fact-driven way to cut through a glut of misinformation.
Guardian US’s Lauren Aratani wrote an explainer in March on the federal workers at risk of losing their jobs — thanks to DOGE cuts to government agencies. Aratani explained who these federal workers were and what their jobs entailed.
In April, Bloomberg’s Angel Adegbesan penned an explainer about Daylight Saving Time and the ongoing debate about whether it should carry on or be scrapped.
Also in April, NPR’s Ximena Bustillo and Alyson Hurt produced an explainer about deportations. For “Explainer: How does deportation work, and how much does it cost,” the journalists tapped immigration experts and lawyers and studied government documents to determine who is “removable,” how arrests unfold, what happens in immigration court and how people are physically deported from the United States.
Explainers can be helpful to readers of different generations or those with various levels of online exposure. Last year, E&P spoke to Kathleen Culver, Ph.D., director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who said Millennial and Gen Z reporters were invaluable to newsrooms today because they can provide explainers about trending topics and memes, among other reporting. “What is the coconut meme about Kamala Harris? What does ‘brat’ mean? It’s fascinating. Young reporters in newsrooms are having their older editors turn to them and say, ‘What does this mean?’ And if the editor doesn’t know, chances are there are a lot of readers who don’t know, too.”
Though explainers can be written and read, they can also be delivered as short videos. Dave Jorgenson, the former “Washington Post TikTok Guy,” was a virtuoso at producing short explainer videos about the day’s biggest news.
Ian Millhiser, a former lawyer and analyst for the Center for American Progress, is a senior correspondent for Vox Media. He covers law and the Supreme Court. In March 2025, Vox published an explainer he wrote about the separation of church and state.
Ideas for explanatory pieces come from a variety of sources, but often, they’re inspired by reader questions, Millhiser said. Given his SCOTUS beat, reader questions frequently focus on how and why the Court will likely decide a case coming before the Justices. In those cases, he may write an explainer about current applicable law, how it could be challenged or overturned, and the stakes.
“There’s a piece we published today involving a Supreme Court case being argued in another week or two about a provision of the Affordable Care Act that lets a board within the Department of [Health and Human Services] say that insurance companies have to cover certain treatments,” Millhiser said. His explainer provides critical context and lays out the stakes for Americans: the loss of insurance coverage for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV preventative drugs and eye drops for infants who suffer from an early-life disease that causes blindness.
“Explanatory journalism should reach conclusions. Suppose I’m trying to explain whether it’s constitutional or unconstitutional for Donald Trump to fire the head of the National Labor Relations Board. In that case, there are three possible answers to that question: One is that it is constitutional. One is that it’s unconstitutional. And the third is that it’s unclear. I should reach a conclusion as to which one it is, and I need to explain why that is the case,” he said.
“The second obligation I have is — whatever the conclusion — to provide my readers with the sources they need so that they can see and recreate my thought process,” he added.
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
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