Getting started
From sign-up to your first story in an afternoon.
Seven steps, most of them a few minutes each. Your 15-day trial starts when we turn your newsroom on.
-
Start your free trial
Tell us your newsroom's name, your role and the email of the person who'll be your admin. We check that you're a news organization and turn your newsroom on for 15 days, free.
-
Set your password and two-step sign-in
Your admin gets a one-time link. Choose a password, then scan the code on screen with an authenticator app on your phone and enter the six-digit code it shows. Save the recovery codes somewhere safe.
Tip: Every person on your team does this once, the first time they sign in.
-
Set up your newsroom
Under Newsroom profile, check your outlet's name and time zone (alerts use it) and add your logo, which shows at the top of the menu for your whole team.
-
Invite your team
Under Team, add each reporter, producer or editor by email. Make anyone who should manage the team an admin. Each person gets their own invitation and sets up their own sign-in.
Tip: Use people's own work addresses, not a shared inbox: each sign-in is personal.
-
Find your first member
Search Members by name or state and open a profile: committees, votes, campaign money, lobbyist money, disclosures, travel, office spending and earmarks, all on one page, each with its sources.
Tip: Try the Stock Tracker and Trade signals for leads across all of Congress.
-
Build a watchlist and turn on alerts
Add the members, bills and committees you cover to a watchlist, shared with the desk or private to you. Choose alerts in the app, by email right away, or in a daily digest.
Tip: Alerts cover a member's votes, new bills and committee changes, and every action on a bill you follow.
-
Ask the assistant, export, connect
Ask the research assistant questions in plain English and get answers that cite every fact. Export lists to CSV, and on Newsroom Pro or Enterprise create an API key under Newsroom for your data desk's tools.
What you'll need
- A work email address for each person on your team.
- An authenticator app on each person's phone: Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, 1Password or similar. Everyone uses two-step sign-in.
- Ten minutes for whoever will be your newsroom's admin to set up the team.
Getting started questions
How long does approval take?
We check each newsroom by hand before turning it on, because federal disclosure law limits who can use financial disclosure data commercially. We'll be in touch quickly.
What happens when the trial ends?
Access pauses after the last day, and everything your team made (watchlists, notes, settings) is kept. Subscribe and it all picks up where you left off.
Can we add more people later?
Yes. Your plan includes a number of seats; your admin adds and removes people under Team, and we can add seats at any time.
Someone lost their phone.
They can sign in with one of the recovery codes they saved when setting up, then set up the authenticator again. Your admin can also remove and re-invite them.
Ready when you are
Tell us about your newsroom and we'll have you set up quickly.