About PLOT.
PLOT. is an independent editorial laboratory devoted to investigation, data and visual storytelling.
We publish stories, analyses and experiments that seek to understand complex subjects with rigour, context and clarity.
Design is part of the investigation. So is visualisation. Each format exists because it helps tell a story better.
The laboratory is in its first editorial cycle, structuring investigations, methodologies and multimedia products that will be published progressively.
PLOT. PLOT. develops data-driven investigative journalism. We work with public records, databases, interviews, visualisations and visual storytelling to investigate matters of public interest — always with method, context and editorial responsibility.
We are not a news portal. We are an editorial laboratory that treats every investigation as a process — with a hypothesis, a method, evidence, review and publication — and that understands design and visualisation as constitutive parts of the reporting itself.
- 01
Investigative hypothesis
Every project starts from a question of public interest and a hypothesis that guides the collection of evidence.
- 02
Public records and FOIA
Obtaining public records and following up freedom-of-information requests filed with federal, state and municipal bodies.
- 03
Databases
Gathering, cleaning and cross-referencing public and private databases, with a record of every transformation applied.
- 04
Interviews
Listening to direct sources, experts and people affected by the subjects under investigation.
- 05
Visualisation and narrative
Developing maps, charts and visualisations that integrate quantitative evidence with visual storytelling.
- 06
Publication
Each story is published together with its methodology, sources and reference materials, open to the reader.
Rachel Mercês.
Rachel Mercês is a journalist, documentary filmmaker and founder of PLOT. Her work brings together investigative journalism, documentary research, audiovisual production and data-driven journalism to build visual narratives about matters of public interest.
In this first phase of the laboratory, she conducts every stage of editorial projects in full — from conceiving story ideas to obtaining public records, conducting interviews, analysing databases, art direction, developing visualisations and publishing stories.
As the laboratory grows, PLOT. will begin to incorporate collaborators and specialists from different fields, while keeping its commitment to investigations that are independent, methodologically transparent and visually rigorous.
PLOT. PLOT. is committed to editorial transparency. The documents below describe the laboratory's principles, practices and limits, and are open to public scrutiny.